Effect of aquariums on electroconvulsive therapy patients

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of an aquarium on pre-treatment anxiety, fear. frustration, and depression in electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) patients. Forty-two patients consecutively referred for ECT were rotated between rooms with and without aquariums. Self report measures of depression, anxiety, fear, and frustration were obtained, along with heart rate and blood pressure measurements. Preliminary mixed-model, repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed no significant differences between the aquarium and control conditions on any of the dependent measures. A trend toward significance was found for self reported anxiety (p=0.08) and further data were collected. Subsequent mixed model, repeated measures ANOVA confirmed the trend toward differences (p=0.08) in anxiety between the aquarium and control conditions. Factoring out demographic factors, the average patient experienced 12% less anxiety in the presence of an aquarium.

Anxiety-Reducing Effect: Dog, Fish and Plant in Direct Comparison

“…The current results thus demonstrate that engaging in contact with a dog, a fish, or a plant for an intervention time of no longer than 5 minutes can result in anxiety alleviation in a non-clinical setting. It may be surprising that the three experimental groups did not statistically differ from each other, as previous studies have shown different results; for example, only a trend toward significance for contact with fish (Barker, Rasmussen and Best 2003). The fact that the methodological settings (including the experimenter), the measuring instruments, and the duration of the intervention period were all identical for the experimental and control groups may be responsible for this finding.…”

“…Using the public speech paradigm, it has been discovered that interaction with a therapy dog and its handler alleviates subjective anxiety in students before giving a public speech, whereas interaction with a friendly person does not (Morgan 2009). Although less popular in empirical studies, even fish show a trend toward reducing anxiety (Barker, Rasmussen and Best 2003). In Barker, Rasmussen and Best's (2003) study it was shown that when comparing patients attending electroconvulsive therapy in a room, either with or without a fish tank, a trend toward a lower level of anxiety was found in the group of patients who had the fish tank compared with those patients who did not.…”

“…Although less popular in empirical studies, even fish show a trend toward reducing anxiety (Barker, Rasmussen and Best 2003). In Barker, Rasmussen and Best's (2003) study it was shown that when comparing patients attending electroconvulsive therapy in a room, either with or without a fish tank, a trend toward a lower level of anxiety was found in the group of patients who had the fish tank compared with those patients who did not. But animals do not seem to be the only living beings that have such effects, as plants also show an anxietyalleviation effect in patients recovering from surgery (Park and Mattson 2008).…”

Critical Review of Research Methods Used to Consider the Impact of Human–Animal Interaction on Older Adults’ Health

“…Most studies of the health effects of pet ownership rely on cross-sectional observational studies comparing people who own pets with people who do not (Barker, Rasmussen, & Best, 2003). Cross-sectional observational studies of the relationship between pet owner and health range from studies using convenience samples or small groups to studies involving nationally representative samples/surveys (Parslow, Jorm, Christensen, Rodgers, & Jacomb, 2005).…”

The Relationship Between Bonding with Nonhuman Animals and Students' Attitudes Toward Science

“…Bonding with animals has been found to affect the general emotional well being of people (Levinson, 1984;Mason & Hagan, 1999;Poresky, Hendrix, Mosier, & Samuelson, 1988;Risley-Curtiss, Holley, & Wolf, 2006). Animals have specifically been shown to reduce anxiety and fear prior to patients undergoing medical treatment (Barker, Pandurangi, & Best, 2003;Barker, Rasmussen, & Best, 2003) and for health care professionals (Barker, Pandurangi et al, 2003). Contact with animals has also been shown to have positive physiological effects (Hoffman, 1991;Wells, 1998) and to provide companionship for the elderly (Banks & Banks, 2005) and especially for children of single parents (Bodsworth & Coleman, 2001).…”