COVID-19 Home Project 12: Pet Therapy to Combat Depression and Addiction
Dr Abe V. Rotor
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Pets help patients conquer depression, a condition that may lead to nervous breakdown, neurosis and even suicide. Millions all over the world, especially in industrialized nations fall victim to this modern day disease. Many become unwilling victims of drugs. Many lives are ruined if not treated early or on time.
Pet rider
Part 2 - Henpower: Therapy with Chicken
HenPower, an organization in Britain is gaining popularity in many parts of the world. Hen therapy is an addition to therapy with other animals. Hen therapy has been found effective to the elderly in combating loneliness, depression and isolation, other infirmities as well.
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.Guardian: The hen project, which is supporting some 700 residents in more than 20 care homes in north-east England, was launched in London last week. Photograph: David Charlton/Equal Arts
Here is an excerpt from the Guardian.
In the north-east, where Henpower is now well established, volunteers known as “hensioners” have been taking hen road shows to schools, community events and to other care settings. The original Henpower site – sheltered housing in Wood Green, Gateshead – was set up four years ago.. .. Wood Green hensioner Alan Richards, a retired taxi driver, was recently awarded the prime minister’s Point of Light award for his volunteering with the scheme.
Dr Abe V. Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog
Part 1 - Dog is still the most popular pet at home.
More than the pleasant company they give, and sometimes the risk they take in giving us security, pets share our pain. They even get sick when we do. Our fever and aches seem to be relieved as they lie close to us. They help dry our tears, soothe our nerves, and break the monotony of our surroundings.
Marlo talking to pet dogs, and vice versa.
In our period of anxiety, when our body and spirit sag under the weight of modern living, we seek refuge to something we find comfort – and if needed - a meaning to life. We seek for answers to many whys we only ask when we are down.
In our period of anxiety, when our body and spirit sag under the weight of modern living, we seek refuge to something we find comfort – and if needed - a meaning to life. We seek for answers to many whys we only ask when we are down.
Good books, programs and music provide us recourse all right. They teach, inspire, and challenge us. Yes, we reflect, we meditate; we bridge the self, the being with the omnipotence. We search for the past, bringing out the hidden guilt into catharsis, and the pleasant into renewed reminiscences. At the end we are left asking for more. It is not a deliberate demand for more. It is the opposite. It is a need for nothing but silence, something that silences our probing mind, our throbbing heart, and our tense muscles.
Let us learn from pets. Their reactions are pure and simple. Their message needs no words as a writer once exclaimed, “What words can describe the feeling of a cat purring on your lap, a puppy lapping your face, a goldfish popping bubbles of air and glistening in the prism of sunlight?”
When finally we reach home to continue rest on doctor’s advice, we soon find ourselves facing boredom. Boredom is when we cannot do the things we want to do. The incapacity to do things because of our poor state no longer challenges us. While we can still plan out things we often loom at the edge of uncertainty and fear, something we may not have experienced before. To many of us the feeling is retreat, and we do not know when we will even resume our normal lives again.
No one is spared of these moments in his or her lives. And the more aggressive we are the deeper is the wound, and the longer it takes time to heal. It takes more intelligence to be aggressive which has various facets, such as being enterprising, risk taking, adventurous, pioneering, and courageous. These take us into the horizons ordinary people dare not tread. It is said that in our moments of glory we strive for more, yet in our moments of defeat we find ourselves in the deepest recesses where hope like sunlight in the deep is dim. “You are alone at your lowest ebb,” I once wrote.
Pets help patients conquer depression, a condition that may lead to nervous breakdown, neurosis and even suicide. Millions all over the world, especially in industrialized nations fall victim to this modern day disease. Many become unwilling victims of drugs. Many lives are ruined if not treated early or on time. Pet rider
Pets compensate for the lack of feeling and concern in modern day living. They heal the wounds of broken relationships. They fill up the vacuum of absence. They buoy the sagging spirit; they accept us when we are rejected. They give the human touch to high tech and specialized medicine. Everybody seems busy doing his thing. After a hard day’s work, a dog wagging its tail meets us at the gate, begging to be touched, revealing unashamedly how much it had missed us. A pat and some fast food leftovers may be all we can give, but our pet soon settles down as if it has all the contentment in this world. It is because it has found our company again.
