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I've just finished co-writing a new book with Dr. Zachary White (of The Unprepared Caregiver Blog) - it's titled The Unexpected Journey of Caring: The Transformation of Loved One to Caregiver and it will be out June 8, 2019! In our book, I've included a chapter on pets - how being in the proximity of animals can reduce social isolation, give us happiness and even health benefits. If you are interested in how pets might enhance your caregiving life, have a look at this wonderful charity - Pet Partners. And read this inspiring guest blog post by Michael O'Keefe of ConsumersAdvocate.org. His original, extended article appeared HERE. - Donna
Isolation is a natural reaction
to depression and grief. If you’re in the depths of depression, it can be hard
to pick up the phone and call a friend. If you’ve lost of a loved one, lost
your good health, or lost a relationship, you may pull inward and grieve alone.
But just because isolation is
natural doesn’t mean it’s good for you. Isolation can create a spiral of
despair. Depression and grief cause people to cut themselves off from friends
and family, which in turn causes more depression and grief, and so on.
Talk therapy and medications
are the standard treatments for these states of mind. Recent research, however,
points to another way to help people escape that spiral. It’s been called the pet effect. Simply put, being around
animals helps people feel less isolated, depressed, and grief-stricken.
The
Pet Effect: It’s Real
Steven Feldman, the Executive Director
of the Human Animal Bond Research Institute and
a contributor to the website of the Anxiety & Depression Association of
America, has written that
Positive
human-animal interaction is related to the changes in physiological variables
both in humans and animals, including a reduction of subjective psychological
stress (fear, anxiety) and an increase of oxytocin levels in the brain. Science
demonstrates that these biological responses have measurable clinical effects.
In layman’s terms, people under stress
feel better when there’s an animal around.
Some aspects of the pet effect are a
mixture of the psychological and the physiological. The Human/Animal Pain
Interaction Research Team at the University of
Calgary is especially concerned with the question of how people
with chronic pain benefit from being pet parents. Led by Eloise Carr,
PhD and Jean E. Wallace, PhD, the team looks at the way physical pain,
psychological anguish, and dog ownership interact with each other. Living with
chronic pain often leads to depression, which in turn makes the experience of
the physical pain more psychologically intolerable. But as Dr. Wallace says,
Even
if we can’t reduce the pain, if we can reduce depression and improve mental
health, there are benefits in terms of looking at how you get up in the morning
and want to do things. Some people we interviewed were suicidal; they were
thinking about taking their own lives but what stopped them was having a dog
and having to care for that creature. Having a dog is so central to giving them
a meaning and purpose.
People who live in assisted care
facilities also benefit from the pet effect. Dogs and other animals have become
welcomed, regular visitors--and even residents--in nursing homes. This isn't
surprising. Anyone who's ever taken a Golden Retriever into a nursing home
or hospice knows what joy they bring to the residents there.
According to NurseBuff.com,
there are three general types of pet therapy in elder care settings:
Visitation therapy, where animals (usually cats and dogs)
visit nursing homes periodically
Animal-assisted therapy, where highly sensitive animals are
paired with patients who require intensive rehabilitation; and
Ownership therapy, where residents take full charge of
caring for a pet.
One nursing home
study found that "dog-assisted therapy addressed some of
the unmet needs of participants by providing meaningful activity, stimulation,
pleasurable social interaction, and comfort through physical contact." As
Jay P. Granat, PhD, a University of Michigan-trained psychotherapist, puts it:
Dogs
- and other pets - live very much in the here and now. They don't worry about
tomorrow. And tomorrow can be very scary for an older person. By having an
animal with that sense of now, it tends to rub off on people.
Animals on the Healer Team
Mood disorders, chronic pain, and
grief are complicated and serious conditions. No one would seriously suggest
that people should replace psychiatric, psychological, and medical treatment
with puppies—or plants. Rather, treating these conditions is now recognized as
a team effort. Doctors and counselors play a role, just as family members and
friends do. But animals can be important team members as well.
Evolutionary biologists teach us that
dogs evolved alongside humans. Over the course of hundreds of thousands of
years, they became very good at reading human feelings. Their survival often
depended on it. Today, that psychological understanding is helping people cope
during dark episodes of their lives. Animals have earned their place alongside
other healers. We shouldn’t hesitate to turn to them for help.
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