World Mental Health Day 2019: Pet owners on why they owe their life to their four-legged friends

We asked people to describe the one thing that brought them great joy and light, when they were dealing with the tough times. The answers came pronto. It was their pets — their reason for being.

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Having a pet is a therapeutic experience. (Source: Getty/Thinkstock)

It’s 2019, and we still have a pretty stunted and limited understanding of mental health. While the awakening has been gradually happening, the majority still thinks of mental health and well-being as a stigma. When, in fact, it is anything but that. Among other things, mental health conditions are instrumental for the overall well-being of a person. So to treat it as a taboo would be a great disservice to a person’s social and psychological well-being.