Exploring Attachment Theory, Self Psychology, and Anti-Oppression Perspectives on Human- Companion Animal Relationships in the Rural West

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Exploring Attachment Theory, Self Psychology, and Anti-Oppression Perspectives on Human- Companion Animal Relationships in the Rural West Smith ScholarWorks Theses, Dissertations, and Projects 2013 New questions, multiple meanings : exploring attachment theory, self psychology, and anti-oppression perspectives on human- companion animal relationships in the rural West Sarah H. Winchester Smith College Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.smith.edu/theses Part of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Winchester, Sarah H., "New questions, multiple meanings : exploring attachment theory, self psychology, and anti-oppression perspectives on human-companion animal relationships in the rural West" (2013). Masters Thesis, Smith College, Northampton, MA. https://scholarworks.smith.edu/theses/961 This Masters Thesis has been accepted for inclusion in Theses, Dissertations, and Projects by an authorized administrator of Smith ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Sarah H. Winchester New Questions, Multiple Meanings: Exploring Attachment Theory, Self Psychology, and Anti-Oppression Perspectives on Human-Companion Animal Relationships in the Rural West A Theoretical Study ABSTRACT In spite of burgeoning interest in the significance of human-companion animal relationships in social work and related fields, the theoretical conceptualization of these relationships in the context of mental health remains largely limited to the cross-species and cross-cultural application of Attachment Theory. Further, the literature on human-companion animal relationships through the lens of Attachment Theory reflects a narrow scope of research methodologies and demographic variables, thus leaving the unique, multiple meanings of these relationships – and their intersections with varying and marginalized sociocultural identities – largely unexplored. In order to address these gaps and expand theoretical discourse on the phenomenon, the thesis explores and analyzes human-companion animal relationships through the lenses of Attachment Theory and Self Psychology. The thesis utilizes social constructionist, feminist, and anti-racist paradigms to inform its analysis, thus focusing on the relationships and intersections between companion animals, women, and People of Color in the rural West. The thesis argues that the application and generalization of Attachment Theory across species lacks theoretical coherence and clarity regarding the particularities of human-companion animal relationships. Moreover, this paper hypothesizes that the theoretical and practical application of Self Psychology, with its emphasis on subjectivity and the role of non-human selfobjects, may add to a more holistic, nuanced, and coherent theoretical formulation of the woman-companion animal bond in contemporary rural and multicultural contexts. Finally, the thesis posits that the human-companion animal bond holds potential for improving mental health in rural women, a possibility best explored by investigation of this phenomenon beyond its existing theoretical conceptualizations. NEW QUESTIONS, MULTIPLE MEANINGS: EXPLORING ATTACHMENT THEORY, SELF PSYCHOLOGY, AND ANTI-OPPRESSION PERSPECTIVES ON HUMAN-COMPANION ANIMAL RELATIONSHIPS IN THE RURAL WEST A THEORETICAL STUDY A project based upon an independent investigation, submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Social Work. Sarah H. Winchester Smith College School for Social Work Northampton, MA 01063 2013 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This thesis could not have been accomplished without the support and aid of numerous individuals, including my past and present academic and professional mentors, my loving family, and my wonderful friends and colleagues. Many, many thanks…. to my Research Advisor, Claudia Bepko, LCSW, for her tireless and committed efforts to my study and the entire thesis process. to Jean Laterz, MSW, Ed.D., for her calming, good-humored assistance during a particularly anxious time in my research, and for reminding me to stay “true North.” to Paul Gitterman, LICSW, M.Sc., (to name only a few reasons): for always providing a “secure base” of sorts, for reminding me that I have the tools I need as a beginning social worker, and for encouraging me to “just write.” to Hye-Kyung Kang, MA, MSW, Ph.D., for acting as an supportive and inspiring educator, scholar, and clinician. You’ve helped me more than you know. to Canada Taylor, for believing in my potential to contribute to the field, and for wholeheartedly encouraging my path toward a career in social work. I would not be here without you. to Jasminka Udovicki, Ph.D., for a life altering and powerful undergraduate introduction to psychology, sociology, and critical race theory – all that