It’s common wisdom that pets help confer certain physical and emotional health benefits to their owners. An advice column from The Times last month, in fact, suggested that the health benefits of pet ownership are global and generalized — that owning a pet has a …
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Well… But we may ask ourselves is the Parslow et al. (2005) study about pets making people depressive, or depressed people having more pets “not to be lonely”? In Parslow’s et al. study pet owners were also more psychotic (measured by EPQ-R), that may had been the case.
This kind of results doesn’t satisfy me, it’s a little bit blurry.
I got my pet cat, Simba, when I was a single, 36 year-old female who suffered from major depression. I can definitely say that she was a major stress/anxiety reliever. Now that I am married, the time I spend alone with her is still precious. She also comforted me during a time when my husband was in the hospital and I was in the house alone. At times,caring for her has been somewhat of an inconvenience, but the emotional health positives far outweigh the negatives.
Wendy Aron, author of Hide & Seek: How I Laughed at Depression, Conquered My Fears and Found Happiness.
http://www.wendyaron.com
Interesting article, John, and that’s a very good point you make in the last paragraph.
But I do share Timo W’s concerns: some of these studies seem like they are relying too heavily on correlations, which of course don’t have to imply causality.
I have owned and raised my cat (Zelda) since October 2004, and I got married in June 2007. (I am 21)
Zelda and I have a very close relationship actually. She is very consoling and will come from out of nowhere if I am sad, and in the morning, when my husband gets up, she comes into the room and lays on my back or next to my chest and stomach until I get up (sometimes a couple hours later) She has a knack for knowing when things are wrong – if my husband and I are arguing, you can bet your money that cat is going to come to the door and cry to be let into the room and then promptly rub up against us and purr and generally be incredibly affectionate.
It really is actually stress relieving because it breaks the tension, and I find it endearing that an animal instincitively knows when her owner is upset or in pain.
I am not understanding why caring for a cat would hinder my health in any way. Even before I was married, and now, the days where I felt really down, I still need to care for Zelly, but it always gave me up and purpose for getting up and moving about the house to clean and other things. Plus the fact she follows me like a puppy wherever I go.
I know that a lot of people don’t have the bond I have with Zelda, and I think what she and I share is very special. She is just very magical to me. I have had many other pets and actually have two other kitties and my husband has a 1yr old pup and we have a husky. I love them all but the bond with Zelda surpasses any sort of relationship I have ever had with any animal.
I do not think animals can help all people and I think it would be sort of insane to state as such; not everyone tolerates cat fur in their face in the morning. As far as animals goes therapeutically, not for everyone, I wouldn’t think. If you’re opposed to animals, have never liked them, or they’rfe just kind of “there,” then I don’t see someone changing suddenly by being introduced to an animal for therapy reasons. Of course there are people who are so lonely and reject a lot of human companionship yet yearn to feel wanted and loved and that can be found through caring for and raising a kitten or puppy, or being around one on a routine basis. They can be very relaxing.
Relating depression and pets is dumb in this study to put it lightly. It doesn’t mean the pets make the owners depressed.. I believe this study is VERY inconclusive..
The feeling of “yearning” to feel wanted and loved could simply be a lack of self-esteem. To look for the external object- as in a pet- to fulfill human needs- is troubling to me. Humanity is currently experiencing a crisis in regard to its relationship with animals- we have pushed many species to extinction. To feed our pet animals, we grow and slaughter other animals. In a sense, we take from wild animals, their habitats and lives, and give them to our pets. I think humans need a relationship with animals. They also need human relationships. But to have a relationship with an animal to replace human relationships? Something is wrong here. Something is wrong with the way people USE animals for their own emotional benefit. Something is wrong with the favoritism shown to some “lucky” species, and the lack of concern for “unlucky” species. Someday pet ownership will probably be seen as barbaric, like slavery is today. I have lived with animals, and had pets. I conclude that well-adjusted human beings shouldn’t live with animals, don’t live with animals, and don’t see animals as a crutch for their mental and emotional problems. I also think that pets diminish the environment in a multitude of small ways that add up to significant impact.
I think that special relationships are the exception. Some people are capable of exceptional relationships. The problem is that everybody thinks they are capable of this. When someone screams at a dog for barking I am reminded of an incompetent adult disciplining children. I am constantly seeing the concept of pet “As burden”. I see people expressing negative emotions toward their pets all the time. You don’t need a scientific study to see this. And, at the same time the owner thinks that the relationship is good for both pet and owner, they usually have no problem abandoning the pet for long periods of time, subjecting them to boredom. Pet foods, for instance, are implicated in all sorts of health problems for the animals in question.
I think my gradual objection to pets arose from the simple concept of a relationship between humanity and other animals. When we take animals and put them on sale and treat them as objects for our own self-fulfillment, we are going in the wrong direction, we do not become strong, or more “humane” through this sort of activity. Everyone thinks they have some special connection through their pets even though it can be proven that, most of the time, it is the human being projecting onto the animal, and the essential reality that it is not a relationship between free equals, but master and servant, dependence and co-dependence.