Ethics of Animal-Assisted Psychotherapy

Author(s):  
Karin Hediger ◽  
Herwig Grimm ◽  
Andreas Aigner

Animal-assisted psychotherapy is increasingly popular and attracts considerable attention in science. Integrating animals into therapy aims at generating added value in health and well-being of humans as well as non-human animals. This approach is reflected in the One Health perspective. However, animal-assisted psychotherapy raises issues regarding the ethical standards in the therapy setting in general and ethical reflections about our responsibilities towards therapy animals in particular. According to a dominant account in animal ethics, our moral obligations are based on welfare concerns. But this approach can be supplemented by a contextual view that highlights the moral relevance of particular relationships in animal-assisted psychotherapy. Therapy animals place moral duties on the therapist that go beyond welfare considerations and can be based on relation-based reasoning in the therapeutic context.

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-86
Author(s):  
Adelin-Costin Dumitru ◽  

When it comes to specifying the moral duties we bear towards future generations, most political philosophers position themselves on what could be regarded as a safe ground. A variant of the Lockean proviso is commonplace in the literature on intergenerational justice, taking the form of an obligation to bestow upon future people a minimum of goods necessary for reaching a certain threshold of well-being (Meyer, 2017). Furthermore, even this minimum is often frowned upon, given the non-identity problem and the challenges this presents to the topic of justice between generations. Additional issues are raised at the level of non-ideal theory, the most significant being the problem of non-compliance (Gosseries and Meyer, 2009).In this paper I intend to probe the limits of “practical political possibility” (Rawls 1999), by inquiring whether embracing the sufficiency view (Frankfurt, 1987; Crisp, 2003; Benbaji, 2005) as a distributive pattern and capabilities as a metric can lead to more burdensome obligations for present generations. More specifically, I try to show that we have a duty to invest in research that aims at prolonging the lifespan of humans (the idea can already be found in the sufficientarian literature, for instance in Farrelly, 2007). Moreover, given the Earth’s limited resources, we ought to encourage the terraforming of other planets in order to make them inhabitable for (future) people.I argue that these two seemingly far-fetched projects are in fact worthwhile goals to pursue on the one hand, and moral obligations on the other hand. Nonetheless, they are not the only ones we ought to take on; for instance, we must simultaneously pursue them and try to improve the prospects of those who fall under a sufficiency threshold here and now. That is, specifying these (prima facie) duties towards future generations is connected with stronger obligations towards the current generation.Towards the end of the paper I engage in a discussion regarding the role of the feasibility constraint in a theory of justice, as rationales pertaining to feasibility are perhaps going to be the most recurrent criticisms raised against my proposal. To that end, I defend limitarian policies, which aim at setting an upper limit to how much money individuals are allowed to possess (Robeyns, 2017; Volacu and Dumitru, 2019).


Author(s):  
Vlad Glăveanu

This chapter addresses why people engage in creativity. This question can be answered at different levels. On the one hand, one can refer to what motivates creative people to do what they do. On the other hand, the question addresses a deeper level, that of how societies today are built and how they, in turn, construct the meaning and value of creativity. Nowadays, people consider creativity intrinsically valuable largely because of its direct and indirect economic benefits. However, creative expression also has a role for health and well-being. Creativity also relates to meaning in life. The chapter then considers how creativity can be used for good or for evil.


Author(s):  
Adriana Aubert ◽  
Ramon Flecha

Recent scientific literature has published about the Isolating Gender Violence (IGV), the violence exerted by harassers against those who support their victims. IGV provokes suffering to advocates with health and well-being consequences that have been analyzed by more recent research; but IGV provokes also suffering on the victims of gender violence when they see the suffering of those who have supported them and also for their isolation. Thus, the aim of the present study is to explore the health and well-being consequences of IGV on gender violence survivors. The methodology includes three narratives of gender violence survivors whose advocates supporting them were victimized by IGV. The results show, on the one hand, an increase of the health and well-being effects of gender violence already analyzed by scientific literature; on the other hand, new health and well-being effects appear. All survivors interviewed say that, besides those new consequences for their health, the support of those advocates has decreased the global health effects of the total gender violence they suffered.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Dorfman ◽  
Igor Grossmann ◽  
David A Moscovitch

