Pet Therapy: The Healing Power of a Pet

What is pet therapy?  Take a moment and think about your favorite current or childhood pet. Doesn’t it just put a smile on your face and give you a warm and fuzzy feeling inside? What many people don’t realize is how much we, as humans, gain from our pets and how owning and caring for a pet can actually help benefit mental health.

Let’s take anxiety for instance. There are many physiological, emotional, and mental symptoms associated with anxiety including an increase in blood pressure, heart rate, stress hormone level, agitation, and difficulty concentrating or self-soothing. Now what if I told you that simply petting an animal could actually decreases all of these symptoms? Well, it can, and it has been proven that petting an animal decreases blood pressure levels, heart rate, and stress hormone levels. Also, the gentle, repetitive act of petting an animal can be a great form of self-soothing for someone with anxiety.

Depression is often associated with decreased mood, low energy, and difficulty concentrating. People struggling with depression also tend to have difficulty finding a reason to get up in the morning or often struggle to find a motivation to continue living. Pets also treat symptoms of depression. Petting and playing with an animal releases endorphins which elevates mood, and caring for a pet gives someone with depression a purpose and a reason to get up in the morning and continue living life. In addition, people with depression often find it difficult to motivate themselves to exercise even though they know that it will give them more energy and release endorphins, thereby lifting their mood. Owning a dog most likely means walking that pet 1-3 times per day which guarantees that the owner is getting some form of healthy physical activity.

For those experiencing social phobia or issues around socialization, pets provide a great buffer to ease social interactions and take the pressure off of the one-to-one social connection. Pets can be a topic of conversation for those that struggle to initiate dialogue, and petting an animal while socializing can help relieve some of the anxious feelings as well. Oftentimes those with social phobia fear judgments from others, and one of the greatest benefits of a relationship with a pet is that it is completely non-judgmental. Pets provide unconditional love and acceptance as well as a feeling of connection, which is what we as human beings desire.

While pets don’t cure mental illness, they definitely help treat it by decreasing the symptoms and making life more tolerable. Pets have the ability to add joy, calmness, purpose, connection, acceptance, and love to the lives of those that are in need. Without even trying, pets provide a great form of therapy.