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The Science of Pet Therapy: How Pets Can Improve Mental Health

NAS83179
over 1 year ago

Pet therapy, also known as animal-assisted therapy (AAT), is a type of therapy that involves using animals to help people improve their physical, emotional, and mental health. Pet therapy has been used for many years to help people with a wide range of health conditions, including mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression.
There is a growing body of research that supports the effectiveness of pet therapy for improving mental health. Here are some of the ways in which pets can help improve mental health:

Reducing Stress and Anxiety: Pets have been shown to help reduce feelings of stress and anxiety in people. Studies have found that simply petting a dog or cat can help lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol and increase levels of the feel-good hormone oxytocin.

Boosting Mood: Pets can also help boost mood and alleviate symptoms of depression. Spending time with a pet can increase levels of dopamine and serotonin, which are neurotransmitters associated with feelings of happiness and well-being.

Providing Social Support: Pets can also provide social support and a sense of companionship, which is especially important for people who may be feeling lonely or isolated. Pets can offer unconditional love and a non-judgmental presence, which can be very beneficial for people struggling with mental health issues.

Encouraging Physical Activity: Many pets, such as dogs, require regular exercise, which can encourage people to be more active and get outside. Regular exercise has been shown to have a positive impact on mental health, including reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety.

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  • over 1 year ago

    Yeah I don’t get this at all. Appreciate other people find joy in pets. Maybe if I were to keep a pet it would probably be something like a goldfish. Pretty to look at you wouldn’t try and pet it or talk to it or tell that you’ve had a hard day. Having animals running around me if anything tends to stress me out. some people seem to treat pets like substitute people. I don’t get that. I can’t imagine thinking about a pet as a companion. I mean companionship requires a degree of responsiveness and for me responsiveness is usually verbal, so unless you’re talking about a parrot that’s a complete 0% success rate right there. I mean people talk about love languages and I’m pretty sure one of  my main  love languages is Conversation which you can’t do with your pets. The second is probably the horny stuff which you shouldn’t do with your pets.

  • over 1 year ago in reply to Peter

    You and I are diametrically opposed on this matter.  I have frequent meaningful  conversations with animals and prefer their company to the vast majority of my limited number of human companion options.  I rarely fail to raise a "response" from any animal that I encounter and commonly share an exchange of views.  Without these animal connections, I fear that I would have gone mad a good few years hence.

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  • over 1 year ago in reply to Peter

    You and I are diametrically opposed on this matter.  I have frequent meaningful  conversations with animals and prefer their company to the vast majority of my limited number of human companion options.  I rarely fail to raise a "response" from any animal that I encounter and commonly share an exchange of views.  Without these animal connections, I fear that I would have gone mad a good few years hence.

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