Bali Dolphin Therapy: What It Is, How It Works, Benefits And Limitations

There are different modalities that are framed within animal-assisted therapy, among them are: bali dolphin therapy, which is often used to stimulate motivation and engagement in therapy for people who go to; used by children and adolescents to stimulate an increase in their stimulant levels.

Dolphin therapy is one of the therapeutic modalities that is often used in people who have difficulties in the social, cognitive, emotional and/or psychomotor sectors, indicating that during therapy they swim and interact with dolphins, this therapy is usually accompanied by psychological and/or medical care.

Next we will see what dolphin therapy is divided into and who are the people who can benefit from this modality of animal-assisted therapy, and we will talk about its effectiveness, being a therapy that generates pros and cons.

What is Bali Dolphin Therapy?

Therapy with animal contribution is a type of therapy that has been used in several modalities using different animals such as dogs, horses or dolphins as sympathizers (dolphin therapy) to promote multisensory stimulation in some people who can benefit, and to increase their motivation and involvement in therapy, having different steps in using this therapy with different durations and places to do it.

Dolphin therapy is a modality framed in animal therapy that is referenced by some doctors or psychiatrists to cure various difficulties or conditions with different levels, where: sessions lPeople must swim and interact with dolphins so that they act as a source to stimulate different skills where certain difficulties have been identified.

This type of animal contribution therapy is usually used in addition to therapy and / or psychic healing of doctors, so that patients get better results and this can be maintained for a certain period of time increasingly. However, it is worth mentioning that dolphin therapy, and other animal-assisted therapies, have given rise to quite a lot of pros and cons because, due to various arguments, a number of activists and therapists do not recommend their use, so we will discuss this in more detail later.

What is this Animal Contribution Therapy Used For?

Bali Dolphin therapy is generally used to treat and improve certain difficulties felt by some people with social, cognitive, emotional and/or psychomotor levels, including. This has been used as a common step with some children with a number of difficulties at the psychomotor level with autism spectrum problems, although this type of therapy has been used by people who suffer from depression problems during trauma, stress symptoms and there are even programs that have been applied to children with Down syndrome and ADHD, with positive results that have been obtained.

It should be noted that dolphin therapy is usually carried out in designated areas of water parks or in centers specialized in this type of therapeutic modality, since they generally have a multidisciplinary team of professionals that includes doctors and/or psychiatrists specialized in this therapeutic modality, so they are responsible for leading the sessions and acting as support for the patient during contact with dolphins.

There are studies that have been carried out on the benefits of animal-assisted therapy, such as dolphin therapy, which state that in combination with other therapeutic modalities such as clinical and psychological healing, it provides motivation to the patient (especially for young children) because the animal can act as an active component, facilitating their involvement in the action.

On the other hand, it has been shown that animal-assisted therapy can stimulate spontaneity in children who are more withdrawn from participating and interacting therapeutically and it has been seen that they can stimulate an increase in the level of focus, attention and stimulation in children because the presence of the animal helps promote multisensory stimulation, being one of the modalities that can be an interesting support for psychological therapy with children who present some difficulties at the social, psychomotor, etc. level.

It is worth mentioning an innovative and interesting step to apply dolphin therapy, namely dolphin therapy used in virtual reality (VR). This is a companion therapy that has been done through a computer program that allows users to interact with dolphins developed with graphics in three dimensions, so that it is hoped that they can get the same benefits as they get when in contact with dolphins but at a lower cost because they can get rid of the same infrastructure as needed to carry out live dolphin therapy.

How Effective Is Dolphin Therapy?

Psychiatric health professionals who defend the use of dolphin therapy recommend it because they have found improvements in the cognitive activity of some people who participate in this therapeutic modality, in addition to the improvements found by the reduction in activation levels, so this calming effect can be recommended for some people with different anxiety problems. However, further research is still needed in this matter to show its effectiveness.

There is research on the efficacy of bali dolphin therapy applied to some children with a number of mental dysfunctions where improvements can be seen in the state of mind, and with language and psychomotor. There is also other research on dolphin therapy with autistic children that has shown a number of positive results such as mood improvement, greater relaxation, increased tolerance for physical fights, increased ability to maintain eye contact, and reduced stereotypical behaviors

There is a thesis that has been developed about the benefits of dolphin therapy that states that the ultrasonic waves that dolphins emit cause people who come into contact with them to produce endorphins, which have great benefits for your mental health. In addition, it has been postulated that contact with dolphins helps people produce neurochemical and neurological changes, which are beneficial both physically and mentally. Because of improvements in psychomotor levels, social levels, language and mood.

Other studies have shown that dolphin therapy can be beneficial for pregnant women because it helps reduce pregnancy discomfort and, on the other hand, On the other hand, there are researchers who explain that the sound waves emitted by dolphins can provide stimulating support for the baby’s nervous system in the womb.

Criticism of Dolphin Therapy

Bali Dolphin therapy has not escaped criticism aimed at its use as a therapeutic modality, a number of arguments that we will comment on below.

One of the arguments why many groups do not see bali dolphin therapy well, such as activists who fight for animal rights and a number of mental health professionals, is because animal-assisted therapy can encourage the confinement of some animals when they could be free in their natural communities. In addition, they oppose dolphin therapy because dolphins are not a local animal species, they have a natural tendency to reject being held in settings such as zoos or aquatic parks.

Another argument why dolphin therapy raises pros and cons is because there is quite a lot of disparity in the scientific community with not enough scientific studies to support the use of this therapy. They cannot show long-term patient improvement, more research is needed on this issue.

Another disadvantage of dolphin therapy is its higher cost compared to other therapeutic modalities, such as psychic therapy, in addition to the initial training required by the user or patient before starting to swim and interact in the water with dolphins, making it an interesting possibility to conduct more research experiments on dolphin therapy in virtual reality.

In support of dolphin therapy, it should be noted that there are many benefits to the mental health of people who come into contact with animals, a tendency that humans have had since prehistoric times. This can also be useful for pets that are well cared for by their keepers. On the other hand, although further research is needed to demonstrate the efficacy of this therapeutic modality, the ones that have been carried out so far have shown quite positive and promising results.

See the bali dolphin marine park here.