People with pets often support their children to promote their mental health.
About 69 % of pets say their animals help them reduce stress and anxiety, while 69 % believe they provide unconditional love and 66 % see them as a quiet presence in their lives. American Psychological Association.
But keeping a pet can also be a stress, especially when you have to worry about their health or arrange for pet care when you are away.
Now, a The study is suggesting Your dear friend may have a negative impact on your mental health.
Brian Ann ChenAn Associate Professor of Psychology at Trinity College, and his team surveyed more than a thousand pet owners all over the United States, and found that those who feel unsafe or upset about their relationships with their pets face sadness.
“Our results revealed a clear sample: high pet -linked anxiety was the strongest prediction of symptoms of depression,” chin Wrote in conversation.
“People who feel overly dependent on their pets, worry about staying separate from them or returning their pets from them, were more likely to face signs of sadness.”
In other words, if you are awake at night, thinking that your dog is far away and secretly hates you, you are probably barking the wrong tree.
Research shows how you feel about your pet, it is not necessary to have a sign of good mental health.
“Surprisingly, feeling emotionally near a pet was not enough to predict better mental health,” Chen said.
“Although some can assume that a strong relationship with pets automatically leads to maximum welfare, our results show that the quality of the attachment is more important than its severity.”
It all goes back to the associated theory – people who have a safe style feel safe in relationships, while people with unsafe or restless attachment are afraid or abandoned.
Although the theory associated with romantic relations between humans is most commonly applied, this study suggests that the same can be said about your relationship with your animal settlement.
According to Chen, another surprising search was that “the frequency of conversation did not predict mental health results,” to lend the idea that “emotional security in relationships, rather than just the frequency of dialogue, is really important to mental health.”
Finally, when it is better to follow a cat or dog, researchers in fact found that being both cat and dogs increases the risk of depression by having only one type of pet.
“Although our study did not determine the cause, a possibility is that many pet management can increase stress or increase care burden,” he said.
And if you need another good reason to try to reduce your anxiety levels – don’t forget that dogs can face sadness and that they can smell stress.