Folk beliefs and philosophers have long suggested that mastering adversity contributes to growth in wisdom –adaptability to the situation, perspectivism, dialectical thinking, and epistemic humility. But existing research on outcomes of adversity suggests a puzzle. On the one hand, cross-sectional studies have found adversity leads to post-traumatic growth in personal strengths such as wisdom. On the other hand, focus on adverse experiences exacerbates negative emotions and thoughts and undermines health and well-being over time. Our chapter highlights the idea that outcomes of adversity may depend on one’s mindset when reflecting on the adverse experience. Adopting a self-distanced mindset rather than the habitual self-focused or self-immersed mindset is likely to enhance wise characteristics. We review evidence-based advances in the study of daily adversity and wisdom, specifically focusing on utilizing longitudinal and experimental methodologies, and address future questions and clinical implications of self-distanced mindsets for growth in wisdom.


2012 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 76-88
Author(s):  
Céline Grünhagen

This article combines two very interesting fields of research: the one concerning issues of health and well-being in ‘post-secular’ religious practices, the other one striving towards a wider recognition and comprehension of the aural or acoustic side of religions and religious practice, respectively. Due to their favourable qualities, singing and chanting are increasingly implemented in therapeutic programmes. The Singing Hospitals is an international network of medical professionals, music therapists, musicologists, neurobiologists and related groups or initiatives. They aim to promote the beneficial effects of singing for health and healing in healthcare settings on an international level. The potential to experience transcendence and to be affirmed in one’s own spirituality as it is ascribed to chanting accords with its beneficial effects on human health. In post-secular societies the human body, mind and psyche are increasingly understood as being interwoven with the world and the cosmos and with other human, non-human and also divine beings.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (14) ◽  
pp. 5829 ◽  
Author(s):  
George H. Ionescu ◽  
Daniela Firoiu ◽  
Anca Tănasie ◽  
Tudor Sorin ◽  
Ramona Pîrvu ◽  
...  

In this period of extreme changes in our society, issues related to the health and well-being of citizens are considered essential for the future of a united and prosperous Europe. Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at EU level by 2030 requires hard work done in a transformative way in order to implement a set of coherent, evidence-informed policies that address health, well-being and all their determinants throughout the course of life and across all sectors of government and society. The objective of this paper is to assess the stage of fulfillment of all SDG targets in relation to health and well-being at EU level, based on the current trend of each indicator, for each EU member country. Based on the Eurostat SDG data set for 2007–2018, the individual trends were forecast using the AAA (Holt-Winters) version of the exponential smoothing (ETS) algorithm. The research results are surprising, on the one hand showing the possibility that some targets will be reached, but also indicating that a large percentage of targets will not be reached if the current trend is continued, especially due to disruptive change generated by the current pandemic. There is a need to increase the involvement of all member states, but also ensure a deeper involvement at the level of EU institutions, to provide full support for meeting the targets proposed by the 2030 Agenda, ensuring prosperity and health for all European citizens, and becoming a model for all the states of the world.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (Suppl. 1) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Denis Horgan ◽  
Alastair Kent

Innovation is a major pillar in bringing new, targeted medicines to patients. In the health arena, this means the translation of knowledge into what we can call “value.” The latter covers the value to patients but must also take into account value to healthcare systems, society and, of course, manufacturers. The EU has recognised that innovations in healthcare can contribute to the health and well-being of citizens and patients through access to new products, services and treatments with added value. It is also aware that in order to stimulate development, there is a need to facilitate the translation of scientific advances into innovative medicinal products that meet regulatory standards, accelerate patients' access to new therapies and are affordable to Member States' health systems. Early dialogue between technology developers, regulators, health technology assessment and, where relevant, pricing bodies will promote innovation and quicker access to medicines at affordable prices, for the benefit of patients. But while uncertainties in healthcare policy still exist, a request by the European Ombudsman to the European Medicines Agency to provide more information about its early dialogue procedures questions the above “early dialogue” principal. It raises the issue of what the EU aims to do with its health regulation in bringing innovation to the patient. Is this added uncertainty about the hereto trusted role of the EMA a welcome development? Not necessarily.


