[ants_everywhere]

> pet

Yes

https://academic.oup.com/schizophreniabulletin/article/50/3/...

> Our findings provide support for the hypothesis that cat exposure is associated with an increased risk of broadly defined schizophrenia-related disorders

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00223...

> Our findings suggest childhood cat ownership has conditional associations with psychotic experiences in adulthood.

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal...

> Exposure to household pets during infancy and childhood may be associated with altered rates of development of psychiatric disorders in later life.

[ahartmetz]

Cats in particular are correlated with getting toxoplasmosis. About other pets - IME, people who have been disappointed by humans / feel like they don't really fit into human society like pets as an alternative emotional support. I don't really understand it, but that's the observation.