More Than Just a Cute Face

As an experienced mental health therapist, Anne Tindall knows the benefits that pet ownership can bring. “Having pets helps with anxiety [and] depression. Also, they help to lower blood pressure,” says Tindall. “People that have pets have lower rates of heart disease, lower rates of stress.” She also knows from personal experience the potential benefits pets can have for those with psoriatic disease, particularly when it comes to staying active with psoriatic arthritis (PsA). I can hear one of her dogs, Pippa, barking in the background of our call, trying to get her to play. Tindall laughs and says, “It forces you to do that movement as well, getting up and moving around, and have that energy too.”

In her work, Tindall has noticed the benefits of just talking about pets. She told me of a recent client that started the appointment anxious and nervous. “And then when we started talking about her dogs, that's when I noticed that she really relaxed,” says Tindall. “Even just talking about your pets to other people is therapeutic as well.”

Like Dvorak, Jocelyn Hall also grew up with several pets. Diagnosed with psoriasis as a child, Hall appreciated having pets around. “Pets don't judge you. Pets will always love you. Pets don't care about your skin. Pets don't see that at all,” says Hall. Now an adult, Hall has gotten married, been diagnosed with PsA, adopted her dog Leo, gotten divorced, and had to put Leo down. Though she felt like her heart was closed off, especially after Leo passed away, she recently, on a whim, applied to foster a new dog.  Now she has Kailani, or Lani, in her life.

Hall says that she is actually inspired by Lani – a dog that has been isolated for much of her life due to multiple medical issues but is still loving and happy. “She's kind of been teaching me that that you don't have to be hardened by life – by the things that happen to you,” says Hall. She is still struggling with grief and depression, so Hall’s therapist told her to take time to pet Lani and focus on her hand and the feeling of the fur as a kind of meditation. Hall says it helps her stay in the moment. “Having her is helping me take care of myself again,” says Hall.

Not only have her pets helped her mental health, but they have also helped her manage her psoriatic disease. Hall used to go swimming with Leo frequently, and she found that the saltwater she swam in would relieve her skin lesions. Being active, regularly taking Lani on walks, and playing with her has helped her PsA symptoms as well. “If they're going to have the best life, I have to live my best life too,” says Hall.