Part 2 - Henpower: Therapy with Chicken
HenPower, an organization in Britain is gaining popularity in many parts of the world. Hen therapy is an addition to therapy with other animals. Hen therapy has been found effective to the elderly in combating loneliness, depression and isolation, other infirmities as well.
In the north-east, where Henpower is now well established, volunteers known as “hensioners” have been taking hen road shows to schools, community events and to other care settings. The original Henpower site – sheltered housing in Wood Green, Gateshead – was set up four years ago.. .. Wood Green hensioner Alan Richards, a retired taxi driver, was recently awarded the prime minister’s Point of Light award for his volunteering with the scheme.
When I was a kid, my dad raised chicken, open range, on our spacious house lot. It was peacetime, just after WWII. I delivered live chicken and eggs to the convent where Chinese refugees were housed. Other than generating income, raising chicken - as well as a dozen goats and a family of carabaos - was therapeutic to dad and the three of us, his children, as we tried to cope up with the trauma of war and the economic crunch that followed.
We had other pets as well - dogs and cats - sweetly calling them names we love to hear. To doctors, this is also therapy. So with having a garden of vegetables and fruits, and ricefield we fly kites, and gather fish (hito, dalag gourami, ar-aro, tilapia) come end of monsoon. Our orchard was home of many birds (panal, perperroka, pandangera, maya, house sparrow, kingfisher and oriole), and some transients like herons, on their migratory route. How we loved to listen to birdsongs, and to keep company with them at work and play. They gleaned at harvestime, followed the plow for prey, built nests and tended their young. These, doctors affirm to have therapeutic value.
"Many studies have looked at the value of therapy animals in institutional settings. Although the reports are anecdotal, they show that the creatures can ease agitated behaviors that accompany dementia and help with loneliness. Animal therapy visits may lower blood pressure and promote well-being." says Guardian.
What is in a chicken, in a hen for that matter? Well, first of all she lays egg regularly, with or without the presence of the male or rooster. Fresh eggs are nutritious and regarded second to milk in importance in the diet. In fact, fresh egg taken fresh has medicinal and therapeutic value. Dad would reach out from a hen's nest newly laid eggs, and make a tasty mix with steaming rice in a large bandejado or serving plate. What a complete breakfast during the war and after! Or he would down an egg himself directly from the shell. It's good for the sickly and the convalescent.
Second, hens are amiable, especially when trained as pet. Like the rooster (except the purpose of raising it for the cockpit) the hen is a faithful companion and she is not as demanding in food and care as say, the dog or cat. Her muffled cockling sound is comforting like the purring of a cat. And her being a mother has a comforting effect as well, particularly to the lonely and depressed. The incubating warmth under her wings is comforting to the old and young as well especially in cold weather.
Third, hens are caring, from incubating the eggs to rearing the chicks to weaning age, And the cycle which takes a month or two is repeated. Indeed the whole process imparts not only knowledge but awe, love and care, bringing old and children close together, a social connectivity vital to our society.
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Designs of chicken coops. There are modified usually improvised designs based on local conditions like climate, area, neighborhood, and most important, size of poultry
But what a radical change there is in poultry in our postmodern! The word chicken rings louder in fast foods chains than in the home. Home grown chicken however defies statistical record - 80 percent of the chicken population are still raised on the backyard, free range and in chicken coops.
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First, it must be native chicken.
Karurayan is the term in Ilocos for a pure white native chicken which does not bear any trace of color on its feathers. It is preferably a female, dumalaga or fryer, meaning it has not yet reached reproductive stage. It is neither fat nor thin.
Chicken soup as a convalescent food is recognized in many parts of the world. Because of its popularity, chicken soup has become associated with healing, not only of the body – but the soul as well. In fact there is a series of books under the common title Chicken Soup - for the Woman’s Soul, Surviving Soul, Mother’s Soul, Unsinkable Soul, Writer’s Soul, etc.
Try chicken soup to perk you up in these trying times. But first, be sure your chicken does not carry antibiotic residues, and should not be one that is genetically engineered (GMO).
