Living with a cat during childhood does not cause mental illness later in life, a new study from University College London suggests, disputing earlier studies that caused alarm by linking cats to human mental illness. Although most people who experience psychotic symptoms in adolescence will not develop psychotic disorders later in life, these symptoms often indicate an increased risk for such disorders and other mental illnesses, including depression. So are cats bad for your mental health? Researchers have previously theorized the culprit could be the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, which separate studies have linked to mental health problems. In combination, those studies have repeatedly led to inflammatory headlines alleging that cats will make their owners “crazy.”

Source: Huffington Post February 22, 2017 19:18 UTC