How Animals Help with Coping in Grief and Other Distress
- Lisa S. Larsen, PsyD
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
So many of my clients who have pets credit their animal buddies with helping them heal tremendously from difficult times in their lives, whether the challenges come from grief and loss, a traumatic event, depression, anxiety, or loneliness. Besides companionship, animals bring a lot of benefits to humans, especially in times of distress.
Sometimes, when I’m doing psychotherapy with the person virtually, their pets will come in and sit on them or comfort the client, instinctively without any need for prompting or asking. It’s remarkable how powerful humans’ connections to animals can be for healing, growth, and learning. While this post is not comprehensive in covering all the ways animals help humans recover, it is an ode to some of the many benefits of pets.
Having a sense of purpose with animals helps you cope.
I recently saw a video that a client shared with me on YouTube that explored a prison program that paired stray cats with prisoners up in Washington State (to see it, click here). The program appeared to help the prisoners in many ways, chief among them giving the inmates a sense of purpose and caring for someone other than themselves. Some of the inmates had substance abuse issues and difficult histories, or were living in poverty and disarray. Caring for another creature helped them practice being socialized. They could bond with other prisoners in the group and with their animals.
They also received a lesson in letting go, since most of the animals they rehabilitated needed to be adopted by people on the outside. While they were able to bond and care for the cats, they had to realize that the relationship was temporary and that eventually, they would have to say goodbye to the cats.
When I did one of my practica in graduate school at a juvenile correctional facility, some of the inmates there trained service dogs. This program seemed to help the adolescents in similar ways to the adult prisoners in Washington. The kids bonded with the animals, had a meaningful activity to do while incarcerated, and some of them felt proud to be raising puppies that would help someone with a disability later on. I don’t know what the outcome studies on those detainees was compared to the rest of the population, but I did notice that they tended to be more upbeat and cooperative. Their self esteem seemed higher and they seemed to have a better outlook and positive view of the future.
Want unconditional love? Adopt a pet.
Whether you’re experience grief from a loss, depression, or other distress, you can count on animals to accept you as you are. They don’t have preconceived ideas of how you’re supposed to act, or judge you for crying or being upset. Many people have told me that having a pet saved their lives at one point because they felt cared for. Sometimes that is the only creature in the world that they trust and with whom they can be vulnerable or express themselves authentically. Animals really know how to show up for humans, in a way that sometimes other humans can’t seem to replicate well.
Co-regulate with your fur baby (or scale or feather…)
Interacting with animals such as therapy dogs can help reduce anxiety, stress-related hormones like cortisol,[i] blood pressure, and heart rate.[ii] That is important, because when you feel anxious, you need something to bring down your nervous system arousal beyond just changing your thoughts.
For you cat-lovers, what can be more soothing than hearing and feeling a cat purr on your lap or nearby? A Japanese study[iii] observed that interacting with cats had a positive effect on emotional arousal, as well as increasing the parasympathetic activity of the participants’ nervous system (the “rest and digest” branch of the nervous system, instead of the “fight-or-flight part”). The participants also seemed to have more oxytocin released in their brains when interacting with cats, which is a hormone involved with bonding between mammals.
Additionally, interacting with animals can increase your sociability. For instance, one study involving horse riding among inpatient psychiatric patients showed an increase in people initiating social interaction, smiling, making eye contact, all of which improved their mental health as well.[iv]
Pets often like to be involved in therapy, because they sense that their human is distressed and want to help. Often, they simply want attention or sense that something healing is happening and want to be a part of it. When I do hypnosis with people, their pets often like to come in and take a nap nearby to help their owner relax. It’s wonderful to have these therapeutic assistants nearby. All they ask is that you feed them, love them, and take them to the vet when necessary. They are wonderful teachers on how to love and be loved.
It's hard to compete with all the benefits of a beloved animal, but if you want to augment your animal interaction with a safe, caring human, I’d love to hear from you. If you’re suffering from PTSD or grief, I can offer you a safe place for you and your fur baby to start the healing process. Please call or click the button below for trauma or grief therapy.
