Bipolar Treatment & Recovery with Pets

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With their unconditional love and passion for playtime, dogs bring us joy and can help us manage bipolar symptoms. Here are some canine breeds to consider. Canine Companions and Overall Well-Being There’s a reason dogs are known as “man’s best friend.” Your canine companions are part of the family, providing unconditional love, support, and laughter....

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An Emotional Support Animal (ESA) is a companion pet that offers support to an owner who has a mental or emotional health condition by reduce their owner’s anxiety and the feelings of alienation.* #1) Bradley Cooper The “Silver Linings Playbook” actor can often be found taking his beloved Chow-retriever mix, Charlotte, for a walk. He...

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The various roles of service, emotional support, and therapy animals can get confusing; we break it down: Service Animals These animals are mostly dogs, and are trained to perform assistive tasks for people with physical disabilities. They are sometimes referred to as support animals or assistance animals, depending on the animal’s function. For a service...

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For people living with bipolar disorder, pets can help your mood stability and encourage a regular, healthy schedule. Whoever coined the phrase “man’s best friend” was on to something. Dogs — and cats and birds and other critters — have well-documented properties for boosting our well-being. For those living with bipolar disorder, pets can help...

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Author, speaker, creative director, Bruce Goldstein credits his black lab Ozzy with saving his life when his bipolar disorder was at its worst. Looking back, my earliest signs of mania occurred during my fifth grade science fair. I hand-sculpted a volcano out of paper-mâché and painted it maroon. I was so excited — until I...

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Whether it’s spending time cuddling with an affectionate pet bird, or getting outside to bird watch, our feathered friends provide many mental health benefits for people with bipolar disorder. There are proven mental health benefits to having a pet and spending time with animals. For individuals with bipolar disorder, animals can provide emotional support and...

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Pets can heal us in unexpected ways. I never thought our cat would become a lifeline, but she has proved to be the sassy support I need (and love!). During my later childhood years, we shared our family home with pet dogs, and I came to learn about how they can help ease the symptoms...

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When our dog, Charlie, entered our lives, he truly made us a family. In grieving him, I take solace in what he taught me about presence, sensitivity, and play. Grieving My Best Friend Our five-year-old, vibrant dog, Charlie, unexpectedly experienced heart distress on New Year’s Eve day. Four days later, he stopped eating and made...

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Dogs are sensitive creatures. Just as your dog can alert you to an intruder, he or she may also help you recognize a mood swing. While I helped set up our moose camp deep in the Talkeetna Mountains, my 10-month old puppy, Lapua, a lanky, 50-pound, Great Pyrenees-husky-boxer mix, set up her own vantage point...

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Dogs can provide valuable support to people living with bipolar, from easing isolating feelings to providing a healthy outlet for hypomanic energy   I have a little guy whom I refer to as my “bipolar therapy dog.” His name is Ryder and he is a 7-year-old Papillon with long hair and ears that point up...

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Experts warn that all the time you spend staring at your phone can make your dog feel lonely, isolated—and depressed.   It’s time to break that habit of constantly scrolling through social media on your cell phone—for a heartbreaking reason that goes beyond human emotions. Dogs may feel depressed and isolated when their owners are...

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Pets can provide invaluable support to help you cope with anxiety, from helping you to feel more secure to getting enough exercise. Anxiety can severely impact your quality of life. If you live with anxiety, it can be difficult to leave your home, talk to other people, or even get sufficient sleep at night. You can...

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Our companion animals can help us offset stress, fend off loneliness, socialize, and much more. When Barbara D. is so down she can’t get out of bed, her 14-year-old Himalayan cat, Elmo, literally gets in her face. “He will walk up, in a very pushy way you can’t ignore,” says Barbara, 54. “He’ll stick his...

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While isolating may seem like an ideal solution to finding relief from social anxiety — or bipolar disorder symptoms — here are some better strategies that can help you tackle these challenges. Mental health struggles can affect almost every aspect of your life. A person with bipolar disorder can have a wide range of other...

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At the difficult time of losing a pet, it’s important to have a plan in place to prevent bipolar disorder symptoms from taking hold.   My beloved kitty Bibi is gone. I was ready for her death and want to share with you what I’m doing in order to keep myself stable while going through...

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Prior studies have found dogs to be highly responsive to human crying. But Sanford’s team is the first to show that dogs who detect emotional distress will hurry to do something about it.   July 17, 2018 — Dogs are thought to be very aware of people’s emotions, but if a pup’s owner were really...

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Suggestions to help you get a handle on your anger. 1. Ask yourself questions When you feel yourself on the verge of anger ask: Is this really what I want to do? Do I want to have this conversation or explosion now? Maybe I should wait until I feel better. Answering “no” could buy you...

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Social anxiety is painful and can make you feel inferior, self-conscious, and even humiliated. Try these strategies to tackle your fears. #1. Create Constructive Mantras Empowering self-talk can do wonders to boost your confidence. Instead of worrying about how people may be judging you, try replacing these thoughts with phrases like, “People like hanging out with...

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Redirect your energy toward these three everyday activities—and feel the difference. #1. Take deep breaths Stopping what you are doing and taking deep breaths can help you stay in control. A simple technique to try: close your eyes, sit up straight, and count to five as you take a deep breath in. Count to five...

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A few minutes alone with a pet cat or dog might do more to help people’s stress than talking about their troubles with their best friend or spouse, according to a new study. Researchers recently examined the effects of the presence of friends, spouses and pets on the level of stress associated with certain relatively...

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Independence Day fireworks can be a highlight of the summer season for many. But for the family dog, fireworks and thunderstorms can trigger fear and anxiety similar to a panic attack. A third of all dogs will suffer from noise anxiety connected to suddenness of the sound. “To some degree, their ears are more sensitive....

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Volunteering at an animal shelter or visiting a family member’s pet are other ways you can experience the mental/physical health benefits dogs offer. By Julie A. Fast   Thanks to everyone who leaves comment under the blogs. I do read them and I learn from them. One in particular stood out. It was a comment...

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There’s a new twist to the perennial argument about which is smarter, cats or dogs. Newswise —It has to do with their brains, specifically the number of neurons in their cerebral cortex: the “little gray cells” associated with thinking, planning and complex behavior —all considered hallmarks of intelligence. The first study to actually count the...