My daughter just got her companion animal

[wellstone dem]

a cat. (I swallow hard as I am a dog person and have cat allergies.)

She suffers from severe depression and anxiety, and is away at college 1200 miles from home. It was wonderful to hear the joy in her voice last night and today.

I know it won't be a magic cure-all, but I am hopeful it will help.

(Thanks for Sfexpat for inviting me over to this forum.)

[elleng]

1. wellstone, so good to hear this!

I am with you as to dogs and cat allergies. Have 2 daughters, one out of and one in college, both of whom could benefit from such companions, and so could I! I'm sure it will help! And I can imagine your joy at hearing HERS!

[elleng]

2. More, wellstone.

I spoke with my college sophomore daughter today. She told me about the counselor she's been seeing, and really likes. She went so far as to seek another when current counselor was temporarily unavailable. I'm SO HAPPY to hear all this; wasn't sure she was seeing one regularly, and my daughter sounds great!

AND I think my daughter may be getting kittens soon! Don't know how necessary, and hope she can handle the necessaries along with school, but at moment I'm very happy about all this!

[EFerrari]

3. So good to see you posting here, wellstone dem.

:hug:

It won't be a magic cure all but it could help, I bet you a large pepperoni pizza.

Welcome!

[Lorien]

4. I think that it will offer her some protection

from the worst if her depression gets too severe. I've had suicidal tendencies for most of my life, and the one thing that always stops me is worrying about what will happen to my cats if I'm not here for them. They have me here all day (I'm self employed and work at home)and they get very anxious if I'm away for even a whole afternoon. If I'm gone for several days one of them won't eat, so it's a good incentive to stick around.

There have been plenty of studies that conclude that having a cat can lower a person's blood pressure, so they must be good for anxiety.

Please also see my thread on the alpha-stim. I think that it could really help your daughter.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=276&topic_id=1649&mesg_id=1649

[wellstone dem]

5. I'm going to forward that thread to her and

suggest that she talk with her psychiatrist about it.