The article I chose to write about is titled “Pets for Depression and Health” and can be found on webmd.com. It was written by Kathleen Doheny and reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD. The article was published by WebMD.
The article explains how pets can help people with depression, and how pets may not be good for some with depression. The research that I will use is how pets can help people with depression. Studies have shown that pets can help improve one’s mood and can help some people with mild or moderate depression. Pets give you a sense of uncomplicated love and companionship. Depression can isolate you from many people, but if you have a pet you’re never alone. Having physical contact with animals can really help people feel better about themselves. People with depression often have a rough time of taking care of themselves, so naturally having to take on more responsibility doesn’t sound like a good thing. This can be the case for some, but for many others it can be the opposite. Adding a little responsibility by taking care of a pet can help add a little positive focus to your life. Knowing that a pet depends on you for basic needs and knowing that you can give those needs to them makes many people feel much better. Like I said earlier, owning a pet doesn’t always help people with their depression. There are four main questions to decide whether or not owning a pet is good for you and your depression. “Are you comfortable with animals?”, “Will having a pet make you worry?”, “Is your depression too intense right now?”, and “Can you afford a pet”. Having a negative answer to any of these questions is a good sign that you should not be owning an animal at this time.
I really enjoyed reading about the positive ways animals can help those with depression. I found it interesting that adding a little more responsibility to your life, like taking care of a pet, can really help with one’s depression and that a little responsibility can be beneficial. I would like to know more about the studies they do to get this information. What kind studies are they and how do they go about doing these studies? If I wanted to find the answer to these questions I could look up different case studies by different psychologists that help people with depression.
Link to Article
I really enjoyed reading your blog post because I am an animal lover. At home I have two dogs that always cheer me up whenever I’m down, so the statement that animals can help people with depression makes sense to me. I wonder which animals, specifically, are best for people with depression? Also, which animals are worst for people with depression?
ReplyDelete