Science AMA Series: We are Helen Brooks and Kelly Rushton, part of a team of mental health researchers at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom. We recently published a study exploring the role of companion animals in the self-management of serious mental health condition. AMA!

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Pet ownership has been shown to reduce stress, improve physical health, increase social interaction and reduce loneliness. A recent study (https://t.co/dBq8rIRCJm) funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) conducted by researchers from the University of Manchester and the University of Southampton examined the role of pets within the personal communities of those living with a mental health condition. 54 interviews were conducted with participants, 25 of whom had a pet. The study demonstrates a range of roles attributed to pets and a strength and depth in the value of pets in the management of mental health problems. Pets were implicated in the management of mental health through the provision of secure and intimate relationships not available elsewhere. Given the consistency of presence and a close physical proximity, pets constituted an instantaneous source of calming, therapeutic benefit for their owners. Pets helped their owners manage feelings by distracting them from symptoms and upsetting experiences such as hearing voices and suicide ideation and provided a form of encouragement for activity. Pets helped their owners to manage felt stigma directly by providing acceptance without judgement. In this way, pets served to provide a unique form of validation through unconditional support, which was often not forthcoming from other network relationships. Participants described the various, nuanced ways that pets connected them to others in, and beyond, their personal networks or to the wider social environment. Participants described new relationships with network members or community organisations as a result of pet ownership, as well as enhanced ones with existing network members.

University of Manchester press release: http://ift.tt/2oRBzJp

Acknowledgements:

This is a summary of independent research funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)’s Programme Grants for Applied Research Programme (Grant Reference Number RP-PG-1210-12007) and the National Institute for Health Research Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (NIHR CLAHRC) Wessex and Solent NHS Trust. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health.

">Science AMA Series: We are Helen Brooks and Kelly Rushton, part of a team of mental health researchers at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom. We recently published a study exploring the role of companion animals in the self-management of serious mental health condition. AMA!