The role that animals can play in improving people’s mental health has garnered increased attention in recent years -- from service dogs for PTSD to emotional support animals on planes to therapy dogs in offices. Dr. Maggie O’Haire, a psychologist at the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine, discusses animal-assisted interventions for veterans with PTSD and children with autism, what science has to say about the human-animal bond, the difference between service animals, therapy animals and emotional support animals, whether regular household pets may also affect our health and well-being – and why we all enjoy cat videos so much.
Perfectionism: When good is never good enough, with Gordon Flett, PhD, and Bonnie Zucker, PsyD
Revealing the Hidden Brain, with Shankar Vedantam
Why can some people speak dozens of languages? with Ev Fedorenko, PhD
Abortion and mental health, with Antonia Biggs, PhD
How living with secrets can harm you, with Michael Slepian, PhD
Can an app improve your health? With Gary Bennett, PhD
Racism, racial discrimination and mental health, with Riana Elyse Anderson, PhD
What is dissociative identity disorder? With Bethany Brand, PhD
Are we in a ‘loneliness pandemic’? With Louise Hawkley, PhD
Is technology killing empathy? With Sherry Turkle, PhD
What psychology has to say about art, with Ellen Winner, PhD
How exercise benefits the brain, with Jenny Etnier, PhD
Surviving the trauma of war in Ukraine, with Laura Murray, PhD
How to keep stress from harming your health, with George Slavich, PhD
How grieving changes the brain, with Mary-Frances O’Connor, PhD
How to Keep Anger from Getting the Best of You with Howard Kassinove, PhD, and Raymond “Chip” Tafrate, PhD
Why psychopathy is more common than you think, with Abigail Marsh, PhD
Ambiguous loss and the “myth of closure,” with Pauline Boss, PhD
How our siblings influence our lives, with Laurie Kramer, PhD, and Megan Gilligan, PhD
Poker, con artists and the psychology of risk and deception, with Maria Konnikova, PhD
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