Meanings Attached to Companion Animals by Russian-Speaking Young Women with Anorexia

Abstract

Animal-assisted therapy and intervention have demonstrated their effectiveness in improving the quality of life of people with mental health issues that are connected to social functioning difficulties. Anorexia is a mental health disorder that is associated with problematic formation and maintenance of long-lasting personal relationships. There is a limited number of papers that describe how people with eating disorders, including anorexia, treat their pets. Since the perceptions of people with anorexia of their pets are largely unexplored, in this article, I aim to contribute to this lacuna. In particular, I study the meanings that young women with anorexia attach to their pets. The data on this topic was collected through semi-structured biographical interviews and the concentric circles method (N = 50). The narratives were analyzed using thematic qualitative analysis. The findings indicate that pets are scarcely included in personal networks. Only seven women out of 50 mentioned them as members of these networks. Pets as parts of personal networks are referred to in five ways: (1) as providers of needed emotional support, (2) as targets of care that help to find the reason to be alive; (3) as triggers of depression and other mental health problems, (4) neutrally, or (5) as family members who are both in need of care and capable of providing support. Based on the results of the present research, I suggest the cautious implementation of animals in the provision of mental health services for young women with anorexia because these individuals tend to create strong bonds with their pets and the sudden cut of these ties (for instance due to pet death) could result in the worsening of the mental health of these vulnerable women.