Dogs have been known to sniff out malignant tumours or anticipate epileptic seizures in their owners

Pet therapy” used to mean sending your sad pooch to see a doggy shrink. These days, however, your pet is less likely to see a therapist than to be one.

The change is down to the growing scientific evidence demonstrating the therapeutic potential of animals.

Guide dogs, or hearing dogs, which are trained to help people with physical disabilities, are already part of the American consciousness. But now dogs, cats, horses —and even rabbits or fish — are being used to provide psychiatric assistance to humans suffering from agoraphobia, addiction, depression and schizophrenia.

In the US, where this trend began, the notion of “emotional support animals” has become so mainstream that a pet which helps you to stay sane now has the same legal rights in housing and transportation (including air travel) as a guide dog.

This is not, apparently, as crazy as it sounds. According to Ingrid Collins, a consultant psychologist at the London Medical Centre, the idea of an emotional support dog getting these rights is completely valid. “A pet is better than Prozac,” she says. “Animals have a completely different agenda to humans, and bring things back to basics. They want comfort, feeding and love. In return, they give huge affection.”

This calming, restorative doggy function means that canines in America are now commonly used as companions for people suffering depression or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. “Depressed people tend to be inward looking,” says Collins. “To care for another soul, an uncomplicated one, is therefore extremely therapeutic.”

It is not only dogs that can help people with psychiatric problems, says Collins. Even a rabbit can be beneficial. “The simple benefit of touch, for someone who is lonely — perhaps after a divorce or bereavement — or suffering from low self-esteem, is enormous,” she says.

What is more, she adds, animals, unlike spouses or bosses, can be highly tuned to a human’s emotional state.

This notion lies behind an emerging form of psychotherapy that uses horses to treat people with psychiatric problems. “Equine Assisted Psychotherapy” (EAP) originated in the States, but is now being practised in Britain.

“Horses are a mirror to humans: a horse will pick up on someone’s mental state and react to it clearly,” says Wendy Powell, addictions therapist at the Stepps Rehabilitation Centre in Gloucestershire. “Horses, unlike people, do not worry about hurting your feelings.”

EAP therapists set their clients horsey tasks such as feeding or grooming. This helps people to face their fears and to build self-confidence. In the two years that Stepps has been using EAP, horses have helped dysfunctional families, warring couples, addicts, and people with eating disorders, anger issues and depression. “It is a very powerful therapeutic method,” says Powell. “When you are faced with a ton and a half of horse, there is no hiding your true feelings.”

Some pet benefits are physical: dogs have been known to sniff out malignant tumours or anticipate epileptic seizures in their owners and to lower cholesterol levels and blood pressure. A recent British study found that the presence of a dog during potentially painful medical procedures reduced chronically ill children’s physiological and psychological levels of distress. Research from Israel, meanwhile, suggests that animals can help people with schizophrenia to feel calmer and more motivated.

The psychological support potential of animals is now being studied in depth too. “Studies have found that merely having a dog in the room acts as a stress buffer,” says Wells. “In trials of people doing stressful tasks, such as mental arithmetic, individuals functioned better when there was a dog in the room.”

If you suffer from agoraphobia, anxiety disorders, or are simply debilitated by low self-esteem, taking your “emotional support pet” with you on trips to a café or supermarket could also be a psychological bonus. Indeed, if you are really debilitated, the presence of your pet could mean the difference between going out or staying home.