DOLPHIN-ASSISTED THERAPY

A DISCUSSION PAPER

Lori Marino, Ph.D., Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology Program, Emory University
Scott O Lilienfeld, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, Emory University

Abstract
Proponents of Dolphin-Assisted Therapy (DAT) make expansive claims of its effectiveness at
treating patients with clinical disorders and diseases ranging from autism and epilepsy to cancer
and AIDS. However, there is no scientific evidence to substantiate these claims. Scientific
evidence actually suggests that DAT is associated with potential harm to both humans and
dolphins. Human harm can include direct injury from aggressive behavior to an increased
chance of bacterial, viral, and fungal infection. Harm to dolphins can include capture from the
wild, separation from mates, and confinement, all of which may lead to severe stress and a
predisposition to act aggressively.

Background
DAT is a practice whereby sufferers of certain clinical disorders are subjected to direct,
supervised contact with confined dolphins. DAT practitioners claim that this practice provides
treatment for these various conditions. DAT has become increasingly popular since its
commencement in 1970’s. Sessions can cost from hundreds of dollars for a single session to
thousands for an extended session of a week or longer. There are currently facilities all over the
world including the United States, Mexico, Israel, Russia, Japan, China, and the Bahamas.
Disorders variously claimed to be treatable with DAT include autism, microcephaly (a
congenital disorder resulting in an underdeveloped brain), epilepsy, Down syndrome, cerebral
palsy, multiple sclerosis, depression, AIDS, and cancer.

The Purported Benefits of DAT Discussed

Proponents of DAT claim that the practice gives significant benefit to the patients in terms of
their condition. Purported benefits range from increased stimulation, improved memory and
motor skills, accelerated healing of disease, and increased well-being. DAT proponents often
attempt to appear scientific by using terms that sound technical but lack meaning, such as “bio-
physical healing”, or by using genuine scientific terms that are taken out of context, such as
“hemispheric synchronization.” The use of “obscurantist language” is a common ploy used by
pseudoscience practitioners to mislead unsuspecting clients into believing that they are
advancing legitimate scientific claims.1 The following discussion presents each of these claims
in turn followed by a discussion on the merits of the claim based on the scientific literature
currently available.

Enhanced Concentration
DAT proponents argue that it provides a rewarding stimulus that increases patients’ attention and
motivation to learn.2, 3 Proponents assert that mentally handicapped children suffer from
attention deficits rather than information processing difficulties and that, consequently, DAT is
 Dolphin-Assisted Therapy
A Discussion Paper
December 2006
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an effective way to enhance learning, memory, motor skills, and language in those with
intellectual disabilities.

Discussion: Independent reviews show that the research used to substantiate this claim is
seriously flawed and lacks scientific support.4, 5 Moreover, this claim about the basis of learning
deficiencies is at odds with current expert knowledge on the etiology of these disorders.6 A
recent review of other DAT papers7 concludes that there is no compelling evidence that DAT is a
legitimate therapy for any of the disorders purported to be treatable in these articles.8
Furthermore, a former prominent practitioner and proponent of DAT has also concluded that
DAT is therapeutically ineffective.9

Shift in Brainwaves
Some proponents also claim that DAT facilitates a shift in brain waves from alpha to theta
rhythms (the “alpha-theta crossover”).10, 11 In this way they purport to show that DAT produces
a specific and measurable effect on brain function.

Discussion: This phenomenon is widely held to be merely a nonspecific shift from alertness to
relaxation that occurs throughout a normal day and associated with calmness or drowsiness. The
same results could be obtained merely by encouraging participants to go to sleep. This claim is
also in conflict with other DAT proponents who state that DAT enhances alertness, through an
increase in alpha waves – not theta waves.12

Sound as a Healing Force

DAT proponents claim that ultrasound from the echolocation emitted by dolphins exerts an
electro-mechanical affect on patients’ endocrine and neural systems and thus influences
healing.13, 14 They state that after swimming with dolphins, patients exhibit more theta waves
than alpha waves.

Discussion: As already discussed, this change in brainwaves can be attributed to a more relaxed
state and therefore does not demonstrate any specific therapeutic effects of dolphin ultrasound.
There is no scientific evidence that dolphin echolocation can heal, nor that dolphins echolocate
on humans in a manner even minimally consistent with this claim. One particular study found
that dolphins did not echolocate on patients long enough to meet the minimal requirements for
common ultrasound therapies, that most of the dolphins did not differentiate between patients
and other swimmers and even the lone dolphin that spent the most time with patients did not stay
with them long enough to produce ultrasound stimulation equivalent to that applied by medical
practitioners.15

Biophilia (reconnection with nature)

DAT proponents claim that contact with dolphins produces the intense emotions and feelings of
reconnection with biophilia which enhances well-being in patients.16, 17

Discussion: There is no evidence that DAT, particularly as practiced in a captive setting, exerts a
significant effect on enhancing a “reconnection with nature”. This vague effect is also difficult
to even define, let alone measure. It is likely that interacting with dolphins in an attractive
natural setting is pleasurable for many individuals as is being exposed to any scenic nature
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A Discussion Paper
December 2006
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settings, without dolphins. Nor is there any evidence that such positive effects, if present, endure
beyond DAT sessions.

