3 ms·
Cat Ownership Linked to Increased Risk of Schizophrenia, Research Suggests
- deleted 10mo ago[deleted]
- PaulHoule 10mo agoCat-positive schizotype here!
- ViktorRay 10mo agoFriendly reminder that correlation does not imply causation.
- antonvs 10mo agoSure, but it can point to potential causation. Toxoplasma gondii infection is the obvious candidate here.
- DANmode 10mo ago& Bartonella.
- deleted 10mo ago[deleted]
- Qem 10mo agoI think a more obvious candidate is self-selection. People with known mental issues that want a pet are wise to choose those that demand less maintenance. It's hard to go walk the dog while undergoing a mental breakdown. Cats, on the other hand, don't require people to walk them, and are mostly self-cleaning. They are a safer pick for people whose routines are subject to sporadic disruption.
- gnabgib 10mo agoRecent discussion (18 points, 1 month ago, 14 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45946707 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45946707
- MilnerRoute 10mo agoFrom that discussion... "Unless your cat lived a significant part of it's life as an outdoor cat, it is very unlikely to have the parasite (like any parasite). Most cat to human transmission (again, minority of total transmissions) comes from stray cats infecting gardens with their feces." https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45947121 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45947121
- Fricken 10mo agoOr maybe Schizophrenia is linked to increased risk of cat ownership
- DANmode 10mo agoor maybe we, as a group, underestimate the impacts of chronic infection on the body and brain. Otherwise “simple infections” are (likely, almost obviously) responsible for tons, including dementia, Parkinson’s, more, and they’re the ones everyone ignores, or struggle to even get a diagnosis for, and instead say “it’s normal to not be able to squat once, or have any energy when you’re ‘getting older’!”. These infections can drive…completely life-changing medical trajectories - without the patient ever noticing. Everyone just thinks they won the “reverse—lottery” when cancer or dementia finally shows up…I’m becoming less convinced it’s a “chance” thing at all. We just don’t see, nor monitor the beginnings - and if we do happen upon them, hey, “everybody has Staph, EBV, [insert bacteria or virus here] - nothing to be worried by! Very common!”
- paidsearchguy 10mo agoNothing conveyed here, move along
- wkat4242 10mo agoI love my cats crazy much so yeah I guess it's true lol
- antonvs 10mo agoThe Cat Lady Council wishes to object
- grigri907 10mo agoMy dentist informed my me adult tooth root resorption (the same process through which baby teeth fall out) is correlated with cat ownership during early childhood.
- glaslong 10mo agoHmm even if it were causal it would be worth it. It's not a stretch to say my cats once saved me from worse.
- mrlonglong 10mo agoDid cat haters write this steaming pile of cat turds?
- leobg 10mo ago[flagged]
- casey2 10mo agoOf course living with a predator will increase your paranoia levels which will over a population bump people up to certain disorders. /s