The death of your pet is an underestimated trauma. But something is changing

Anyone who has been through it knows: the loss of a pet can unleash an intense and persistent wave of grief. Despite this, it is a mourning that is often ignored and not recognized as a source of psychological trauma. A new review published in the magazine CABI Human-Animal Interactions is now trying to change that by providing counselors and therapists with new perspectives to consider when dealing with patients who are grieving the loss of their pet.

During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when lockdowns saw a third of humanity confined to their homes, there was a significant increase in both pet ownership and the amount of time people spent in their company. Not only that: it has also been seen that, during periods of isolation, pets have played a “life-saving” role for many people, demonstrating the significant influence that furry friends can have on the quality of our lives. The same pet cemeteries around the world also show how important these creatures have been to humans over the centuries.

Despite all of this evidence about their value, Colleen Rolland, president and pet grief specialist at theAssociation for Pet Loss and Bereavementand Michelle Crossley, associate professor at Rhode Island College, have deemed it necessary to strengthen the work of social awareness on the close relationship that is established between a person and his pet and the psychological consequences that can derive from its loss. It is their opinion that belittled, unacknowledged, or derisive grief can damage a person’s health, complicating the healing processbecause in the face of little consideration they would be less inclined to seek help even when they really need it.

“When certain relationships are not valued by society, it is more likely that after an inevitable loss, people remain slaves to a pain that is difficult to overcome,” explained Colleen Rolland in the report. «The main objective of this review is provide psychological counselors with new aspects to consider in their therapeutic work with patients who have lost their pet forever, and present several factors that may affect the way you grieve. The paper also includes considerations that can be used to foster a supportive, non-judgmental space where clients’ expressions of pain are valued rather than belittled.”

Recommended strategies for supporting patients in pain include group and personal counseling sessions, virtual therapy, and therapeutic arts and crafts for younger children trying to process the loss of their animal friend.

In this way, the researchers hope to broaden the perspective and general awareness of the meaning the death of a pet can have for some people and on the need to validate feelings of pain for animals as a path to better healing and more accessible treatment.

“Losing a pet can be a traumatic experience for a person, especially in relation to their sense of attachment, the role the pet played in their life, as well as the circumstances that led to the loss,” said Crossley. “Giving a voice to the people grieving these losses, effectively disenfranchised, is the best way to help them through the pain.”

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