Is Pet Ownership Helpful in Reducing the Risk and Severity of Geriatric Depression?

Many community-dwelling older adults are searching for ways to remain mentally and physically healthy as they age. One frequently offered suggestion is for older people to adopt a pet to avoid loneliness, to stay socially engaged, and to stave off depression. Despite the ubiquity of this advice in p...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Needell, Nancy J., Mehta-Naik, Nisha
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2016
Materias:
Review
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6371194/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31022817
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/geriatrics1040024
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author Needell, Nancy J.
Mehta-Naik, Nisha
author_facet Needell, Nancy J.
Mehta-Naik, Nisha
author_sort Needell, Nancy J.
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description Many community-dwelling older adults are searching for ways to remain mentally and physically healthy as they age. One frequently offered suggestion is for older people to adopt a pet to avoid loneliness, to stay socially engaged, and to stave off depression. Despite the ubiquity of this advice in popular culture, research findings are equivocal on whether pet ownership is beneficial to the physical and psychological health of older adults. This article evaluates published data relating to pet ownership and its possible impact on depression and related symptoms in the elderly.
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spelling pubmed-63711942019-03-07 Is Pet Ownership Helpful in Reducing the Risk and Severity of Geriatric Depression? Needell, Nancy J. Mehta-Naik, Nisha Geriatrics (Basel) Review Many community-dwelling older adults are searching for ways to remain mentally and physically healthy as they age. One frequently offered suggestion is for older people to adopt a pet to avoid loneliness, to stay socially engaged, and to stave off depression. Despite the ubiquity of this advice in popular culture, research findings are equivocal on whether pet ownership is beneficial to the physical and psychological health of older adults. This article evaluates published data relating to pet ownership and its possible impact on depression and related symptoms in the elderly. MDPI 2016-10-04 /pmc/articles/PMC6371194/ /pubmed/31022817 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/geriatrics1040024 Text en © 2016 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Needell, Nancy J.
Mehta-Naik, Nisha
Is Pet Ownership Helpful in Reducing the Risk and Severity of Geriatric Depression?
title Is Pet Ownership Helpful in Reducing the Risk and Severity of Geriatric Depression?
title_full Is Pet Ownership Helpful in Reducing the Risk and Severity of Geriatric Depression?
title_fullStr Is Pet Ownership Helpful in Reducing the Risk and Severity of Geriatric Depression?
title_full_unstemmed Is Pet Ownership Helpful in Reducing the Risk and Severity of Geriatric Depression?
title_short Is Pet Ownership Helpful in Reducing the Risk and Severity of Geriatric Depression?
title_sort is pet ownership helpful in reducing the risk and severity of geriatric depression?
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6371194/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31022817
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/geriatrics1040024
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