Best Friends Come in All Breeds: The Role of Pets in Suicidality

Love, Heather A.

doi:10.1080/08927936.2021.1885144

Cited by 18 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Dog walking has been reported to give purpose in life and facilitate positive social relationships [ 9 , 59 , 60 ]. Caring for an animal can give owners routine, life structure and purpose [ 59 , 61 , 62 ], even potentially helping in suicide prevention [ 25 , 63 ]. Dog presence/company is an important social lubricant [ 60 , 64 , 65 , 66 ] and is potentially a source of social support [ 45 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Theoretical Foundations to the Impact of Dog-Related Activities on Human Hedonic Well-Being, Life Satisfaction and Eudaimonic Well-Being

Barcelos

Kargas

Maltby

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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Cross-sectional comparisons of well-being between dog owners and non-owners commonly generate inconsistent results. Focusing on the uniqueness of the relationship might help address this issue and provide a stronger foundation for dog-related psychotherapeutic interventions. This study aims to evaluate the impact of dog-related activities (e.g., exercising the dog) on owner hedonic well-being, life satisfaction and eudaimonic well-being. It was also hypothesised that psychological closeness to the dog would affect these well-being outcomes. For this study, 1030 dog owners aged over 18 years old answered an online questionnaire about the impact of 15 groups of dog-related activities on their well-being. Ordinal regressions were used to estimate the mean response (and its uncertainty) for each outcome, while conditioning for psychological closeness to the dog and controlling for several key covariates. Tactile interactions and dog playing were significantly more beneficial than other activities for hedonic well-being, and dog training and dog presence for eudaimonic well-being. In contrast, dog health issues and behavioural problems were linked to decrements in these well-being outcomes. Higher psychological closeness to the dog predicted greater improvement in well-being in positive dog-related activities. Our quantitative study validates the general findings of previous qualitative work and lays the groundwork for future longitudinal studies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Theoretical Foundations to the Impact of Dog-Related Activities on Human Hedonic Well-Being, Life Satisfaction and Eudaimonic Well-Being

Barcelos

Kargas

Maltby

et al. 2021

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This also serves to highlight the problems with simply considering dog ownership as a simple or homogenous variable, a fallacy emphasised by the diversity of the framework described here. Indeed, Love 122 conducted a qualitative study with 71 adult pet owners who had had suicidal thoughts or behaviours and identified three pet-related protective factors against suicide: comfort provided by the pet (e.g., emotional support), distraction from suicidal thoughts (e.g., pet seeks attention and distracts owner) and a reason to live (e.g., obligation to care for the pet). These factors match very well the two main elements of suicide prevention among autistic dog owners identified here (affection shown by the dog and care for the animal).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These factors match very well the two main elements of suicide prevention among autistic dog owners identified here (affection shown by the dog and care for the animal). Nonetheless, Love 122 also pointed out two risk factors for suicide, i.e., pets' behaviour problems and pets' health problems. Although uncommon, these risk factors were the same two negative themes identified in the current study which worsened both hedonic and eudaimonic well-being.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the impact of dog ownership on autistic adults: implications for mental health and suicide prevention

Barcelos

Kargas

Packham

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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Mental health problems and suicide are more frequent in autistic adults than general population. Dog ownership can improve human well-being. This study aimed to generate a framework of well-being outcomes for dog-related activities in autistic adults and compare it to the framework generated for a general adult population. Thirty-six autistic dog owners (18–74 years old, 18 males) from diverse UK regions were interviewed and transcripts thematically analysed. 16.7% reported that their dogs prevented them from taking their own lives, mainly due to the dog's affection and the need to care for the animal. Close dog-owner interactions (e.g., cuddling, walking, dog's presence) were the most frequent activities improving emotions/moods and life functioning, whereas routine-like activities (e.g., feeding the animal) particularly enhanced life functioning. Well-being worsening was mainly linked to dog behaviour problems, dog poor health/death and obligations to the dog. Despite some negatives associated with ownership, having a dog could improve the well-being of many autistic adults and assist suicide prevention strategies in this high-risk group. The framework was consistent with that generated previously, indicating its robustness and the potential opportunity to focus on dog-related activities rather than the vague concept of “ownership” when considering the impact of ownership on well-being.

