Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Human–Animal Relationships As Modulators Of Trauma Effects In Children: A Developmental Neurobiological Perspective, Janet G. Yorke

Doctoral Dissertations

Humans and animals interaction is showing promise as a way to provide complementary and alternative medicine for humans. Children have an affinity for animals that could be useful therapeutically. Emotional stress and trauma impacts the neurobiology of children, who are vulnerable given the developmental plasticity of the brain. Some research suggests that neuropeptides and neuromodulators in both humans and the animals are mutually altered through human animal interaction, resulting in the attenuation of stressful responses in both (Yorke, in press; McCabe & Albano, 2004; Uvnas-Moberg, 2009). Human or animal touch, proximity and mind body interaction has been found to contribute …