Paws-itively essential

Psychology I 9 Paws-itively Essential: The psychologial benefits of pets and protecting them from COVID-19

BY RACHEL LINES, BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE, 2023

Animals have long provided assistance to humans in times of great need. Countless heroic animals have saved human lives — dogs can undergo training to track missing persons, detect an oncoming seizure, or alert humans to mines underground. During the COVID-19 pandemic, animals continue to impact human lives (beyond interrupting Zoom calls). As knowledge about COVID-19 becomes clearer, it may be important to protect domestic animals just as we protect our immediate households. Domestic animals may also be saving lives in an unexpected way — by providing key support to mental health.

“The participants described their relationship with their pets as ‘the only thing that stayed constant,’ and researchers found that participants valued ‘a sense of enduring trust’ between themselves and their companion animals.” A study by Dr. Helen Brooks and her colleagues from the University of Manchester evaluated the role that domesticated animals can play in human social networks. Participants in this study were diagnosed with long-term mental illnesses and were under the care of community-based mental health services. The researchers used semi-structured interviews to collect information regarding the roles of individuals in a person’s social network with respect to the subject’s mental health management. In the majority of study participants, individuals placed pets in the central, most important circle of their social network. Through qualitative surveys, the participants described their relationship with their pets as “the only thing that stayed constant,” and researchers found that participants valued “a sense of enduring trust” between themselves and their companion animals. Additionally, pet care established an important routine that provided study participants with a responsibility that “[felt] vital for their wellbeing.” The sample used in this survey had high levels of unemployment and isolation, and participants

DESIGN BY SOPHIA HITT, BIOLOGY, 2023

had few similar opportunities to experience the pride associated with caring for a well-loved pet. One participant remarked that caring for the animals impacted her confidence, and another found it helped them present themselves in a more positive light. Overall, Dr. Brooks and colleagues found that pets should be considered as a main source of support in the management of mental health problems.

Other studies have also demonstrated animals’ psychological and physiological effects on humans. Animal interactions have resulted in beneficial effects for psychiatric inpatient populations through Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT). Additionally, animal interactions can have biochemical effects on humans. Researchers found that a single session of animal-assisted activity can increase immunoglobulin A, an antibody that plays a crucial role in the immune function of mucous membranes. Furthermore, a familiar pet can exhibit measurable relaxing effects on an individual, including lowered heart rate variability, decreased psychological stress, and deactivation of the middle frontal lobe, putamen, and thalamus regions of the brain. These regions are involved in executive function and reward systems.

How can pets provide these physiological and psychological benefits and intimate social connections? What makes our

connection to our animals so great? A team of researchers, including Sara Hayama and colleagues of the University of Hawaii, sought to begin answering these questions. Anthrozoological neuroscience, a term proposed by this research team, refers to the use of neuroscience techniques to study human-animal interaction and elucidate the mechanisms that may underlie the health effects of these interactions. The team used functional MRI procedures to view and analyze the brain responses of self-identified “pet owners” and “non-pet owners” while viewing animal images. Questionnaires were also administered to evaluate the conceptual attraction and attachment to different animal species.

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PHOTO BY ERNEST SETON VIA FLICKR

BMC Psychiatry (2016). DOI: 10.1186/s12888-016-1111-3 Neuropsychologia (2016). DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.03.018