PET MOURNING: SOCIAL NON-RECOGNITION AND ITS PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACTS

Abstract

The present research project aimed to investigate the psychological impacts resulting from the lack of social recognition of grief experienced by pet owners after the loss of their animals. It starts from the observation that, although the relationship between humans and companion animals has significantly tightened over the past decades in affective, symbolic, and functional terms, the experience of pet grief often remains unauthorized by society. This phenomenon, conceptualized by Doka (1989) as “marginalized,” can make coping with loss more difficult, triggering or aggravating cases of psychological suffering. This is a study with a quantitative and qualitative approach, with a descriptive-exploratory nature. The sample consisted of 167 individuals; however, some responses were discarded under the exclusion criteria due to the non-continuation of some participants and the refusal to proceed with the questionnaire, with the vast majority being 149 people who met the pre-established criteria