Exploring the Impact of Pet Relationships on Older Adult’s Well-being

Abstract

This dissertation explores the role of companion animals in supporting the psychological well-being of older adults as they approach the end of life. Grounded in a psychoanalytic framework, this study examines how relationships with pets may function as sources of comfort, emotional regulation, and meaning-making during the aging process and in confronting mortality. While existing literature highlights the general health benefits of pet ownership, there remains a notable gap in understanding how these relationships contribute specifically to older adults’ experiences of death and dying.
Using a qualitative methodology informed by Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), this research investigates how adults aged 75 and older make sense of their relationships with their pets in the context of the final stage of life. Drawing on psychoanalytic concepts, including object relations theory and Winnicott’s concept of transitional objects, and self-psychology, the research considers how pets may serve as sites of projection, attachment, emotional regulation, expression of unconscious material, and acceptance of mortality.
Findings aim to illuminate the depth and complexity of the human-animal bond in later life, particularly in relation to themes of attachment, loss, and psychological continuity. This study contributes to psychoanalytic and clinical discourse by illuminating the human–animal bond as a meaningful relational space through which older adults may negotiate finitude, sustain self-continuity, and symbolically process the approach of death.