By Sofia Alves | Purpose Fairy
It’s no secret that people who own pets tend to live more fulfilled, healthier, and happier lives. There are numerous studies that back up this hypothesis, but most people don’t know exactly why this happens.
Treating mental problems has become especially important in today’s day and age, where it seems that more and more people suffer from some form of mental condition or ailment. What’s even worse is that we’re often time so reluctant to openly address these problems.
How to Cure Loneliness?
Loneliness and isolation can trigger many mental health issues such as social or generalized anxiety, stress, depression, suicidal thoughts, and so on.
5 Magical Ways Pets Help Cure Loneliness
That’s one of the reasons why we’re going to talk about some of the truly magical ways pets help cure loneliness and prevent these conditions in some cases.
1. Unconditional Love
Anyone who’s ever felt lonely for an extended period of time knows just how important it is to be surrounded by loved ones. In some cases, this has proven to be rather difficult and there are many different causes that lie behind. Either we’ve moved far away, or we’re unable to get in touch with them for some other reason.
People who have experienced this type of prolonged loneliness have often reported or developed other mental health-related issues. In some instances, pets have been extremely helpful in those situations. Treatment with medication is rather risky at times or doesn’t lead to a favorable outcome. But caring for a pet has proven to be of great assistance. Pets (dogs in particular) show signs of unconditional love towards their owners. And sometimes that’s all a person needs in order to get better – to be unconditionally loved by someone.
2. Increased Sense of Responsibility
Caring for a pet also leads to an increased sense of responsibility. And it’s not just about that – being responsible is great, but people who own pets are very often highly functional members of society. This happens due to the fact that having responsibilities leads to higher self-esteem. So, it’s pretty safe to say that an increased sense of responsibility also promotes good mental health.
Owning a pet can provide you with this. Being responsible for another living creature teaches us what it means to help someone who can’t take care of her/his self. And in return, these lovely creatures boost our confidence and help us go through some rough patches and difficult times.
This is of great importance for treating symptoms of depression, for example. People who suffer from this condition are sometimes highly doubtful of their abilities. And caring for a pet gives them the much-needed confidence and proof that they’re more than capable of taking care not just of themselves, but of someone else as well.
3. Pets Can Help Us Structure Our Days
Speaking of an increased sense of responsibility, people who feel lonely and isolated often lack structure in their lives. They don’t have to care for anyone but themselves, and even this task gets harder by the day. They have irregular sleeping and/or eating patterns, they’re always late, in poor physical shape, etc.
Owning and caring for a pet can also help tremendously in these situations. Sometimes, we just need a little bit of structure to get back on our feet and pick up where’ve left off. Loneliness and depression can lead to an unstructured daily schedule, and pets come to the rescue for these problems as well.
When you know that another living creature depends on you fully, you’ll be more motivated to get up in the morning to feed and walk the animal. This routine is essential for those who struggle with sticking to their daily plan and timetable.
