<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p> Since the 1970s, new therapeutic practices, involving the interaction between humans and dolphins - Tursiops truncatus in particular, have developed. Such practices are known as dolphin-assisted therapies (DAT), a specific case of a more heterogeneous set of experiences with dolphins called dolphin-assisted activities (DAA): these include programmes of dolphin watching and swimming in high seas, as well as shows in dolphinariums and marine parks. DAT has grown rapidly as a highly attractive form of therapy, due to the well-liked animals used in an aquatic, and often exotic, environment. This kind of co-therapy seems to testify the enchantement that dolphins - in myths and chronicles often reported in rescue at sea, perceived as especially charismatic - exert on people; the human attempt of bonding with them, possibly in response to the need of building a human-animal bodily intersubjectivity.</p></abstract>

Since the 1970s, new therapeutic practices, involving the interaction between humans and dolphins - Tursiops truncatus in particular, have developed. Such practices are known as dolphin-assisted therapies (DAT), a specific case of a more heterogeneous set of experiences with dolphins called dolphin-assisted activities (DAA): these include programmes of dolphin watching and swimming in high seas, as well as shows in dolphinariums and marine parks. DAT has grown rapidly as a highly attractive form of therapy, due to the well-liked animals used in an aquatic, and often exotic, environment. This kind of co-therapy seems to testify the enchantement that dolphins - in myths and chronicles often reported in rescue at sea, perceived as especially charismatic - exert on people; the human attempt of bonding with them, possibly in response to the need of building a human-animal bodily intersubjectivity.

Healing and Caring in Dolphin-Assisted Therapy: Criticisms of Effectiveness and Ethical Issues

Gestalt Theory

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Since the 1970s, new therapeutic practices, involving the interaction between humans and dolphins - Tursiops truncatus in particular, have developed. Such...

Healing and Caring in Dolphin-Assisted Therapy: Criticisms of Effectiveness and Ethical Issues

Published Online: Nov 07, 2018

Page range: 323 - 335

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/gth-2018-0024

Keywords
Dolphin-Assisted Therapy, human-non-human interactions, animal care

© 2018 Irene Candelieri, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Healing and Caring in Dolphin-Assisted Therapy: Criticisms of Effectiveness and Ethical Issues

Published Online: Nov 07, 2018

Page range: 323 - 335

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/gth-2018-0024

KeywordsDolphin-Assisted Therapy, human-non-human interactions, animal care

© 2018 Irene Candelieri, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
Dolphin-Assisted Therapy, human-non-human interactions, animal care