4 ms·
All treatment approaches for depression had failed, but then they adopted a pet
- lisper 8y agoMakes sense to me. When I get depressed it's generally because I'm feeling useless. Nothing like having another living thing depending on you for its well-being to make that go away. (Which is not to say that this is a cure-all. Post-partum depression is also a thing.)
- diminoten 8y agoHaving recently adopted a puppy (though I love her to death already), I wonder if the pets in this study were house trained...
- MekaiGS 8y agoCats are usually house trained to boot so that's a plus!
- lupinglade 8y agoYep. Title should say cat, not “a pet”. Cats are quite different from other pets.
- yasp 8y agoHas a similar study been done with having a baby?
- diminoten 8y agoGood question, but the ethical morass is probably insurmountable.
- archontes 8y ago15 years taking prescriptions. Now a shrink like, "I dunno, maybe get a kitten." Aesop Rock - Kirby
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- candiodari 8y ago2100 years ago, in Rome, on the floor of the Senate, someone asked: "Cui Bono ?" Maybe you should wonder about that in this context too. What, exactly would the monetary situation be of the people administering that treatment if it worked ? And what would it be if it failed. And before you say I'm accusing those people of being bad people, I'm not. Not really. Because that's the way the rewards work the ones making the choice the government pays for will grow, and ones making the right decisions will shrink. Over time only one thing can happen.
- intralizee 8y agoTo me the diagnosis of depression is too vague in modern society. There should be a subcategory attached to the word: past-trauma, lack of finances, loneliness, nihilistic, pessimistic, cognitive abnormality, physical abnormality, social cause "surrounded by assholes",... Currently the medical field from my perception, prefers ignorance to the external forces effecting the person by just labeling someone with depression. There is always a cause to why a person suffers misery or simply is in pain. In acquiescence the patient just takes the label, takes a prescription and becomes unaware to the underlining problem.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- diskmuncher 8y agoI hope the patients won't regress when their pets almost inevitably die before they do.
- orev 8y agoGrief is normal and not the same thing as depression. In fact, feeling down once in a while a is healthy. Depression is a long-term issue. After the grief passes, you can just get another pet.
- WalterSear 8y agoGrief can trigger clinical depression.
- fellellor 8y agoI hope they continue the study for a few years and see if the effects remain the same. Hopefully the pet doesn't become part of a routine, and the symptoms don't resurface. I have seen a lot of people adopt pets and then discard them once they get bored of it.
- aequitas 8y agoBesides that, not every pet is a bundle of joy. Cats and dogs get sick or chronically disabled (most therapy breeds are also highly susceptible to bone deceases). So now you have your "best friend" that requires constant attention, medication and money.
- scopie 8y agoTheir control group is useless. Perhaps the "control group" did adopt pets was because they were more depressed than the "experimental group" than did adopt pets.
- scopie 8y agocontrol group DIDN'T adopt pets