2021 ◽  
pp. 136754942110557
Author(s):  
Bridget Conor

In this article, I’ll outline the phenomenon of ‘cosmic wellness’ which is now visible across on- and offline spaces that promote health and well-being products and practices to women. Cosmic wellness is a broad constellation of media, discourse, imagery, materials and foods (including crystals, dust and herbs) produced primarily by white, wealthy women. On the one hand, cosmic wellness can be read as a digital food culture that offers healthy and potentially necessary responses to fiercely neoliberal modes of working and living. But conversely, it is framed as the newest example of narcissistic self-absorption and, more seriously, as unhealthy and dangerous. Cosmic wellness is founded on various beliefs, including the moral necessity of pursuing the optimisation of self and the power of markets to provide the ingredients, tools and practices to achieve it. It is connected to histories that chart the incorporation of New Age health and well-being practices into ‘mainstream’ forms of lifestyle production and consumption and the simultaneous derision of these practices, especially when used and promoted by women. But there is also something new about cosmic wellness, especially as it is visible online on platforms such as Instagram. In the article, I outline the key features of cosmic wellness and analyse its contemporary cultural purchase, using theories of digital food cultures, spiritual production and consumption, postfeminism and critical whiteness studies. The article then conducts empirical analysis of a series of Instagram posts from one prominent space in which cosmic wellness currently circulates: Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle and wellness business Goop.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew James Shapiro

This collection offers a rich diversity of perspectives on what has come to be known as “biological citizenship,” or “biocitizenship.” Quoting Nikolas Rose, editors Johnson, Happe, and Levina define biocitizenship as comprising “all those citizenship projects that have linked their conceptions of citizens to beliefs about the biological existence of human beings, as individuals, as men and women, as families and lineages, as communities, as populations and as species” (P. 1). On the one hand, biocitizenship entails the positive, active efforts of human beings demanding their rights to health and well-being. On the other hand, biocitizenship is also understood as an extension of ‘biopolitics’ in the Foucauldian sense, so that biocitizenship disciplines and controls subjects even as it affords them certain rights. While this duality and its various complexities have generated a sizeable body of literature, there has to date been no edited volume on the subject of biocitizenship. Johnson, Happe, and Levina helpfully fill this gap, bringing together disparate voices from various disciplines into a volume that is provocative and insightful.


2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (2-3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jernej Buzeti

Stanje razmer v organizaciji se lahko zaznava, meri in predstavlja z različnih vidikov – tudi z vidika varnega in zdravega delovnega okolja. Učinki takšnega delovnega okolja se odražajo na zaposlenih oziroma na njihovem zdravju in počutju ter na rezultatih dela. Vloga zdravja in dobrega počutja zaposlenih v delovnem okolju je pomembna, saj pomeni eno ključnih determinant, ki vplivajo na uspešnost organizacije na eni strani in na drugi strani na prisotnost oziroma odsotnost zaposlenih z dela ter na drugo čustveno dojemanje dela in organizacije zaposlenih. Članek se osredotoča na predstavitev raziskav, projektov oziroma dobrih praks s področja izvajanja promocije zdravja in dobrega počutja zaposlenih v delovnem okolju, s ciljem predstaviti rezultate raziskav in projektov o donosnosti finančnih investicij v promocijo zdravja in dobrega počutja zaposlenih v delovnem okolju ter predstaviti dobre prakse s tega področja. Rezultati proučevanja kažejo, da obstajajo številni primeri projektov oziroma programov izvajanja promocije zdravja in dobrega počutja zaposlenih v delovnem okolju in so finančni učinki vloženih finančnih sredstev v zdravje in dobro počutje zaposlenih dolgoročno donosni. Slednje se odraža zlasti v zmanjšanju števila izgubljenih delovnih dni, kar je neposredno posledica boljšega zdravja in dobrega počutja zaposlenih v delovnem okolju.The conditions in an organization can be perceived, measured and represented through various aspects – including the aspect of a safe and healthy workplace. The effects of such workplace reflect in the employees, namely in their health and well-being as well as in their work results. Health and well-being of the employees play an important role in the workplace as they represent one of the key determinants that have an impact on the organization’s performance on the one hand, and the employees’ presence or absence from work, as well as the employees’ acceptance of the work and organization on the other hand. This paper focuses on the presentation of studies, projects and good practices in the field of implementing the promotion of health and well-being of the employees in the workplace with the aim to present the findings of the studies and projects regarding the relevance of financial investments in the promotion of health and well-being of the employees in the workplace and to present good practices in this field. The study results have shown that there are numerous cases of projects and programs designed to implement the promotion of health and well-being of the employees in the workplace and that the financial impacts of the financial resources invested in health and well-being of the employees are relevant in the long term. The latter especially reflects through the aspect of reducing the number of working days lost due to employees’ absence from work which arises directly as a result of improved health and well-being of the employees in the workplace.


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