Keeping Lily Safe

An Autoethnographic Exploration of Human–Animal Attachment during Adversity

Dados Bibliográficos

ID13027295
AutoresCatherine Lee (0000-0002-4564-0787, Anglia Ruskin University, autor correspondente)
Ano2019
Volume8
Fascículo7
Páginas217-217
Data de publicação2019-07-18
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoSocial Sciences (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 2076-0760 • E-ISSN: 2076-0760
EditoraMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/socsci8070217
OpenAlexW2956680482
IdiomaEN
Referências citadas25

This article is an autoethnographic examination of my experiences as a pet owner during a particularly challenging time in my life. Beginning with a summary of a critical incident, it shows the way in which fears for the safety of my pet cat, Lily, and my relationship with her impacted my health, wellbeing and identity. Depicting self-knowledge as partial, local and culturally located, I deconstruct the relationship I had with Lily in relation to the particular set of circumstances in which it was situated. I was seen by my doctor and prescribed a course of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) during this period, and so, my account draws on my medical records, CBT notes and my CBT thought diary in an attempt to understand how and why my anxiety was manifested in my concern for Lily. The article calls for cognitive behaviour therapists to carefully evaluate external stressors before fears are dismissed irrational and reformulated as alternative thoughts. This article also demonstrates that familiesare diverse, and there are many ways of ‘doing family’. For many heterosexual and same-sex couples, pets give stability to a partnership and elevate it to family status, if only within the privacy of the home. Human–animal attachments can be comparable to human–human attachments, and where attachments to pets are as strong as those toward humans, fear of harm can be devastating

Aesthetics · Anxiety · Autoethnography · Cognition · Developmental psychology · Harm · Human animal · Identity (music · Psychiatry · Psychotherapist · Situated · Sociology · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics · Gender Studies · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Human-Animal Interaction Studies · Psychology · Social Psychology