All treatment approaches for depression had failed, but then they adopted a pet | Hacker News Reader

All treatment approaches for depression had failed, but then they adopted a pet

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28 pointslaurex18 comments

To me the diagnosis of depression is too vague in modern society. There should be a subcategory attached to the word: past-trauma, lack of finances, loneliness, nihilistic, pessimistic, cognitive abnormality, physical abnormality, social cause "surrounded by assholes",...

Currently the medical field from my perception, prefers ignorance to the external forces effecting the person by just labeling someone with depression. There is always a cause to why a person suffers misery or simply is in pain. In acquiescence the patient just takes the label, takes a prescription and becomes unaware to the underlining problem.

Makes sense to me. When I get depressed it's generally because I'm feeling useless. Nothing like having another living thing depending on you for its well-being to make that go away.

(Which is not to say that this is a cure-all. Post-partum depression is also a thing.)

15 years taking prescriptions. Now a shrink like, "I dunno, maybe get a kitten."

Aesop Rock - Kirby

2100 years ago, in Rome, on the floor of the Senate, someone asked:

"Cui Bono ?"

Maybe you should wonder about that in this context too. What, exactly would the monetary situation be of the people administering that treatment if it worked ? And what would it be if it failed.

And before you say I'm accusing those people of being bad people, I'm not. Not really. Because that's the way the rewards work the ones making the choice the government pays for will grow, and ones making the right decisions will shrink. Over time only one thing can happen.

I hope they continue the study for a few years and see if the effects remain the same. Hopefully the pet doesn't become part of a routine, and the symptoms don't resurface. I have seen a lot of people adopt pets and then discard them once they get bored of it.

Besides that, not every pet is a bundle of joy. Cats and dogs get sick or chronically disabled (most therapy breeds are also highly susceptible to bone deceases). So now you have your "best friend" that requires constant attention, medication and money.

Not that you want to deal with it, but taking care of other living things does have emotional rewards.

It can have its rewards indeed. But there is no guarantee it will.

Their control group is useless. Perhaps the "control group" did adopt pets was because they were more depressed than the "experimental group" than did adopt pets.

control group DIDN'T adopt pets

Having recently adopted a puppy (though I love her to death already), I wonder if the pets in this study were house trained...

Cats are usually house trained to boot so that's a plus!

Yep. Title should say cat, not “a pet”. Cats are quite different from other pets.

I hope the patients won't regress when their pets almost inevitably die before they do.

Grief is normal and not the same thing as depression. In fact, feeling down once in a while a is healthy. Depression is a long-term issue. After the grief passes, you can just get another pet.

Grief can trigger clinical depression.

Has a similar study been done with having a baby?

Good question, but the ethical morass is probably insurmountable.

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