“The Sheep Did It Again”: Replication of Animal-Assisted Treatment in Psychiatric Inpatients with Substance Use Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder in a Randomized Controlled Trial

TL;DR

A study found that adding a session with sheep to standard psychiatric treatment improved emotions and mindfulness in patients with substance use disorder and borderline personality disorder.

Contribution

This study replicates and extends prior findings on animal-assisted treatment with sheep in psychiatric inpatients with SUD and BPD.

Findings

In patients with SUD, TAU+AAT showed large effect sizes in improving positive and negative emotions, mindfulness, and self-efficacy.

Similar improvements were observed in patients with BPD following the TAU+AAT intervention.

A single session with sheep as part of AAT consistently improved outcomes across both groups.

Abstract

Background: In an initial pilot study, we investigated an animal-assisted treatment (AAT) procedure with sheep as an adjunct to treatment as usual (TAU+AAT) in psychiatric inpatients with substance use disorder (SUD). Over time, this TAU+AAT intervention significantly reduced negative emotions and improved positive emotions, mindfulness, and self-efficacy expectancy compared to TAU. In the current study, we aimed to replicate these results and extend the investigation to another group of inpatients with difficulties in emotion regulation, namely borderline personality disorder (BPD). Methods: A single-session AAT procedure with sheep in a group setting as an adjunct to treatment as usual (TAU+AAT) was examined in an RCT compared to TAU. A total of 29 psychiatric inpatients with SUD and 31 with BPD were examined (PRE vs. POST) using questionnaires on variables that included positive and negative emotions, mindfulness, and self-efficacy expectations. Results: In the SUD sample, significant effects between PRE and POST, with large effect sizes in all four outcomes, emerged for the TAU+AAT group, in contrast to TAU. In the BPD sample, similar time (PRE vs. POST) and group (TAU+AAT vs. TAU) effects were achieved for all outcomes. Conclusions: Repeatedly, this TAU+AAT intervention, which involved a single session with sheep, improved in all outcomes. Sheep seem to be suitable for AAT with a focus on mindfulness.

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