Are you a cat person? If so, beware, because a new research study found a connection between owning a cat and developing Schizophrenia. The research was conducted by a team from the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research in Australia and published in the journal Schizophrenia Bulletin.
Cat lovers are for some reason mocked by most people. Everyone understands when you have a dog, but a cat owner is unfairly thought to be odd in some way. Then there is the cliché of the “crazy old cat lady” who lives alone with dozens of cats.
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Let’s face it: cats get a bad rap. But why? You don’t need to take them for walks and clean up after them. And they don’t bother the neighbors by barking all of the time. But this new research will give more ammunition to cat haters.
Schizophrenia is a complex mental health condition that affects millions of people worldwide. It can be a challenging and isolating experience. It is a treatable condition, and there are many effective treatment options available. Early diagnosis and treatment are important for improving outcomes.
The Mayo Clinic explains that Schizophrenia is a serious mental disorder in which people interpret reality abnormally. Schizophrenia may result in some combination of hallucinations, delusions, and extremely disordered thinking and behavior that impairs daily functioning, and can be disabling. Schizophrenia involves a range of problems with thinking (cognition), behavior and emotions. Signs and symptoms may vary, but usually involve delusions, hallucinations or disorganized speech, and reflect an impaired ability to function.
As for its connection to cats, the Australian researchers said that their findings support an “association between cat exposure and an increased risk of broadly defined schizophrenia-related disorders. We found that individuals exposed to cats had approximately twice the odds of developing schizophrenia.” But they also said that there is a need for more high-quality studies in this field.
But why would there be a connection? Scientists have yet to be find a definitive cause of Schizophrenia. There may even be different causes. So, some argue that it could be triggered by a parasite associated with cats.
But the problem with such studies is they associate behavior with causality. Maybe schizophrenics are just more likely to like cats.
