Can dogs sense suicidal thoughts
Does Having a Pet Dog Make Suicide Less Likely?
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We are all familiar with stories of dogs that save people's lives. The list of situations in which this happens is long, including saving people from drowning, finding lost and injured people, fending off wild animals, sounding the alarm in cases of fire, and many others. Some new research suggests that we can now add an additional life-saving ability to the resume of dogsnamely the possibility that they may lower the likelihood of suicide.
The Interpersonal Theory of Suicide
Valerie Douglas of North Dakota State University led a team of researchers in exploring what is known as the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide. Suicide has been shown to be predicted by a number of factors, including depression and feelings of loneliness. This particular theory states that people are more likely to want to commit suicide if three factors combine: 1) a feeling that they do not belong; 2) the idea that they are a burden to others; and 3) a sense of hopelessness that these conditions will never change.
It is possible that a pet dog can influence, and lessen, the strength of these factors since owners often indicate that their pet provides them with companionship in the form of a creature to love. That means that having a pet could increase a person's sense of belongingness and thereby reduce the desire for suicide. In addition, taking care of a pet can also affect one's perception of being a burden, since owners often feel responsibility and a sense of purpose in caring for their pets. This sense of responsibility and purpose can alleviate feelings of being a burden and therefore serve as a buffer against suicidal thoughts.
Can Pet Dogs Reduce Suicidal Tendencies?
In this recent study, the researchers tested 269 participants, 187 who indicated that they owned pets, and 87 who were not pet owners. Each participant filled out four different inventories: one measured feelings of belonging and the perception of being a burden; two looked at the nature and strength of their attachment to their pet; and the last looked at their predisposition toward suicidal behaviors.
In general, the results indicated that individuals with a strong bond with their pets showed a reduced likelihood of suicidal behaviors.
However, all pet owners did not receive an equal benefit. There are a range of feelings that people have about their pets, with some having strong affection, and some being worried, anxious, or annoyed about them (e.g. "If I can't get my pet to show interest in me, I get upset or angry."). Some people avoid intimacy with their pets even to the extent that they say "I am nervous when my pet gets too close to me." Such individuals did not show the benefits of pet ownership when it comes to reducing suicidal tendencies.
The authors conclude:
We found that having a strong bond with ones pet was associated with lowered feelings of being a burden and lower suicide risk. Having a more avoidant attachment to ones pet was associated with higher feelings of not belonging and higher suicide risk. Having a more anxious attachment to ones pet was associated with higher feelings of not belonging, higher feelings of being a burden, and higher suicide risk.
The Case of Mickey Rourke
An interesting case history of how a dog might help protect a person from suicidal actions involves the actor Mickey Rourke. On January 11, 2009, he won the Golden Globe Award for best actor for his performance in Darren Aronofskys The Wrestler. When actors give acceptance speeches for such awards it is common for them to thank their families or God, but Rourke thanked his dogs. If it had not been for the therapeutic effects of his relationship with his dogs, he suggested, he might have committed suicide long before he got a chance to accept that award.
Rourke seemed destined to be a superstar in the 1980s. Most critics agreed that his performances in Diner (1982), Rumble Fish (1983) 9 Weeks (1986), and Angel Heart (1987) seemed to contain signs that he could become another James Dean or even Robert DeNiro. Unfortunately, Rourke's acting career eventually became overshadowed by his personal life. Directors found it difficult to work with him. Alan Parker said, "Working with Mickey is a nightmare. He is very dangerous on the set because you never know what he is going to do." Rourke also began to show the effects of substance abuse. Ultimately he virtually disappeared from the cinematic world.
Rourkes career was revived when director Robert Rodriguez cast him in the role of a sinister hitman in Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003). Two years later Rodriguez again called upon him, this time to play Marv, one of the antiheroes from Frank Miller's crime-noir comic book series Sin City (2005). In that film, Rourke delivered an alternately chilling and amusing performance that reminded doubters that he was still a force to be reckoned with. However, getting to that stage in his life required the intervention of a dog.
Depression was one of Rourkes problems in the 1990s. His friends abandoned him, thus taking away a sense of belonging. In the end, he felt he was left with only his dog for solace. Rourke admits that things had gotten bad enough so that one day he went into a closet with his beloved dog Beau Jack, locking the door and planning to commit suicide with a drug overdose. In the end, he couldn't go through with it because of his relationship with his little Chihuahua-cross dog. Rourke describes the scene: "(I was) doing some crazy s**t, but I saw a look in Beau Jack's eyes, and I put the s**t down. That dog saved my life."
So it was that following his remarkable comeback, and his rise from the depth of depression and suicidality, Rourke was able to stand in front of colleagues to accept his Golden Globe award. However, his speech was different from othersincluding not only references to the contributions and support of professional colleagues, but also this line: Id like to thank all my dogs, the ones that are here, the ones that arent here anymore, because sometimes when a mans alone thats all you got is your dog, and they meant the world to me.
