Mental health is a component of public health that is concerned with the psychological impact of disasters on people. Thousands of publications address the psychology of human disaster survivors.

People who are separated from their animals may experience separation anxiety, grief, bereavement, anger, guilt, and psychosomatic symptoms.

They may also fail to evacuate, attempt re-entry, and make irrational decisions about their own health. Keeping animals and their owners together is a way of reducing stress on disaster survivors.