We had other pets as well - dogs and cats - sweetly calling them names we love to hear. To doctors, this is also therapy. So with having a garden of vegetables and fruits, and ricefield we fly kites, and gather fish (hito, dalag gourami, ar-aro, tilapia) come end of monsoon. Our orchard was home of many birds (panal, perperroka, pandangera, maya, house sparrow, kingfisher and oriole), and some transients like herons, on their migratory route. How we loved to listen to birdsongs, and to keep company with them at work and play. They gleaned at harvestime, followed the plow for prey, built nests and tended their young. These, doctors affirm to have therapeutic value.
"Many studies have looked at the value of therapy animals in institutional settings. Although the reports are anecdotal, they show that the creatures can ease agitated behaviors that accompany dementia and help with loneliness. Animal therapy visits may lower blood pressure and promote well-being." says Guardian.
What is in a chicken, in a hen for that matter? Well, first of all she lays egg regularly, with or without the presence of the male or rooster. Fresh eggs are nutritious and regarded second to milk in importance in the diet. In fact, fresh egg taken fresh has medicinal and therapeutic value. Dad would reach out from a hen's nest newly laid eggs, and make a tasty mix with steaming rice in a large bandejado or serving plate. What a complete breakfast during the war and after! Or he would down an egg himself directly from the shell. It's good for the sickly and the convalescent.
Second, hens are amiable, especially when trained as pet. Like the rooster (except the purpose of raising it for the cockpit) the hen is a faithful companion and she is not as demanding in food and care as say, the dog or cat. Her muffled cockling sound is comforting like the purring of a cat. And her being a mother has a comforting effect as well, particularly to the lonely and depressed. The incubating warmth under her wings is comforting to the old and young as well especially in cold weather.
Third, hens are caring, from incubating the eggs to rearing the chicks to weaning age, And the cycle which takes a month or two is repeated. Indeed the whole process imparts not only knowledge but awe, love and care, bringing old and children close together, a social connectivity vital to our society.
But what a radical change there is in poultry in our postmodern! The word chicken rings louder in fast foods chains than in the home. Home grown chicken however defies statistical record - 80 percent of the chicken population are still raised on the backyard, free range and in chicken coops.
Part 3 - Chicken soup
I wrote this article as a lesson on Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People’s School on Air) about chicken soup claimed to be the best food for the convalescent. I received favorable audience response which I find interesting to research on. But it was my experience with my ailing father which I wish to share here.
I say it is true. Chicken soup is a “miracle” food, and herbolarios will support me. Here are the rules for the recipe. Or the specifications of the kind of chicken to be served.
Karurayan is the term in Ilocos for a pure white native chicken which does not bear any trace of color on its feathers. It is preferably a female, dumalaga or fryer, meaning it has not yet reached reproductive stage. It is neither fat nor thin.
Chicken soup, originally Filipino, tinola with green papaya and siling labuyo (red pepper) tops.
Usually the herbolario chooses one from a number of recommended specimens. He then instructs and supervises the household the way the karurayan is dressed, cut, cooked into tinola (stew) and served to the convalescent. He does not ask for any fee for his services, but then he takes home one or two of the specimens that did not pass the specifications.
Chicken soup as a convalescent food is recognized in many parts of the world. Because of its popularity, chicken soup has become associated with healing, not only of the body – but the soul as well. In fact there is a series of books under the common title Chicken Soup - for the Woman’s Soul, Surviving Soul, Mother’s Soul, Unsinkable Soul, Writer’s Soul, etc.
Of course, this is exaggeration. Nonetheless it strengthens our faith that this lowly descendant of the dinosaurs (Archeopterex) that once walked the earth has panacean magic.
Try chicken soup to perk you up in these trying times. But first, be sure your chicken does not carry antibiotic residues, and should not be one that is genetically engineered (GMO).
By the way, I was a participant in the rituals made by the herbolario I related. I was then a farmhand and I was tasked to get the karurayan. Our flock failed the test, but I found two dumalaga with few colored feathers. I plucked out the colored feathers and presented the birds to Ka Pepe. They passed the criteria, his specs.
Three days after, I asked my convalescing dad how he was doing. “I’m fine, I’m fine, now.” He assured me with a big smile.~
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NOTE: Dogs and cats are most commonly used in pet therapy. However, fish, guinea pigs, horses, and other animals that meet screening criteria can also be used. The type of animal chosen depends on the therapeutic goals of a person's treatment plan. Pet therapy is also referred to as animal-assisted therapy (AAT). Internet