LAUSR

In a recent Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry (CCPP) editorial (Brazier, 2014) titled Creature Comfort? Animal assistance in therapeutic work with children and young people, Anna Brazier observed that the journals’ readership had shown great interest in articles we had published on the subject of animal-assisted psychotherapy (AAP) (Bachi, Terkel, & Teichman, 2012; ParishPlass, 2008). This issue’s special section on AAP was conceived from that editorial. When Anna asked us to serve as guest editors for a section focusing on AAP, we were excited about the opportunity to present a taste of this unique psychotherapy modality demonstrating the breadth and depth of the field from the points of theory, research, and practice. The conceptualization of modern AAP can be attributed to Dr Boris Levinson in the 1960s, first presenting his experiences of the effects of the animals on the therapy process at the 1961 conference of the American Psychological Association (Levinson, 1962) and later in articles and books (e.g. Levinson, 1965, 1984; Levinson & Mallon, 1997). Yet it has been informally practiced since psychotherapy was in its infancy. Accompanied in therapy sessions by his dog Jofi, Sigmund Freud often commented on Jofi’s behavior and moods to his clients, referring to them as a reflection of processes happening in the client (Grinker, 2013). As the psychological and physiological gains from human–animal interactions became more apparent, academic exploration of the human–animal bond expanded (Beck & Katcher, 1996; Katcher & Beck, 1983; Melson, 2001; Myers, 2007). Numerous types of interventions took advantage of the human–animal bond to promote healthy development and to ameliorate unhealthy conditions in humans (Fine, 2015). These interventions were romanticized and often referred to as therapy, even though, in most cases, no trained therapist was involved. Not only in the general public but also among mental health professionals, a notion exists that animal-assisted therapy is a matter of patting a dog to feel good or riding a horse to gain confidence (Parish-Plass, 2016). There are those who even refer to the animal as the therapist, which is not possible because the animal is not aware of either the goals or the process of therapy. Rather, the animal serves as a stimulus for the process or a facilitator. Few realize that AAP is a clinical field based on accepted principles and goals of psychotherapy and that the integration of animals into the therapy setting, by a therapist who understands the opportunities provided by the human–animal bond, may expand these principles to further advance the therapy process. AAP is utilized with various populations across the lifespan, such as at-risk children and youth (Bachi et al., 2012; Balluerka, Muela, Amiano, & Caldentey, 2015; Parish-Plass, 2008; Tedeschi, Sisa, Olmert, Parish-Plass, & Yount, 2015), pervasive developmental disorders (O’Haire, 2012), 672549 CCP0010.1177/1359104516672549Clinical Child Psychology and PsychiatryEditorial editorial2016