Researchers surveyed 975 UK adults to look closely at the severity and duration of pet bereavement. The key finding of the study is that 7.5% of the participants who lost a pet met the clinical criteria for Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD). This rate is closely identical to the rate of severe, chronic grief experienced by people losing their own human family members, which is about 8.9% for a sibling and 9.1% for a partner.
Even more, about 21% of participants who had experienced both the death of a pet and a human relative reported that losing their pet was actually the more painful experience. The researchers concluded that diagnostic medical guidelines should be updated to officially recognize pet loss... That hopefully this change will help grieving pet families in accessing much-needed mental health support and counseling without facing social stigma or having their pain over losing their pets downplayed.
How do you feel about these findings? I could definitely see how that 21% figure could raise an eyebrow, but then again, I think it is fairly understandable considering that pets can become very hard-wired into your daily routine in a way most other people in your life are probably not. When a pet becomes such a close companion of daily living, there will be a lot of devastation once they must part.
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Kayla Anderson
Veterinary Social Worker
Program for Pet Health Equity
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