Study finds thinking about one’s pet is as beneficial as thinking about friends
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Pets can serve as important sources of social and emotional support for “everyday people,” not just individuals facing significant health challenges, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.
And, the study found, pet owners were just as close to key people in their lives as to their animals, indicating no evidence that relationships with pets came at the expense of relationships with other people, or that people relied more on pets when their human social support was poorer.
Psychologists at Miami University and Saint Louis University conducted three experiments to examine the potential benefits of pet ownership among what they called everyday people. The results of the current study were reported in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology®, published online by APA. [continue reading…]
What makes a good stamp design? And just how can we best represent Mental Health Awareness in a stamp? Well now’s your chance to give it a go. For the first time in history, Canada Post is asking Canadians to submit and vote on the design that will become a Canadian postage stamp. From November 8, 2010 until January 17, 2011, Canadians are invited to submit designs online to www.deliverhope.ca. The submission that proves most popular online will become one of 20 semi-finalists to be submitted to Canada Post’s Stamp Advisory Committee (SAC). One of those designs will become the 2011 Mental Health stamp. Have a go, or vote for the design that you thinks should win.
The press are often guilty for their stereotyping of mental illness following tragic events. We do not know yet what provoked this act. Its refreshing then to read Vaughan Bell’s piece in Slate following the Gifford shootings.
This presumed link between psychiatric disorders and violence has become so entrenched in the public consciousness that the entire weight of the medical evidence is unable to shift it. Severe mental illness, on its own, is not an explanation for violence, but don’t expect to hear that from the media in the coming weeks.
Of course, like the rest of the population, some people with mental illness do become violent, and some may be riskier when they’re experiencing delusions and hallucinations. But these infrequent cases do not make “schizophrenia” or “bipolar” a helpful general-purpose explanation for criminal behavior.
The fact that mental illness is so often used to explain violent acts despite the evidence to the contrary almost certainly flows from how such cases are handled in the media. Numerous studies show that crimes by people with psychiatric problems are over-reported, usually with gross inaccuracies that give a false impression of risk.
Link to read Vaughan excellent analysis in the aftermath of the Gifford shootings.
Recently the local press in Coquitlam had focused on the plight of the homeless in the Tri-Cities area and opposition to the location of a proposed shelter.
“The health of any community is not measured in dollars and cents but in how it takes care of those in need,” says Dr. Mason Turner, Chief of Psychiatry Kaiser Permanente San Francisco and Associate Director of Regional Mental Health.
What a refreshing and inspirational thought this is .
In the more than 5 years since PHC first began the program has helped 31,900 homeless people, providing them with a broad array of services, but with the economy in turmoil the number of people in need keeps rising. Learn more about Project Connect
