Emotional support animals: A life- (and brain-) changing bond

July 8th, 2025

Written by: Emma Fischer

Anybody with a pet will tell you that spending time with them is one of the best things in the world. However, they might not realize that quality time with pets can have measurable benefits for their mental well-being. Some animals, called emotional support animals (ESAs), are specifically prescribed to help comfort and support people whose mental health impacts their quality of life.¹ Any domesticated animal can be an emotional support animal, but they need to be prescribed by a mental health professional, which gives them special legal protection.¹ For example, ESAs can live with their owners in places that don’t usually allow pets. Although ESAs are not classified as service animals, they are useful (and extremely lovable) companions that can help relieve stress and depression associated with mental illnesses. Let’s unpack the science behind how this owner-pet bond can improve mental health and even change the chemicals in your brain. 

Decrease in depression and loneliness with an ESA

Pets bring joy- but how can we measure how much? Researchers often ask people to fill out surveys about how they feel after interacting with ESAs to gather information about a participant’s mood and symptoms of mental illnesses like depression.² By comparing how participants rate their symptoms before and after interacting with an ESA, scientists can put numbers on the benefits of ESAs. The result? The numbers support exactly what ESA owners would tell you: interacting with ESAs tends to decrease negative feelings associated with chronic mental illnesses, even after short interactions.³ In a study on depression and loneliness, scientists found that participants who regularly interacted with an ESA reported reduced anxiety and fewer symptoms of depression.⁴ Multiple studies have also found that participants report feeling less lonely after spending time with an ESA.^4,5 Symptoms of many severe mental illnesses can be debilitating, so having a companion to ease symptoms can be really meaningful.

Studies have established that people report fewer symptoms of depression and loneliness after spending time with an ESA, but what is happening in the body and brain that makes us feel happier when we are with our pets? ESA interactions have both long- and short-term effects achieved through various chemicals that act on systems in the brain and body to influence how we feel and act, called hormones and neurotransmitters.⁶ 

Measures like reduced heart rate and lower blood pressure are associated with stress relief through a hormone produced in the brain, called oxytocin.⁵ One group of researchers measured oxytocin levels after ten minutes of play with an ESA and found increased oxytocin levels in participant saliva.⁵ The decreased stress that people feel after interacting with an ESA could be due to a decrease in a hormone associated with feelings of stress, called cortisol. The same study found decreased cortisol levels in saliva after an ESA interaction, providing more support that ESAs can reduce stress in their owners.⁵

How ESAs improve mental health through motivation

Pets are usually great at lifting spirits and reducing stress, whether ESA or not, but some benefits of ESAs are more specific to individuals impacted by mental illnesses.⁵ Lacking motivation to engage in daily tasks is a common symptom of several mental illnesses.⁴ ESAs can help with this: having an ESA has been shown to increase motivation in people whose daily functioning is affected by their mental illness.⁵ In these cases, people have a desire to engage with their ESA, which overall helps them feel motivated to complete other tasks. In addition, people with ESAs credit their animals with helping them get out of the house, sometimes through things like getting exercise by walking their dog, which is good for both physical and mental health!⁵

ESAs can help increase feelings of motivation, especially in individuals with depression, but how? One of the chemicals that acts in the brain to increase motivation is dopamine. Dopamine acts on the brain’s reward system where it promotes reward-seeking behavior in the short-term and helps the brain learn what behaviors lead to reward in the long-term.⁷ In the case of interactions with ESAs, being comforted by a pet is a rewarding experience: oxytocin and cortisol make us feel good, so we seek out time with our pets in order to feel good over and over again. Researchers have found that levels of dopamine in both humans and pets increase after they interact.⁶ The next time you feel like you’re addicted to spending time with your pet, remember that your body is telling you to spend time with them!

Whether seeking emotional support for mental health or just hanging out with a beloved pet, spending time with our animal companions does great things for our health. More people are seeking connections with animals as therapy; some scientists have even taken these benefits to a new level by creating robot animals that can achieve the same effects without the allergens! Research in the field of ESAs continues to evolve, but in the meantime, give your pet an extra cuddle today: science says so!

References

1. Gibeault, S. (2021). Everything You Need to Know About Emotional Support Animals. American Kennel Club. 
2. Powell, L., Edwards, K. M., McGreevy, P., Bauman, A., Podberscek, A., Neilly, B., … & Stamatakis, E. (2019). Companion dog acquisition and mental well-being: A community-based three-arm controlled study. BMC public health, 19, 1-10.
3. von Humboldt, S., Silva, S., & Leal, I. (2024). How do older adults experience pet companionship? A qualitative study of the affective relationship with pets and its effect on the mental health of older adults during the Covid-19 pandemic. Educational Gerontology, 50(7), 609-620.
4. Krause-Parello, C. A., Gulick, E. E., & Basin, B. (2019). Loneliness, depression, and physical activity in older adults: The therapeutic role of human–animal interactions. Anthrozoös, 32(2), 239-254.
5. Hoy-Gerlach,Janet and Vincent,Aviva and Scheuermann,Barry and Ojha,Mamta, hai.2022.0016, Human-animal interaction bulletin, doi:10.1079/hai.2022.0016, CABI International, Exploring Benefits of Emotional Support Animals (ESAs): A Longitudinal Pilot Study with Adults with Serious Mental Illness (SMI), (2022)
6. Beetz, A., Uvnäs-Moberg, K., Julius, H., & Kotrschal, K. (2012). Psychosocial and psychophysiological effects of human-animal interactions: the possible role of oxytocin. Frontiers in psychology, 3, 26183.
7. Bromberg-Martin, E. S., Matsumoto, M., & Hikosaka, O. (2010). Dopamine in motivational control: rewarding, aversive, and alerting. Neuron, 68(5), 815-834.

Cover photo from Prostooleh on Freepik.