How animals help with stress, anxiety, depression, and PTSD

Life can feel overwhelming if you’re managing stress, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or a combination of these conditions. They can create hurdles that make it difficult to show up and function in your daily life, but there’s hope.

One powerful source of support comes from connecting with animals. Pets can offer comfort, support, and healing that can help us improve our mental health in meaningful ways.

Understanding stress, anxiety, depression, and PTSD can help us think about what we are experiencing and how we can feel better. Each one of these can affect us physically and mentally, leading to noticeable changes in our feelings, thoughts, or symptoms.

• Stress is the body’s natural response to demands, situations, or pressures. Some stress can help motivate us, but too much stress too often can wear us down and lead to headaches, stomachaches, irritability, difficulty focusing, and even trouble sleeping.
• Anxiety is more than feeling nervous – it is a feeling of intense worry, fear, or uneasiness. It can be hard to shake even when there’s no clear danger. Anxiety can feel like a constant and unbreakable loop of worry that can lead us to avoid situations and make us feel physically unwell.
• Depression isn’t just feeling “down” or “blue.” It’s a relentless feeling of deep sadness, hopelessness, and loss of interest in things that once brought joy. It’s a heaviness that zaps your energy and self-esteem, changes your eating and sleeping habits, and makes it tough to connect with your loved ones and follow through with your responsibilities.
• PTSD can develop after experiencing or witnessing a distressing or traumatic event. These events, like accidents, natural disasters, or violence, are often terrifying, dangerous, or life-threatening. PTSD is the result of your brain’s difficulty in processing what happened. And it can feel like you’re numb or experiencing it over and over again, leading you to feel unsafe and making it hard to function.

When we experience stress, anxiety, depression, or PTSD, things like finding comfort, support, and connection can help reduce symptoms.

Animals can be great partners in helping us feel better. They offer more than just companionship. The human-animal bond is an important relationship that can leave us feeling seen, valued, and supported.

• Human-animal interaction (HAI) can reduce stress and anxiety. When you feel anxious or stressed, your body goes into “fight or flight” mode. Your heart rate and blood pressure go up. Your muscles tense. Studies have found that interacting with a therapy dog (familiar or unfamiliar to you) can lead to reduced anxiety, blood pressure, heart rate, and cortisol (the stress hormone).
• Animal-assisted therapy (AAT) can improve mood and connection among people living with depressive disorders. In a study of people receiving inpatient treatment, AAT led to patients interacting with each other. Smiling, helping others, and being more sociable were the result of just one month of AAT.
• Animal-assisted interventions (AAI) can reduce symptoms of depression and PTSD. A study of AAI for trauma showed that horse riding can help veterans experience positive changes and a reduction in symptoms for up to three months. The same study also showed that short-term benefits can occur with other animals, too. For people living with PTSD, AAI helped reduce dissociation, produced feelings of comfort and warmth, and served as a reminder that they were no longer in danger.

The emotional support provided by pets or through animal-assisted interventions can be life-changing. From calming your nervous system to creating feelings of safety and grounding, to increasing interactions, animals can help us feel more connected to ourselves and others.

Trauma changes us. It affects the way we think, feel, and experience the world. Trauma can lead to sadness, anxiety, numbness, dissociation, and loss. It can also contribute to feeling unsafe or disconnected.

Animals can help restore some of that sense of safety. When you’re experiencing intense anxiety or a flashback, your pet or service animal can help you get grounded in the present. Animals are attentive and can prompt us when something is going on, which can help us feel safer in our surroundings.

Additionally, an animal companion can bring a sense of calm, which combats fear, anxiety, anger, and other intense feelings that may be a part of PTSD. When sharing these emotions with other people, we might feel judged. Animals can feel like safe, nonjudgmental beings that provide comfort. Safety and connection are essential to healing from trauma.

Beyond emotional connection, pets can also provide a sense of order and routine. Needing to feed, walk, groom, and care for your pet may help you remember to take care of yourself.  This can help you build a routine that allows you to take care of both yourself and your pet’s needs.

For many people, showing up for their pet gives them a sense of purpose. This can motivate them to keep going, especially on days when they’re facing more challenges with their mental health. Purpose gives our lives meaning, offers hope, and strengthens our resilience.

Even if you don’t have a pet at home, there are other ways you can connect with animals. Visiting loved ones who have pets, volunteering at a local shelter, or participating in animal-assisted therapy programs are just a few examples.

Healing takes time, and animals have the wonderful ability to help us find relief and calm along the way. Through their companionship and support, we can become grounded in knowing we are loved, needed, and deserving of well-being.

If you or a friend are struggling with your mental health, take an anonymous, free, and private mental health test. It only takes a few minutes, and after you are finished, you will be given information about the next steps you can take based on the results.

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