Showsight May 2017

SURVIVING YOUR PET’S DEATH

by WILL GIBSON, PhD

There’s nothing worse than the loss of a beloved canine friend. All of us feel it very deeply, even when we own many. The pain felt by the single-dog owner has to be even more devastating. The following article can help us, and help us help the people who turn to us in times of grief. Those who sell pups are often the first to hear from an owner upon a pet’s death. Hopefully the following will help us ease their pain...and our own. —Ed.

S ome readers may find it odd to discover an article by a psy- chologist in a publication of this nature. For others, it will make perfect sense. As a psychologist, I am interested in guiding each of you to a more fulfilling, happier life. In fact, I consider it unhealthy for you to choose anything less than the most satisfying life available to you. Primary among contributing factors to your psychological well-being are your meaningful, intimate relationships with others... caring, important associa- tions that extend beyond yourself and your own needs and desires. It comes as no surprise to any reader of this maga- zine that such relationships are often forged not with other humans, but in fact with our pets. Psychologist Abraham Maslow sug- gests that as we grow in our ability to love and participate in meaningful rela- tionships beyond ourselves, we become healthier and more actualized individu- als. Such relationships, in turn, contrib- ute to our enjoyment of an increased

sense of security, belonging and being loved... all highly contributory to our enhanced psychological health. I am trained as a family therapist. As such, it is my responsibility to con- sider the structure under which a family functions and the defined roles it expects from every member of its unique, individualized family system. Part of my professional work includes the training and preparation of graduate students working to become licensed family therapists. It is incumbent upon me to assure that these future therapists acknowledge the variations that will be presented to them by the families they encounter in their work. As every indi- vidual is wonderfully unique, so too is every family special and different from any other. Psychologists and other mental health professionals have long recog- nized the contributory and positive role pets play in our lives, as well as functioning as active members with- in our family system. I have person- ally been active in enlisting the use

of pets in family therapy as well as in medical settings as a component of enhanced treatment in both private and clinical environments. Early in the AIDS crisis during the late 1980s into the 1990s, as mental health workers, we immediately recognized the value of using pets as companions to terminally ill individuals rejected by their families and friends. Not only did loving pets offer the unconditional love and support often missing in the dying patient’s life, they created a stronger will to survive and to remain participa- tory in life on an on-going daily basis... something that often eluded our abili- ties as doctors and health care workers to create. Today, pets are actively used in treat- ing ill patients in virtually every clini- cal setting. Their positive influence is evident from the moment they enter the room! As a psychologist, I also find that John Bowlby’s theory of attachment often aids me in considering alterna- tives for methodology in working with

“TODAY, PETS ARE ACTIVELY USED IN TREATING ILL PATIENTS IN VIRTUALLY EVERY CLINICAL SETTING. THEIR POSITIVE INFLUENCE IS EVIDENT FROM THE MOMENT THEY ENTER THE ROOM!”

138 • S how S ight M agazine , M ay 2017

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