Why Dolphin-Assisted Therapy Isn’t Therapy

Lori Marino Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology Program

Emory UniversityAtlanta, Georgia, USA

Ways that the public experiences dolphins in captivity

DOLPHIN ASSISTED

THERAPY (DAT)

INTERACTIVE or‘SWIM WITH DOLPHINS’

PROGRAMS

DISPLAYS SHOWS RECREATION

NON-INTERACTIVEVENUES

DAT programs are proliferating all across the globe

Is DAT therapy?

Therapy

• 1 : of or relating to the treatment of disease or disorders by remedial agents or methods

• 2 : providing or assisting in a cure

- Merriam-Webster Dictionary

The Key Features of Therapy

• There are specified goals and objectives for each individual.

• Progress is measured.

General DAT ScenarioDolphins are kept in a pool or in a gated enclosure.

Participants interact with the dolphin(s) by touching, feeding, swimming with, or riding on the dolphin(s).

There is always additional human contact and attentionby trainers/”therapists”/ etc. during the session.

There may be conventional remedial tasks employedduring the session.

Sessions can last for a few minutes to an hour and the whole “treatment” can last for either one session ormany sessions over several weeks.

DAT is expensive. The cost for 5-10 sessions is between $3,000 - $5,000 plus expenses.

DAT is unregulated and unaccredited. No professional training or certification is needed.

Kinds of ailments purported to be treatable by DAT include but are not

limited to:• Depression• Anxiety• Mental retardation• Autism• Downs Syndrome• Attention deficit disorder• Multiple sclerosis• Cerebral palsy• Anorexia• Cancer• AIDS• Blindness• Immune system disorders

How is DAT purported to work?

Increased concentration = Increased learning

Brain wave shift(“alpha-theta crossover”)

Sonar healing

Biophilia

DOLPHIN HUMAN THERAPY   

Dr. David Nathanson

Dolphin Cove, Key Largo, Florida

DHT helps participants to improve rapidly and to become more independent.  DHT does not cure or prevent injury, illness, or disability.

DHT is a private, professional organization dedicated to providing the highest quality rehabilitative therapy.

DHT treats all disabilities, including the severely and profoundly disabled.

Therapy is conducted once a day, Monday through Friday, for two to four weeks. 

We have developed a rehabilitation system for patients suffering from neurological disorders (in adults- chronic fatigue syndrome, in children - conditions brought about by a negative influence of the environment, enuresis, logoneuroses, phobias, depression, neurosthenia, infantile autism syndrome and cerebral palsy) based mainly on the contact of the patients with specially trained Black Sea bottlenose dolphins.

Dolphin Assisted Therapy (D.A.T.) is a new and exciting field of modern medicine that some people categorize as part of the Animal therapy.

Dolphin-Assisted Therapy: Harnessing the Healing Effects of the Sea

The cost per person is $4,500 plus all expenses such as travel, hotel, transportation

and meals.

“...bioaquatic studies in the Bahamas...”

DAT proponents rely heavily on personal testimonials. This is a common practice

in pseudoscience.

“Dolphins helped my child”By Tory Milne

BBC News Online Staff

Claims made by DAT studies(in the peer-reviewed literature)

• Nathanson et al.(1997); Nathanson (1998)– (1) DAT significantly increases attention span,

motivation, and language skills – (2) DAT achieves these results more rapidly

and more cost- effectively than conventional therapy, and

– (3) DAT produces positive treatment effects that are maintained over a long-term period

(i.e. at least one year).

• Antonioli & Reveley (2005): Depression

• Webb & Drummond (2001): Anxiety• Servais (1999): Learning in autistic children

• Lukina (1999):improvement in nonspecific behaviors in children with “psychoneurological” dysfunction

• Iikura et al. (2001): Improved treatment for atopic dermatitis and pain relief

Critiques of DAT studies• Marino and Lilienfeld (1998): assessed two

studies

• Humphries (2003): assessed five studies“Claims of the effectiveness of using dolphins as a procedure for improving the behaviours of young children with disabilities are therefore not supported by available research evidence”.

• Marino and Lilienfeld (2007) – assessed five studies

All peer-reviewed published DAT studies have beenreviewed to date!

Marino and Lilienfeld (1998, 2007)

Is there any scientific evidence that DAT claims are valid?

We performed a methodological assessment of the

peer-reviewed studies. We applied standard criteria for

scientific validity from four established published

sources.

Marino and Lilienfeld (1998): found no less than 11 independent methodological

weaknesses in the studies that undermined the entire scientific validity of both.

Marino and Lilienfeld (2007): identified no less than 13 independent methodological flaws

across all five studies that undermined their scientific validity. No study had less than 5

weaknesses.

Common flaws in DAT studies due to lack of experimental control

• Nonspecific effects – improvement from effects not specific to the treatment

Placebo effects – improvement from expectationNovelty effects – “feel good” response to anything

new

• Construct confounding – inability to disentangle effects of dolphin and other components (attention by therapist, being in water, etc.)

• Experimenter expectancy effects – bias towards findings that are consistent with the researcher’s hypothesis

Is DAT therapy?

No

Are the theories about DAT even plausible?

Increased concentration = Increased learning

Brain wave shift(“alpha-theta crossover”)

Sonar healing

Biophilia

Potential Detrimental Impacts of DAT

• Exploitation of desperate parents

• Forestalling effective treatments

• Injuries to participants

• Disease transmission • Stress and negative affects on the

health of the dolphins (Brensing et al.)

• Impact of capture on wild populations

The Bottom Line...

There is a substantial potential for detrimental impacts of DAT on both humans and dolphins.

Viable, more valid, and safer therapies exist.

There is no scientific evidence for the claimsmade by DAT proponents.

DAT SHOULD BE TERMINATED