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Pets in man's search for sanity *
Author(s) -
RYDER R. D.
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
journal of small animal practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1748-5827
pISSN - 0022-4510
DOI - 10.1111/j.1748-5827.1973.tb06404.x
Subject(s) - feeling , sanity , medicine , interpersonal relationship , social psychology , aesthetics , psychology , psychiatry , philosophy
SUMMARY I have said that pets can satisfy our psychological needs in a number of ways, some not especially selfish and others extremely so‐they give us physical tactile comfort, they natter us and make us feel important, they help us to drop our social facades and to be ourselves, they give us a feeling of companionship and security, especially at night, they can boost our egos as extensions of ourselves or as compensations for our weaknesses. We can gain satisfaction from showing off our pets to others, they increase our self‐confidence by submitting to our authority and sometimes, alas, they relieve our hostilities by acting as our scape‐goats‐ they pander to the tyrant in us by becoming our slaves. They also play with us and so allow expression of the eternal child inside most adults, they can play with children and allow the child to develop his fantasies and thoughts, and they can act as go‐betweens in human relationships, often facilitating the flow of emotion between human beings. Above all, pets allow us to love and to be loved‐ the experience of feeling loved and needed is the greatest psychotherapeutic service which they give to us. To each member of a family they can become something different‐another child to the mother, a sibling to the child, a grandchild to the elderly. As companions for the isolated they are particularly supportive‐ especially for the old and lonely. As psychotherapists they can be useful.