Dolphin Therapy (Dolphin Assisted Therapy)

Dolphin therapy pairs patients (often children with cognitive disabilities) with captive dolphins, on the model of David Nathanson's protocols beginning in 1978 in Florida, who claimed an acceleration of language and motor learning. The author presents the claimed domain as unusually broad (autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, ADHD, depression), which in itself constitutes a first critical signal. He reports the explanatory registers (including the echo-sonar hypothesis of the dolphin's ultrasound) while signaling their uneven plausibility and their argued demolition by Brensing, Linke and Todt in 2003. A chapter presented with strong critical distance and sensitivity to the ethical stakes of captivity.

This therapy is covered in detail (principles, indications, protocol, level of evidence) in Volume 7 of the Mémento des Psychothérapies. See the volume.