Washington [US]: A new review published in the CABI journal Human-Animal Interactions offers counsellors additional perspectives to explore while working with clients who have lost their pets. The research highlights how during the COVID-19 pandemic, there was more opportunity for people to spend longer with their pets - relying on them to help maintain a sense of normality and provide security during periods of isolation.
Dr Michelle Crossley, Assistant Professor at Rhode Island College, and Colleen Rolland, President and pet loss grief specialist for Association for Pet Loss and Bereavement (APLB), suggest that pets play a significant role in the lives of their caregivers. However, they add that grieving the loss of a pet continues to be disenfranchised in society.
Dr Crossley said, "Perceptions of judgment can lead individuals to grieve the loss without social support. "The present review builds on research in the field of pet loss and human bereavement and factors in the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on human-animal attachment. "A goal of the present review is to provide counsellors with perspectives to consider in their practice when working with clients who have attachments to their companion animals.
"It also aims to acknowledge the therapeutic benefits of working through the grief process to resolution as a way to continue the bond with a deceased pet." The researchers say that stigma associated with grieving a loss can complicate the healing process and that counselors would expect to see more clients wanting to discuss their grieving - particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
They add that while empathy may come more naturally when discussing human loss, there are other types of loss that are not acknowledged or given a similar amount of attention by society. This includes death by suicide, a lost pregnancy/miscarriage, death from AIDS and the death of a pet. Ms Rolland said, "When relationships are not valued by society, individuals are more likely to experience disenfranchised grief after a loss that cannot be resolved and may become complicated grief.
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