Slaughter House 9: Part 1
Thursday, September 4th, 2008In and around 1963 Dr Temple Grandin discovered one of the key therapies in reducing anxiety in people with autism. A therapy that is still being used in clinics today. The therapy is know as the squeeze box and is based on a piece of cattle handling equipment. Temple Grandin was 16 at the time and suffering from the severe symptoms of autism.
She had been sent to her aunts farm for the summer where she discovered her fascination with animals. She was particularly fascinated with watching the cattle in the squeeze chute, a device for holding the animal still while being vaccinated. It operates by first closing in around the animals neck to stop it backing out and then by the sides of the chute closing in and holding, and raising slightly, the animal by its flanks. She noticed that while this distressed some animals others completely relaxed. The next day she asked her aunt if she could be placed in the squeeze chute. She stayed in the squeeze chute for around a half hour and for the hour afterwards felt extremely relaxed which for someone who lived in a constant state of anxiety was extremely rare. On returning home at the end of the summer she missed the effects of the treatment and so had her own squeeze box built which she still uses about once a week.
Narrator: “How long do you stay in for?”
Temple: “About twenty minutes… Kinda relaxed feeling of being held… Helps you have nicer thoughts.”
Narrator: “Do you mean that it helps you feel more affection towards others?”
Temple: “Yes, that’s right. When I was a kid I always wanted the nice feeling of being held but it was always too much overwhelming stimulation.” [1]
Dr Dougal Hare, University of Manchester: “Light pressure touch, say a stroking of the skin, excites the sympathetic nervous system which raises heart rate and raises respiration whereas deep pressure touch actually lowers heart rate and lowers respiration.”[1]
[1] Transcribed from ‘The Woman Who Thinks Like a Cow’, BBC Horizon, 2006.