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Do Dogs Commit Suicide?
A series of news articles from Italy has raised the issue of whether dogs commit suicide. It arises out of an annual national disgrace, which results from the fact that thousands of Italian families leave their pets moping at home while they go on holiday. Public outrage has reduced the problem somewhat with only 7,000 dogs left behind today compared to 9,000 three years ago, but that still leaves a lot of depressed and lonely animals.
Recently the level of concern over this problem escalated because of a new phenomenon, namely the alleged suicides of two temporarily abandoned dogs, one in Rome and one in Bolzano in the far north. Reports claim that the dogs were apparently so distraught and depressed at being left alone for weeks on end that they hurled themselves to their deaths from the balconies of their masters' apartments.
In human beings, depression is a major predictor of attempted suicides. This is one of the reasons why severe episodes of depression are treated as a major concern. It is also true that dogs can suffer from depression, and the scientific data is clear that the same kinds of pharmaceuticals that help control depression in people will work on dogs as well. However, to suggest that because depressed humans sometimes attempt suicide means that depressed dogs will also do so might be a hasty conclusion.
Psychologists tend to argue that for an individual to attempt to take his own life he would first have to possess some consciousness of the meaning of death. The reasoning goes that the person that commits suicide does so because they evidently fear the consequences of living above that of dying. They thus turn to suicide because they do not feel capable of being able to continue living and facing their problems, such as loneliness, loss of a loved one, financial matters, ongoing fears and stresses and so forth. Suicide thus involves the consideration of the possibility of the two states, life and death, and the decision that life is too hard and death is easier.
So when we consider suicide in dogs, we must first ask if dogs understand the concepts of life and death. We know that the mind of a dog functions at around the level of a human 2- or 2.5-year-old. Children at that age have no conception of life and death and there is no evidence that dogs do, either. It is clear that a depressed dog may start to disconnect from his surroundings, causing a progressive weakening of strength and energy. There are many stories of lonely abandoned dogs that do not adequately process the environmental information around them, and do not respond to respond to problems or dangers adequately. Some may even enter a semiconscious state in which they simply waste away. Still, the idea of a depressed dog throwing himself in front of a car or jumping off of a high cliff to take his life is difficult to accept. If the dog is dealing with information from the environment, then, when dangerous situations come up, their instinct for survival is triggered and it should be more powerful than their depression. The survival instinct is strong in all animals.
Still the belief that dogs commit suicide persists. In fact, the Overtoun Bridge near Dumbarton in west Scotland has earned the reputation of being "The Dog Suicide Bridge." Since the 1950s, it has been the scene of at least 50 presumed suicides where dogs have inexplicably leapt to their deaths. In recent years, the number of deaths has risen dramatically, with five animals jumping in six months.
As one might expect, a spate of psychic and otherworld explanations have been suggested, since, according to legend, this is a place of dark deeds, tragedy, and superstition. Local residents often mention that on one occasion, a man, behaving very erratically, threw his young baby from the bridge, believing it to be possessed by the devil. Often people then go on to suggest that it may be the bridge itself that is possessed.
However, one need not resort to demonic forces to explain these apparent canine suicides. Rather these fatal leaps might be due to dogs with high prey drive acting on instinct and responding to wildlife in the area. David Sexton, an authority on wild animals in Scotland, determined that there are three main species active in the area; mice, squirrel, and mink. Perhaps the scent of these is playing a role. David Sands, a psychologist from Lancashire in England was able to demonstrate that 7 out of 10 dogs were very excited by, and chose the scent of, mink over the other local fauna. Mink have a very powerful musky scent. They are not native to Britain and have no natural predators. Mink that have escaped from farms have been breeding in large numbers since the 1950sthe same time as the first reported dog death at Overtoun Bridge.
Still, what is it about Overtoun Bridge, and not any other bridges in the area, that causes dogs to leap to their death? Overtoun Bridge spans a deep-sided valley. The parapets of the bridge are 18 inches thick and there is a 50-foot fall to the rocky bed below. Now let's look at this structure from the dog's perspective. Standing on the bridge, all the dog that the dog sees are the stone walls, over which the scent of mink is drifting. If the dog becomes excited by this odor, its natural curiosity and prey drive will motivate it to investigate. His nose tells him that the animal emitting the scent is over that wall. If the dog becomes sufficiently excited he might well leap the wall to give chase, oblivious to the fact that there is a 50-foot drop on the other side. This is not a matter of a depressed dog trying to commit suicide, but rather a life-loving dog that is responding to the pulse of his canine instincts, which have, unfortunately, lured him into making a fatal mistake.
Stanley Coren is the author of many books, including The Modern Dog, Why Do Dogs Have Wet Noses?, The Pawprints of History, and more.
Copyright SC Psychological Enterprises Ltd. May not be reprinted or reposted without permission.
