Samuel Corson

Corson died in Granger, Indiana, on 27 January 1998. His work on pets in psychiatry contributed to dogs and other pets becoming commonplace in settings such as nursing homes.

His initial research involved applying Pavlovian techniques in the study of the effects of stress on dogs. Subsequently, by chance, Corson and his wife became interested in what they termed "pet-facilitated psychotherapy" when some adolescent patients with mental illness asked to meet the animals. They then extended pet facilitated therapy to the elderly. In 1975, Corson described the case of an elderly man who spoke for the first time in 26 years after being introduced to a dog named Whiskey.

The Corsons then extended pet facilitated therapy to the elderly at the Castle Nursing Homes in Millersburg, Ohio. They demonstrated physical improvements in nursing home residents that exercised dogs. In 1975, he described the case of Jed, a withdrawn patient in his late 70s who was assumed to be deaf and had been mute for 26 years following a fall. Upon being introduced to 'Whiskey', Jed said “You brought that dog” and subsequently began to draw pictures of dogs.

In 1960, Corson was appointed professor of psychiatry and biophysics at Ohio State University, where, with his wife Elizabeth, he established a research laboratory. His initial research involved applying Pavlovian techniques in the study of the effects of stress on dogs. Their daughter Olivia later recounted that she was "traumatized by aspects of their early work".

Samuel Abraham Corson (31 December 1909 – 27 January 1998) was an American professor of psychiatry at Ohio State University who, with his wife Elizabeth, led early research into pet therapy, which contributed to dogs and other pets becoming commonplace in settings such as nursing homes.

Samuel Corson was born on 31 December 1909 in Dobryanka, a small village 200 miles from Odessa, Russian Empire, and moved to Philadelphia in his teens. He had one sister. He gained a doctorate in biophysics at the University of Texas after studying physiology at New York University and the University of Pennsylvania.