Analysis of child—dog play behavior in child psychiatry

Children have a natural affinity for animals and most often communicate with them nonverbally; nonverbal communication is authentic and difficult to influence deliberately. This study examines whether characteristic interaction patterns exist during pet-facilitated therapy with dogs, and whether these can be used for diagnosing psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents. Forty children and adolescents with anorexia, bulimia, anxiety disorder or autism (classified according to the International Classification of Diseases – ICD 10) were monitored while in the same room as a therapy dog; their behavior during a 25-minute encounter was video-recorded and analyzed. The patients demonstrated significant diagnosis-specific behavioral differences; the greatest differences were found when the autistic patients were compared with the anxiety and eating disorder patients. The autistic children's behavior was characterized by many brief interaction phases, whereas anxiety disorder patients interacted less often, with longer lasting episodes. While autistic children showed greater fear of the dog, anxiety disorder patients were more afraid of inter-human contact. A discriminant analysis assigned 77.5% of the patients to the correct diagnostic group. Child–dog interaction analysis can provide a valuable contribution to the psycho-diagnosis of children and adolescents.