The Contribution of Cats to Psychology

We have recently acquired a new member to our family ~ another kitty, named Bugz. She had been at the local RSPCA shelter since she was 8 weeks old. We kept her name as she has had it for so long, and besides, the moths and mosquitoes being eaten within our home are showing her to be aptly named! We were so fortunate that this affectionate and gorgeous creature had not been swept up earlier:

At first I had my heart set on a younger kitten, but when I found out that Bugz was now one year old I knew that I was in a position to offer an older cat a home. And they do tend to be harder to place.

Well, our household is more the richer for her presence. The household has had to learn to accommodate a new family member (there is my partner and I, a cattleX and another kitty). Bugz delights us humans with her kitten antics, and we are enjoying the bonding experience.
It’ s easy to understand how a ‘pet’ (we prefer companion) can enable a person to feel loved, wanted, special, and close to another. The other companions are taking a little longer to be fully comfortable around her…but nothing too serious, so Bugz is here to stay.

Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) is a topic of great interest to one particular student that I have worked with. In fact, her research proposal was a MANOVA design to compare three therapeutic groups (interpersonal therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy and AAT) on measures of depression and quality of life, within an aged care village. We were both surprised to find that there remains a limited amount of empirical research of AAT.

I was surprised considering the number of websites that are available informing people of the benefits of pet therapy/AAT. I’ve included some additional links here:

http://www.dogplay.com/Activities/Therapy/therapy.html

http://www.dogplay.com/Activities/Therapy/tFAQ.html#Define2

http://www.velmaspetsastherapy.com.au/index.html

http://www.abc.net.au/gnt/future/Transcripts/s1144664.htm

http://www.holistic-online.com/stress/stress_pet-therapy.htm

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/331/7527/1231

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1447-

0594.2005.00276.x
http://seniorjournal.com/NEWS/Features/5-06-28PetsOrPlants.htm

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bsc/aot/2005/00000052/

00000001/art00007

I encourage people to consider adopting their next pet from a refuge, you never know the treasure of psychological benefits you may bring to yours or another’s life. And if you are looking for a research topic for your next assessment or thesis, I recommend extending our knowledge base of animal assisted therapy. It has the potential to benefit many within our community: the socially isolated/excluded, the animals in refuges, and the maturity of our social protection systems.

Ecopsychology

I am very fortunate to have a job that allows me to enjoy and interact with my natural world. Life in Far North Queensland also provides an abundance of opportunities to experience this wonderful world we call Earth.

Psychology is about knowledge of ourselves, with the ultimate goal of bringing balance to the mind and body. Being out and about in the world, and soaking up nature, is a viable way to bring balance back into ones life.

I walk my dog every day (well, almost and use this time to appreciate the world that I am a part of. We collect seeds that are in season, some make it into the garden, others spend their days decorating my lounge and office space. The mistletoe are in flower as of yesterday, in North Cairns anyway, and the almond trees are fruiting too. Our daily walks have become a method of meditation, awareness, and therapeutic balancing – for both of us.

Birds that we do not recognise on our travels are looked up when we arrive home, and I ring/messenger my sister to discover the names of butterflies that we do not know (A. has grown herself a butterfly garden).

I am currently building myself an outdoor covered area, from the demolition shop, to have an area to relax or work in, which will just get my family OUTDOORS more. I will keep you posted as to the construction process…

Today I am including a link to an ecopsychology site that has a reflective “trail” activity. I would have liked the site to be more visual and interactive, but as it is, the trail provides insights into one’s personal relationship with the world, and offers directions for extending this relationship in a day-to-day way. The link is: http://www.ecopsych.com/trailattract.html

Take the tour and invigorate your relationship with Earth, and maintain the psychological balance in your life: http://www.ecopsych.com/trailattract.html

Statistics Fun

Yes, I do believe it is possible to have fun with statistics. Like any language, it needs to be used in real-world contexts to understand when and how to use it. This week, in my publication of Sight, a student psychology newsletter(www.psitutor.org), I included a link to a simulation of use for practicing stats.

I discovered that I can grow grass really well, and am just as successful at breeding rabbits (last count births were at 71, 706). Unfortunately, a couple of times I set parameters that killed my simulated rabbits and wolves within 10 seconds.

I recommend the site to get familiar with reading graphs, determining probability and running the basic stats of mean, median and mode. I’ll keep practicing too…

Friendship

My first publication is not a research paper, but a personal poem. Friendship was written on the fly as a reflection of the transient nature that friendship can have…

she shines
and sparkles
like gold on riverstone
when close
she fades
flakes and
falls
clear like the water
washing over all obstacles
passing through
pools of substance
as a fish
her scales bind her
to any hand that dips
she plays
with life’s currents
and leaves
nothing
looking elsewhere

- chayne de cairns

Journaling Aids Study

I know I’ve been somewhat slack about scheduling my blog entries, but I really do believe in the power of a journal to help consolidate information, especially psychology concepts. To help me stay ‘on the ball’ I will draw on articles of others, as well as my own contributions. Why reinvent the wheel?

A blog is a great way for a student to set out their goals for a course, particularly if it is difficult to find the course relevant to one’s life – a comment I often hear with learning statistics in psychology. Other students who are also wondering about the point of it all can read your blog and not feel they are adrift or alone in their perceptions of topics and theories that they encounter. Ditto for yourself, you can read the blogs of others and perhaps be motivated to keep on going. It’s what its all about!

A journal/blog can help you as a student to set goals,; to note your progress or difficulties; to reflect on how your mind has changed, or not, and why; and to evaluate your learning methods. Hope this article inspires you as it has me…

A Journaling Introduction
by: Daniel Lesser

In today’s world, it seems that almost any topic is open for debate. While I was gathering facts for this article, I was quite surprised to find some of the issues I thought were settled are actually still being openly discussed.

How do you begin journaling? How do you know what to write?

How do you find time? There are many questions when it comes to keeping a journal and someone who may not have ever done it before may have problems trying to see themselves doing it now.

Another question is why. Why should I do this? How will it benefit me and what is the point? Well, the biggest way in which keeping a journal can help you is that you can reduce the stress in your life.

Journaling has been proven as a method of reducing stress, improving the immune system and helping with certain diseases and conditions. Journaling can reduce your stress and your chances of depression and prevent the need for medication.

It’s really a good idea to probe a little deeper into the subject of journaling. What you learn may give you the confidence you need to venture into new areas.

You do not really need to know anything about journaling to begin. There is no right or wrong way. You can simply pick up a pen and paper and begin. It’s not really that easy for many people, though. That’s why new methods have been designed to help people.

There is excellent journaling software that makes the whole process simple for you. You just open the program and begin typing. The software dates it for you and times it if you want and even offers you writing prompts to help you express yourself. Those writing prompts can be especially helpful as you are just beginning to journal when you are not so sure what to write.

You want your journal to be more than just a diary of what you did that day. You want it to be a way to express your emotions and work through how they make you feel. You want it to be a safe place to communicate and problem solve. To explore thoughts you normally don’t have time to notice. Journaling will become a growing experience for you in which you get to know yourself better.

You will then be healthier and happier and possibly even stress free!

Knowing enough about journaling to make solid, informed choices cuts down on the fear factor. If you apply what you’ve just learned about journaling, you should have nothing to worry about.

About The Author

Daniel J Lesser is the creator of www.stressfreeclub.com.

A whole world awaits if you can control your stress.

Find out how you can expand your horizons at www.stressfreeclub.com.

View their website at: http://www.stressfreeclub.com

dlesser1972@yahoo.co.uk