POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY: Taking on a pet project can boost your mood

DO you remember the upsurge in dog walking during the Covid-19 pandemic?

The introduction of 2km and 5km travel limits on exercise resulted in an increased emphasis on getting outside (while maintaining social distancing).

Those with dogs brought their pets with them and the net result was that the humans reaped the extra benefits of spending more time out in the fresh air, taking in more vitamin D, breathing in beneficial bacteria, plant-derived essential oils and negatively charged ions.

All of these contribute to the production of serotonin, our 'happy chemical', and can help boost our mood.

Of course, the pets were happy too, enjoying the additional attention and activity.

From a mental fitness point of view we would agree that having a pet in your life is nearly always a positive thing.

Pets provide companionship. Dogs in particular give us that unconditional positive regard that is not always forthcoming from some of the humans in our lives!

Dogs are always glad to see us and are very loyal in nature.

Cats too can be good for soothing us; research indicates that sitting and stroking your cat on your knee can help lower your blood pressure and stimulate the release of relaxation hormones. (Cats feel soothed by this too!).

Petting and playing with your dog, similarly can help you 'rest and digest'.

Like their humans, dogs need walking. We have often seen patients who will get up and walk the dog even when their mood is low and they would not otherwise bother.

So, from a behavioural activation point of view, this is very important.

When people come to us with symptoms of depression such as low mood, poor motivation, loss of interest, one of the first things we look at is how active they are during the day and what their sleep is like at night.

Often it is much more important to 'act your way into a feeling' than 'feel your way into an action'.

In other words, we advise people to just put on the runners (and rain jacket) and get out and walk; they may not feel like it starting off but after a while they will notice that their mood, the way they feel, has actually improved.

Having a dog who needs exercise can also put us under pressure in a good way.

Owning a pet often adds structure to the day and can even give people a sense of purpose as pets have to be fed and watered, cared for and exercised whether their human is feeling up to it or not.

Owning a dog can be good for the waistline too. A year long study conducted in a hospital in Chicago found that walking an overweight dog helped both the animals and their owners lose weight.

In addition the dogs provided support in similar ways to a human exercise buddy, but with greater consistency and without any negative influence.

Walking the dog can also be quite a sociable experience. People sometimes come together to do this and in the past projects such as social prescribing have successfully facilitated these kinds of groups.

Even if you and your dog are solo you will often find yourself stopping to chat to other owners as your dogs stop and sniff at each other.

Dogs often attract the attention of other humans and you may find yourself nodding and smiling at people as you walk. This incidental social contact often helps lift a low mood.

We are all familiar with seeing service dogs who assist people with visual impairment.

However, dogs are increasingly used in psychological therapy situations, for example with people struggling with anxiety and depression.

Basically a specially trained dog handler trains the dog and brings the dog to a session with the person where they can interact with the animal, petting, stroking, hugging and playing, and this may help boost serotonin and dopamine levels.

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Despite all the above, we were surprised at the findings of a review of 30 studies about the impact of pet ownership on depression.

This review was conducted by Hal Herzog PhD and published in late 2019 in Psychology Today. Herzog himself said he was surprised at his findings.

Pet owners as a general group were not found to be less depressed than non-pet owners. In fact the studies that indicated pet owners were less depressed were smaller in terms of numbers of participants than the studies that found no differences in depression between owners and non-owners.

Nonetheless, Herzog concluded that there are some exceptions; studies of homeless children, single women (but not single men), people living with AIDS and people who have lost a partner.

Despite this rather disappointing evidence base we still feel that having a pet can be good for our mental fitness.

There are a few facts to consider though. First, choose the right pet - dogs can be high maintenance and not everybody is physically able for them.

Cats are more independent and small animals like hamsters are lower maintenance.

Simply having a pet will not 'cure' depression and anxiety. In order to feel the benefits, direct and indirect, you have to build a relationship with your animal, spend time with them and interact with them.

Pets are not a replacement for psychological or pharmacological therapy and they will not make depression or anxiety go away but they can give you a healthy physical and mental boost.

As any pet owner already knows, having a much-loved pet contributes to our sense of emotional connection and wellbeing.

Julie O'Flaherty and Imelda Ferguson (pictured above) are chartered clinical psychologists, both based in private practice in Tullamore. Through Mind Your Self Midlands, they run courses on Positive Psychology and mindfulness throughout the year. They can be contacted through the Psychological Society of Ireland www.psychologicalsociety.ie (Find a Psychologist section) and also on their Facebook page, Mind Your Self Midlands.