Swimming with dolphins
[1][2] Proponents of dolphin-assisted therapy (DAT) say that interacting with dolphins can help to treat mental and physical disorders in humans, but there is limited clinical evidence proving its benefits.
[2] DAT is often claimed to help children and adults with autism,[2] as well as other conditions including depression, cerebral palsy,[9] encephalopathy, Down's syndrome, atopic dermatitis,[2] muscular dystrophy, spinal cord injuries, and attention deficit disorder.
[11] Smith observed that two wild dolphins, adolescents who were normally aggressive,[10] were surprisingly gentle around her mentally disabled brother,[4] and that his mood and abilities had improved after playing with them.
[4] In 1978, Dr. David Nathanson, an American clinical psychologist born in Glasgow,[14] started language experiments using swimming with dolphins as a motivator in teaching children with Down's Syndrome at Ocean World in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
[15][16] Nathanson found that when children were rewarded with dolphin swims for giving correct responses, they learned four times faster and retained information for longer.
[14] From 1988 to 1994, he ran a Dolphin Research Center in Grassy Key, Florida,[11] which proved popular with families who were willing to pay a considerable expense for the therapy;[14] it was even said to have helped some severely disabled children regain speech.
[15] In 1995, he moved his Dolphin Human Therapy centre to Key Largo, offering services for disabilities including learning difficulties, brain and spinal cord injuries, blindness, deafness, and other sensory handicaps.
[15] In 2003, Betsy Smith publicly renounced DAT,[11][2] criticizing the fact that it had become driven by monetary gain rather than empirical evidence supporting its effectiveness,[11] and argued that there is nothing unique about using dolphins specifically for the type of behavioral therapy carried out by Nathanson.
[11] One of the most popular theories is that when dolphins produce "clicks" as part of echolocation, they emit an ultrasound that stimulates the human endocrine and neural systems, helping to heal body tissue and cell structure.
[11] Analysis of patients' brain wave patterns using electroencephalography (EEG) scans have suggested that DAT produces a temporary "nonspecific relaxation effect", but it is unclear how this connects to therapeutic benefits for specific conditions such as autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
[2] In a major review of the literature through 2020, Lori Marino and Scott O. Lilienfeld point out that many of the patients in Nathanson's studies had neurological disorders such as cerebral palsy that are not linked to attention deficits.
[2] Even for patients with autism, they argue, "the minimal nature of the intervention of swimming with dolphins strains credulity as an adequate treatment for such a profound, complex, and lifelong disorder as ASD.
[17] Lori Marino of Emory University has stated, "Dolphin-assisted therapy is not a valid treatment for any disorder", with no scientific evidence for long-term benefits, and that at best, it affords "fleeting improvements in mood.
[9] In 2005, psychiatrists from the University of Leicester published a report in the British Medical Journal on a study which found that patients with depression experienced significant improvements in mood after swimming and snorkelling with dolphins.
[6] According to the Department of Conservation in New Zealand, boat tours offering passengers the chance to swim with dolphin pods had upset their normal resting and feeding behaviour, and led to a 75 percent mortality rate among calves.
