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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.
What could depression and high achievers possibly have in common. After all, high achievers are vital, focused and optimistic individuals with a long track record of success at home, work and in their community. High achievers have an abundance of energy and actually seem to thrive on challenge. They set high standards for themselves and respond to temporary setbacks with perseverance and resilience rather than depressive collapse.
You'd be surprised by the health benefits of pet ownership. Owning a pet can be good for your health. Don't believe that pet ownership is good for you? Walk into the office of cardiologist Stephen Sinatra, and you'll be greeted not just by his friendly staff, but also a few energetic four-legged receptionists.
by Priscilla Elwell, MA, LP Almost everyone, at one time or another has had issues related to money or finances. Surprisingly, this can be all the more true for those who grew up wealthy or those who have inherited wealth. Many studies have shown that, after basic needs are met, more money does not bring greater happiness and in fact recently studies indicate that the reverse may be true. A study in UK New Scientist Magazine found that people in Nigeria, Mexico, Venezuela and El Salvador are happier that people in the United States despite a significantly lower GDP. In industrialized countries, the New Scientist reports, levels of happiness have not risen with higher incomes.
There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face. Pets have been proven to have a positive influence on our physical and mental health. Owning a pet can lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels, reducing the risk of heart disease. But research has found that pets are also therapeutic for people with mood and anxiety disorders and other psychiatric disorders.
Some Patients Petting Their Way To Improved Mental Health
by Liz Lipton
A few psychiatrists and other psychotherapists are beginning to use specially trained animals to help their patients overcome mental illness when traditional interventions have failed.
by Hal Steiger, PhD, LP Anxiety is an all too common feeling in today’s workplace. The old employment contract, which linked the implicit guarantee of a job to employee loyalty, dedication and performance, has been shredded in the face of relentless competition and new economic realities. Beginning with the mergers and acquisitions of the 1980’s, layoffs and downsizing have become common practice. Even our most profitable companies meet competitive challenges by trimming costs through layoffs.
by Gretchen Collins, MA, LP One day Barbara Strauch’s editor put a memo on her desk. The memo to the science and medical editor of the New York Times was an assignment to write an article about the neuroscientists who were studying the adolescent brain. The result of her investigating is the book The Primal Teen which explores the research and findings to date of the large community of neuroscientists who have been studying the adolescent brain since the 1990’s. As a result of the work of these scientists one can hardly open a newspaper or magazine without learning something else about what they are discovering.
by David Benson, MA, LMFT Working in therapy with couples seems to have challenged me the most in being able to stay in a place of not knowing. Not knowing what at the bottom of things is “really” going on. Not knowing what claims among the competing psychic forces are relatively more in need of support and/or more in need of challenge. What is the cause of this not knowing in me?
by Gretchen Collins, MA, LP "These are the best days of your life," parents will say to their adolescent children. Members of past generations have as many adolescence-provided-life’s-best-days stories as there are members. And many do not agree that those days were good. What is for sure, because of the current extensive research provided by scientists, is that adolescence today is a very difficult time--- particularly for girls. "Adolescent girls are like saplings in a hurricane," writes Mary Pipher, psychologist, in Reviving Ophelia, her important book about the dangers of being young and female and how adults can help. "The demands of the time are so overwhelming that even the strongest girls keel over in adolescence."
