Pet Friendly Psychology Explore The Emotional Connection Between Humans And Animals

Empathy, attachment and anthropomorphism are human psychological mechanisms that are considered relevant for positive and healthy relationships with animals, but when dysfunctional or pathological determine physical or psychological suffering, or both, in animals as occurs in animal hoarding. The most representative results of the research show how pets have a positive impact on the mental health of their owners, because of the emotional connection established, which leads them to experience mainly feelings of love, joy and peace. Beside sable (1995), jennings’s (1997) findings presented Attachment theory posits that individuals are born with behavioral systems primarily designed to promote survival ( bretherton, 1992; Gillath et al. , 2005;

Stern and cassidy, 2018 ). Two key systems within this framework are the attachment behavioral system and the caregiving behavioral system (cbs). This chapter explores how psychotherapists can incorporate companion animals into the psychotherapy process to better understand client relationships. We used a mediation model estimating the indirect link between emotional attachment to pets and mental health burden via human attachment and the direct link between emotional attachment to pets and mental health burden simultaneously. The term pets has evolved into companion animals to reflect their significant role and emotional connections with humans [5,6,7]. The emotional bond between a pet and a human can be as intense as with another person and brings similar psychological benefits (mcnicholas et al. , 2005). This article discusses how pets benefit our mental health and the emotional support they bring. The presence of pets in our daily lives has meant a change in the perception of our relationship with pets. For example, research suggests dogs are sensitive to our emotional states ( 2) as well as our social gestures ( 3 ), and they also can communicate with us using complex cues such as gaze alternation ( 4 ).