Inter Species Reciprocal Needs

HelpGuide.org

"We know that if you pet a dog, a horse or any animal, your stress hormones drop dramatically after a few minutes."

"Your oxytocin, which is your feel-good hormone, will also increase."

"The literature shows that if somebody feels like they don't matter they become vulnerable to negative emotional states like loneliness, like depression."

"With service dogs and veterans, we found that the relationship increased the [veterans'] sense of mattering. It gave them a purpose; something to look forward to that brought a smile to their face every day."

Alexandria Pavelich, PhD student, Researcher, One Health and Wellness Office, University of Saskatchewan 

"We get the feeling [of mattering] when we know people are paying attention to us as individuals."

"Feeling seen and heard is part of what makes us feel like we matter."

"Helping someone else likely has several positive impacts. It's a positive mood enhancer and it further connects us with other people, which is another core need."

"But it also reminds us that we can make good things happen, so it provides a positive sense of agency and efficacy."

Professor Gordon Flett, Canada research chair, personality and health, York University

"There's a very large plant-parent community out there. Caring for a plant is very similar to caring for a pet or a loved one because it's alive. It's the whole idea of having responsibility for something living."

"We all need a sense of purpose in life. So wherever we can find joy, whether it be through plants or caring for other things, that's what people need to sort of thrive and keep their mental health intact."

Tara Soloway, founder, Plantd Life, biophilic design firm, Toronto

 

Alexandria Pavelich is involved in research involving the therapeutic effect that service animals have within hospital settings, affecting military veterans, feeling that the mood lift that results with human-animal interaction transcends hormones alone. Only in the last several decades have researchers explored why it is that animal-human interactions produce a good feeling, lifting spirits. Making people feel that they matter, a feeling of having significance to others.

The animal-human interaction works both ways; caring for someone or something means a reflected inter-dependency.  The person who cares sees a reciprocation in play, where they in turn are cared for. Professor Flett points out that clinical case accounts in his field describe people with anxiety and depression appearing to improve through becoming involved in helping others. A situation that can result in a positive form of distraction, directing attention from our perceived flaws, regrets and limitations.

Practical reasons abound to explain why it is that caring for others could have positive effects on our own moods or sense of self turning positive. Knowing that someone depends on your caring for them in turn offers a reason to rise in the morning. Caring for animals, and committing to walking them regularly translates to more needed exercise and even contemplative time if that walking takes place in a natural green setting, providing both needed exercise and peace of mind.

What has been acknowledged in studies in this field of caring for others, is that benefits of caring can exist with all living things, even those such as cats and plants which have fewer commitments attached to their care. Biophilic design represents incorporating plants and greenery in residences, offices, public spaces and urban landscapes for the purpose of reducing stress levels, and ultimately boosting good feelings.

 

"Biophilia" is derived from Latin, words for 'life' and 'love', feeding into the theoretical conception that humans are innately drawn to and made content by contact with other living things, whether human, animal, natural settings or houseplants.