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Pets For Depression and Health
Can your depression problems improve when you
interact with your pet?
By Kathleen Doheny
WebMD Feature
Traffic was unbearable, the workday was long, and
the boss unreasonable. But minutes later, as your
pet dog wags his tail and yips his welcome, your
symptoms of depression lift.
It's
not a coincidence, according to psychologists,
veterinarians, and researchers, who concur that pets
can be good for our mental and physical health. A
pet can't cure symptoms of depression, of course,
nor is a pet a substitute for medication or talk
therapy. But a pet can help to improve mild or
moderate depression in many people, experts agree,
as well as provide other benefits, such as better
sleep and overall health.
Pets and Depression: What Therapists
Say
Pets
offer psychological and physical comfort, says Teri
Wright, PhD, a psychologist in Santa Ana, Calif.,
who keeps a parakeet and two hamsters in her office
to break the ice with children she treats -- but
finds that adults like them, too.
Pets, she says, "just feel good to hold on to."
Psychologically, she says, "they make you feel
important, like you matter." How, for instance,
could you not feel better when your dog wags his
tail and pants upon your return, even if you've just
returned from a half-hour errand?
Wright has two guinea pigs, Dex (for Dexadrin, the
ADHD drug) and Zac (short for Prozac), and feels
pretty important when they squeal upon her return
home. "No one else gives them parsley," she says of
their favorite snack.
The Power of Pets for Improving Your
Mood and Health
The
power of pets in improving mood can be summed up in
two words, says Alan Entin, PhD, a psychologist in
Richmond, Va.: "Unconditional love."
Dogs, in particular, are always glad to see you, he
notes. "When you are feeling down and out, the puppy
just starts licking you, being with you, saying with
his eyes, 'You are the greatest.' When an animal is
giving you that kind of attention, you can't help
but respond by improving your mood and playing with
it."
Besides unconditional loves, a pet relieves
loneliness, Entin points out. Depression and
loneliness can go together as people withdraw.
"For
many people pets are the only relatives they have.
It relieves their loneliness. People with animals
tend to relate to them and they feel better."
Having a pet takes the focus off the owner's
problems, Entin says, since having a pet is a
commitment--you need to feed and care for the pet.
"When people have a pet in the house, it forces them
to take care of another life," Entin says. With the
focus outward, he says, the pet owner may not dwell
on their depressed mood as much.
The
pet doesn't have to be a dog or a cat. British
psychiatrist Camilla Haw, in fact, recommends pet
parrots as ideal pets for some patients with
symptoms of depression. "I have kept pet parrots for
20 years and can recommend them for the house bound,
the lonely and patients with depression, especially
middle-aged women suffering from the 'empty nest
syndrome,'" she writes in Psychiatric Bulletin. The
birds can be loyal, loving, and provide good
companionship, she says.
Pets and Depression: Veterinarians
Weigh In
Pets
often serve as confidantes, says Bonnie V. Beaver,
DVM, a professor of veterinary medicine at Texas A&M
University.
Pets
also can increase social exposure for their owners
-- another good way to boost mood, she says. Dogs
need walks, and that gets their owners out with
other people, inspiring social contacts.
"People talk to people with animals," she says, more
so than people without pets.
Easing Stress With Your Pet
Pets
help your mental health primarily by decreasing your
stress, believes Richard Timmins, DVM, of Camano
Island, Wash., and director of the Association for
Veterinary Family Practice. Just petting your
animals can be soothing, he and others say.
Having a pet in the house can change the entire
ambience, as Timmins has discovered. His parents,
when they were both 83, decided to adopt a "boutique
mutt," a shih tzu-bichon mix. Timmins and his four
siblings were concerned that the puppy would be too
much work.
"My
mother had difficulty with mobility and we worried
the dog would trip her," he says. "My dad had had
cardiac problems and a hip replaced."
Turns out, the dog was anything but a problem. While
his parents weren't depressed, they had become less
interested in activities, Timmins says. The dog
changed all that. "Now they are outside walking the
dog a couple times a day. It has given my mother and
father topics to discuss with golf buddies."
Pets and Health: The Research
Studies about the mental health and physical health
benefits of pets abound. Among the more recent
findings:
The
overall health of dog owners is better than those
who don't have dogs, according to a study that
evaluated women ages 25 to 40 in China. Half of the
3,031 women owned dogs and half did not. Those who
had dogs exercised more often, slept better,
reported better fitness levels and fewer sick days,
and saw their doctors less often.
The
study is in Social Indicators Research.
Pets
provide opportunities for social contact, according
to a study in Social Science & Medicine, and that
can be good for someone down in the
dumps. Researchers asked 339 adults in Western
Australia about their social contact and pet
ownership. The pet owners interacted more with
neighbors than non-owners.
Having a dog -- and petting it -- may be good for
your cardiovascular system, although this research
has yielded mixed results. In one study, however,
pet owners had lower blood pressure and blood fat
levels than non-owners, researchers report in the
Medical Journal of Australia. Other research hasn't
found a difference in blood pressure levels among
pet owners and non-owners.
Pets and Depression: Caveats
Pets
help most when symptoms of depression are mild or
moderate, psychologists say.
"If
you are already so depressed you can't take care of
yourself, having an animal is going to make it
worse," says Wright.
Another caveat: If someone is not a "pet person,"
getting one is not likely to help improve their
life, says Timmins. "There are some people who have
not had that pet experience growing up," he says.
"They've never had a relationship with an animal.
They would be less likely to benefit."
"But
if the conditions are right, pets can help mental
health," he says. "The benefits have been shown for
all kinds of pets," he said, not just dogs and cats.
Even watching fish in an aquarium has been shown to
help reduce muscle tension and pulse rate, he says,
citing research published nearly 20 years ago.
©
WebMD. All rights reserved.
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"For many people pets are the
only relatives they have. It relieves their
loneliness. People with animals tend to relate
to them and they feel better." |
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