The Potential Harm from DAT

Studies show that swimming with dolphins in captivity can be dangerous with many documented
incidents of aggressive behaviors (threats, biting, and ramming) towards swimmers.18, 19, 20, 21
Broken bones, severe bruises, and fractured ribs requiring hospitalization are not uncommon.
Additionally, there is the risk of bacterial, viral, and fungal infection.22 There are currently no
USDA-enforced safety regulations on DAT.

DAT may also be harmful to dolphins. Many DAT facilities outside the U.S. obtain dolphins
from the wild in ways that cause severe stress and injury in those animals that survive and are
placed in aquaria. In the U.S., where wild capture is forbidden, the aforementioned studies show
that the severe stress and abnormal social conditions of captivity can predispose dolphins to act
aggressively.

Conclusion
There is no scientific evidence that DAT is therapeutically effective for any of the disorders the
proponents claim to be able to treat. Claims of treatment are often couched in pseudo-scientific
terms to confuse clients. Three review studies conclude that the testing methods used in DAT
studies are inadequate to provide evidence for any lasting physiological or mental health
effects.23, 24, 25 Moreover, there is evidence that human-dolphin interactions can lead to harm to
humans and harm to dolphins.

1
van Rillaer J (1991) Strategies of dissimulation in the pseudosciences. New Ideas in Psychology 9: 233-244.
2
Nathanson DE (1998) Long-term effectiveness of dolphin-assisted therapy for children with severe disabilities.
Anthrozoos, 11(1):22-32.
3
Nathanson DE, de Castro D, Friend H, McMahon M (1997) Effectiveness of short-term dolphin-assisted therapy
for children with severe disabilities. Anthrozoos 10: 90-100.
4
Humphries TL (2003) Effectiveness of dolphin-assisted therapy as a behavioral intervention for young children
with disabilities. Bridges: Practice-Based Research Synthesis 1(6): 1-9.
5
Marino L, Lilienfeld SO (1998). Dolphin-assisted therapy: flawed data, flawed conclusions. Anthrozoos 11: 194-
200.
6
Ibid.
7
Antonioli C, Reveley MA (2005) Randomized controlled trial of animal facilitated therapy with dolphins in the
treatment of depression. British Medical Journal 331: 1231 – 1234; Iikura Y, Sakamoto Y, Imai , Akai L,
Matsuoka T, Sugihara K, Utumi M, Tomikawa M (2001) Dolphin-assisted seawater therapy for severe atopic
dermatitis: an immunological and psychological study. Archives of Allergy and Immunology 124: 389 - 390;
Lukina LN (1999) Influence of dolphin-assisted therapy sessions on the functional state of children with
psychoneurological symptoms of diseases. Human Physiology 25: 676- 679; Servais,V (1999) Some comments on
context embodiment in zootherapy: the case of the autodolfijn project. Anthrozoos 12: 5-15; Webb NL,
Drummond PD (2001) The effect of swimming with dolphins on human well-being and anxiety. Anthrozoos 14:
81-85.
8
Marino L, Lilienfeld SO (in press). Dolphin assisted therapy: more flawed data, more flawed conclusions.
Anthrozoos. in press.
 Dolphin-Assisted Therapy
A Discussion Paper
December 2006
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9
Smith B (2003) The discovery and development of dolphin-assisted therapy. In: Between Species, celebrating the
dolphin-human bond. Eds T. Frohoff and B Peterson. Published by Sierra Club Books. p 239-246.
10
Aqua Thought Foundation. http://www.aquathought.com.
11
De bergerac O (1999) The Dolphin Within. Australia: Simon & Schuster.
12
Nathanson, 1998.
13
Birch S (1997) Dolphin-human interaction effects. Doctoral Thesis, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Systems
Engineering, Monash University, Caulfield Campus.
14
Cole DM (1996) Phenomenological effect of dolphin interaction on humans. International Symposium on Dolphin
Healing. AquaThought Foundation, pp. 1-7.
15
Brensing K, Linke K, Todt D (2003) Can dolphins heal by ultrasound. Journal of Theoretical Biology 225: 99-
105.
16
Wilson EO (1984) Biophilia. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.
17
Antonioli and Reveley (2005).
18
Frohoff TG, Packard JM (1995) "Interactions between humans and free-ranging and captive bottlenose dolphins."
Anthrozoös 8(1): 44-54.
19
Samuels A, Spradlin T (1995) Quantitative behavioral study of bottlenose dolphins in swim-with-the-dolphin
programs in the United States. Marine Mammal Science 11: 520-544.
20
Webster LS, Neil DT, and Madden CA (1998) Dolphin-initiated inter- and intra-specific contact and aggression
during provisioning at Tangalooma. Special Topic report, Department of Geographical Sciences and Planning and
School of Marine Science, The University of Queensland.
21
Frohoff TG (2000) Behavioral Indicators of Stress in Odontocetes During Interactions with Humans: A
Preliminary Review and Discussion. International Whaling Commission Scientific Committee, SC/52/WW2. 20
pp.
22
Buck CD, Schroeder JP (1990) Public health significance of marine mammal diseases, in Handbook of Marine
Mammal Medicine: Health, Disease, and Rehabilitation, ed. L.A. Dierauf, pp. 163-173, CRC Press, Cleveland,
OH. (A review of reported cases of humans infected with micro-organisms acquired from direct contact with
various marine mammals is presented.)
23
Humphries, 2003
24
Marino and Lilienfeld, 1998
25
Marino and Lilienfeld, in press.