My home has a variety of animals. We have 2 cats, a puppy, a rabbit, and 15 chickens. Out of them all, the chickens are, by far, the least cuddly (especially the rooster…he’s kind of a jerk). I think most of the people reading this probably have at least 1 pet considering that close to 70%**** of American households do. If you do, you may intuitively know what research suggests, which is that our pets are good for our mental health. As I’m writing this, my grumpy old cat is smacking at the puppy while he tries to get a toy, and yes, it’s definitely boosting my mood.

Through survey** data, we find that people say their pets:

Reduce stress and anxiety (69%)
Give unconditional love (69%)
Are great companions (69%)
Have a calming effect (66%)
Provide friendship (63%)

Other studies*** suggest that pets can lower depression symptoms, increase confidence, and give their owners comfort and purpose. Some of the ways that they help include*:

Making people feel loved by boosting dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin levels.
They reduce feelings of loneliness through companionship.
They reduce blood pressure to such an extent that the American Heart Association suggests pets (especially dogs) for reducing cardiovascular disease.
They lower stress and anxiety, and their presence can actually lower levels of cortisol (a stress hormone) within the body.
They encourage fresh air and exercise because taking your pet for a walk gives you health benefits too.
They can reduce the symptoms of PTSD, especially service dogs (though any animal*** that you form a connection to can help reduce stress, anxiety, and depression)
Some pets can take care of us by helping with tasks
Pet owners tend to self-rate themselves as more happy and satisfied.

Some pets seem to know*** when their owner is stressed or upset. There are many stories of pets offering comfort through a nudge or a paw when people are sad or hurt. Children will sometimes share their feelings with a pet before coming to an adult. Therapy dogs can be found on any given day at Children’s Hospital giving a boost and a smile to kids who are ill.

Pets aren’t for everyone, though. Some people are limited in pets that they could own due to allergies. Others worry** about pet health or death, what to do with pets while traveling, or the cost of ownership through feeding and veterinary care. Others report not wanting to get a new pet while mourning the loss of another. Even if ownership isn’t an option for you, there are animal volunteering opportunities that can give some of the benefits of bonding with animals without the responsibility of ownership.

I’m not necessarily suggesting that everyone go buy a puppy. Though, having said that, there are a lot of pets at shelters or fostering situations right now that would love a permanent home. While pets aren’t for everyone, I’ve had a lot of clients tell me how much their pets mean to them and how sometimes cuddling up with their favorite animal makes things feel a little better. It is a lot of work, no doubt. Taking a dog for a walk, cleaning up accidents, or hearing the cat puke somewhere in the house in the middle of the night can be pretty inconvenient. However, this can also provide a sense of structure for some that they might find beneficial. When I get home from work, my kids may grunt a greeting at me, but my puppy is waiting at the door excited to see me, and that does feel pretty nice.

*https://psychcentral.com/health/pets-and-mental-health

**https://www.psychiatry.org/News-room/News-Releases/Positive-Mental-Health-Impact-of-Pets

***https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-mind-body-connection/202010/the-psychological-and-physical-benefits-having-pet

****https://www.forbes.com/advisor/pet-insurance/pet-ownership-statistics/

This week I was thinking about the feeling of panic. I don’t necessarily want to write about panic attacks because I don’t think that everyone is able to relate to having one. Plus, I tend to think that this term can be, at times, overused and misunderstood within the general public. I’m also not gearing this blog to people who’ve been diagnosed with panic disorder, which is when panic or panic attacks reach a level that it drastically interferes with one’s life. If you look up information about panic attacks you may find differing definitions about what they are and the symptoms involved. This is interesting to explore, but today I’ll be writing about panic in a more general sense.

Some people will certainly say that they’ve never had a panic attack, but I think everyone has had moments of feeling panic. While anxiety may be a term that characterizes a spectrum of low to high intensity feelings, Panic is extremely intense and completely dysregulating. If anxiety is like the volume dial on the stereo allowing the music to be anywhere from quiet to loud, panic is an air horn–only incredibly loud. If we’re in panic, we don’t really think. Instead, we just react.

It has been challenging to find good information for this blog because most of my searches brought up articles about panic attacks, which again, not everyone has experienced. I saw some links for Reddit feeds, like, “What is the evolutionary advantage of panic?” These were a little closer to what I was looking for, but Reddit isn’t exactly a great scientific resource. Then I finally found a great article* on Psychology Today about how panic can be a life saver. They start off by saying that many experiences of panic are a “false-positive,” and they compare this to Covid screenings where a false-positive (testing positive when someone isn’t infected) would mean that you had to stay home when you didn’t actually have Covid. A false-negative, on the other hand (testing negative when someone does have the virus), would mean that you might have allowed yourself to be in situations where you infected others. Given these two possible mistakes, a false positive is probably better than a false negative in many situations. Dr. Rosmarin, who wrote this article, points out that experiencing panic is an indication that someone has a fully functional fight-or-flight response. This is exactly what they need in the event of a life-threatening emergency. He wrote about an encounter with a client who was experiencing frequent panic, and he asked her to share a time when she was truly unsafe. She reported a time in which she was playing catch with her kids and went to retrieve the ball as it rolled toward the street. As she reached the road, a car was barreling directly toward her that she hadn’t previously seen. Her body reacted immediately and she jumped out of the way before she could even process what was happening. Afterward, her stomach was in knots and she was dealing with the after-effects of an adrenaline burst. Dr. Rosmarin pointed out to his client that if she didn’t have a fully functioning panic response, she probably would’ve been hit by the car.

The article* mentions the body’s fear response to a life-threatening situation as:

Dilated pupils which increase the field of vision.
Digestion slows so that energy is available in the muscles.
Blood flow is pulled into the torso so that the organs are functioning at their peak.
Muscles become tense and ready for increased strength.
The heart beats faster and breathing increases in order to flood muscles with oxygen.

When we experience* panic, all of these threat responses occur, which are actually physically uncomfortable, and the panic may not involve life-threatening situations. Dr. Rosmarin recommends that people try to view feelings of panic as a false-positive and an indication that their body is responding exactly the way it should in order to protect them. In this way, it becomes possible to make peace with the reaction because it means that their bodies are trying to protect them. This runs counter to what I often hear from clients who are dealing with intense panic. They tend to worry that it means something is wrong with them. By understanding that their bodies are trying to protect them (but getting the wrong message about the level of danger they are in) people can learn to work on calming the body back down without unnecessarily shaming themselves.

I think that for most people panic is unpredictable. It just sort of happens when something really awful happens and we have to respond to it. Panic attacks are often reported that way too, and sometimes people will say that nothing bad happened prior to the attack…the feelings just came out of nowhere. In any case, panic is undeniably uncomfortable. We can’t get rid of panic because doing so would be to get rid of our entire fear-response, and this is responsible for keeping us alive in dangerous situations. We can start to teach ourselves to understand and embrace this (potentially) life-saving physiological response. In doing so, we can realize something very important about panic, which is that the feelings themselves are not dangerous. They are a system of reactions designed to save our lives.

*https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/thriving-anxiety/202208/how-panic-represents-inner-strength-can-save-us