from an art school. I would definitely not be here without you. to Dana Moser, MFA, for teaching me about my responsibility as an artist to critically engage with the world and its systems of oppression, to find the joy too, and for exemplifying both mentorship and friendship. to my family for their love, encouragement, care, and willingness to meet me where I am in this new phase of life, especially: Kirk Winchester, Constance Marr, Sally Winchester, Devan Winchester, and Kerry Carven. I definitely, definitely wouldn’t be here without you! to all of my dear friends, especially: Rebecca Stahl, MSW, Diana Lang, Asher Pandjiris, Sophia Zucker, Allyn Latorre, MSW, and Sarah Allen, L.Ac. – through good times and extremely difficult times, the best friends I could ask for. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .......................................................................... ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................... iii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................. 1 II. HUMAN-COMPANION ANIMAL RELATIONSHIPS ................... 11 III. ATTACHMENT THEORY AND HUMAN-COMPANION ANIMAL RELATIONSHIPS .............................................................................. 43 IV. SELF PSYCHOLOGY AND HUMAN-COMPANION ANIMAL RELATIONSHIPS .............................................................................. 83 V. DISCUSSION ..................................................................................... 140 REFERENCES ........................................................................................... 163 iii “Yet he was gone. She knew it most keenly in the diminishment of her own self. In her life, she’d been nourished and sustained by certain things, him being one of them, Trudy another, and Edgar, the third and most important, but it was really the three of them together, intersecting in her, for each of them powered her heart in a different way. Each of them bore different responsibilities to her and with her and required different things from her, and her day was the fulfillment of those responsibilities. She could not imagine a portion of her would ever return. With her it was not hope, or wistful thoughts – it was her sense of being alive that thinned by the proportion of her spirit devoted to him” (p. 195). – from the perspective of Almondine, canine protagonist The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, by David Wroblewski (2008) “Now Almondine occupied his thoughts. He hadn’t seen her for two months or more, and suddenly it felt like he’d been severed from some fundament of his being…[o]thers dreamed of finding a person in the world whose soul was made in their mirror image, but she and Edgar had been conceived nearly together, grown up together, and however strange it might be, she was his other” (p. 457). – from the perspective of Edgar, human protagonist The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, by David Wroblewski (2008) “People have used particular animals symbolically and epithetically…and it’s not fair to the animals. A wolf is a love-’em-and-leave-’em heel; a little rat is a sneaky coward; a pig is a glutton with filthy habits; an octopus is a predatory enveloper of undersea explorers. And so on, and on. And what…made humans decide to hate them all in the first place?” (p. 4) – Animals Nobody Loves, by Ronald Rood (1971) 1 CHAPTER I Introduction In both the literature and popular culture, contemporary Western depictions of the human-companion animal bond acknowledge the significance of humans’ relationships to animal companions, and the role they play in the emotional and psychological landscapes of people. The common characterization of companion animals as members of the family reflects this perspective (Cohen, 2002; Kurdek, 2009; Pagani, et al., 2009; as cited in Walsh, 2009; Zasloff & Kidd, 1994). These conceptualizations may help explain the predominance and relevance of Attachment Theory in the human-companion animal bond literature. Attachment Theory acts as the prevailing theoretical framework for understanding the phenomenon, and commonly appears in current research and scholarship on human-companion animal relationships across varied fields, including social work, psychology, anthrozoology, Animal Assisted Social Work (AASW), and Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) (Bonas et al., 2000; Geist, 2011; Fine, 2006; Kurdek, 2009; Noonan, 2008; Sable, 1995; Zilcha-Mano, Mikulincer, & Shaver, 2011). In spite of this burgeoning area of interest, the literature on human-companion animal relationships through the lens of Attachment Theory reflects a narrow scope of research methodologies and demographic variables, particularly with regard to sociocultural diversity. Focal populations include older adults (Enders-Slegers, 2000; Keil, 1998; Raina, Waltner-Toews, Bonnett, Woodward, & Abernathy, 1999), children
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