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“…Pets are indisputably important for the lives of their owners (Archer, 1997;Kurdek, 2008;Stallones et al, 1990). On the one hand, having a pet can improve personal stress management skills (Antonacopoulos & Pychyl, 2008;Crossman et al, 2015;Wu et al, 2018), lower symptoms of anxiety and depression (Bolstad et al, 2021;Lem et al, 2016;Tower & Nokota, 2006), and even help prevent suicides in certain social groups (Love, 2021;Young et al, 2020). On the other hand, some papers have demonstrated that there is almost no difference in the health of those who own pets and those who do not (Himsworth & Rock, 2013;Stallones et al, 1990) and that pets can differently impact the aspects of their owner's mental health, depending on the sociodemographic traits of the owner and their family (Janssens et al, 2020;Liu et al, 2019).…”

Section: Controversies Of Pet Ownership For Mental Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, the papers that consider the meaning of pets in the lives of people with EDs (Ponder, 2017;Rie et al, 2007) do not describe in detail the way attachment to pets could be related to the onset and course of EDs. It is known that pet ownership can significantly improve the psychological well-being of people of different ages both with and without mental health problems (Bolstad et al, 2021;Crossman et al, 2015;Lem et al, 2016;Love, 2021;Tower & Nokota, 2006;Young et al, 2020). Therefore, animal-assisted mental health services are becoming increasingly popular (Germain et al, 2018;Nimer & Lundahl, 2007;Wilkie et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Meanings Attached to Pets by Young Women with Anorexia: Triggers of Mental Health Problems, Neutral Beings, Sources of Emotional Support, Care-Targets, or Fully Fledged Family Members

Mikhaylova¹

2022

Preprint

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Animal-assisted therapy and intervention have demonstrated their effectiveness in improving the quality of life of people with mental health issues that are connected to social functioning difficulties. Anorexia is a mental health disorder that is associated with problematic formation and maintenance of long-lasting personal relationships. There is a limited number of papers that describe how people with eating disorders, including anorexia, treat their pets. Since the perceptions of people with anorexia of their pets are largely unexplored, in this article, I aim to contribute to this lacuna. In particular, I study the meanings that young women with anorexia attach to their pets. The data on this topic was collected through semi-structured biographical interviews and the concentric circles method (N = 50). The narratives were analyzed using thematic qualitative analysis. The findings indicate that pets are scarcely included in personal networks. Only seven women out of 50 mentioned them as members of these networks. Pets as parts of personal networks are referred to in five ways: (1) as providers of needed emotional support, (2) as targets of care that help to find the reason to be alive; (3) as triggers of depression and other mental health problems, (4) neutrally, or (5) as family members who are both in need of care and capable of providing support. Based on the results of the present research, I suggest the cautious implementation of animals in the provision of mental health services for young women with anorexia because these individuals tend to create strong bonds with their pets and the sudden cut of these ties (for instance due to pet death) could result in the worsening of the mental health of these vulnerable women.

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Best Friends Come in All Breeds: The Role of Pets in Suicidality

Cited by 18 publications

References 24 publications

Theoretical Foundations to the Impact of Dog-Related Activities on Human Hedonic Well-Being, Life Satisfaction and Eudaimonic Well-Being

Theoretical Foundations to the Impact of Dog-Related Activities on Human Hedonic Well-Being, Life Satisfaction and Eudaimonic Well-Being

Understanding the impact of dog ownership on autistic adults: implications for mental health and suicide prevention

Meanings Attached to Pets by Young Women with Anorexia: Triggers of Mental Health Problems, Neutral Beings, Sources of Emotional Support, Care-Targets, or Fully Fledged Family Members

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