Slightly more than 50 years ago as a young medical student I sat in on my first case conference with a skilled attending psychiatrist interviewing a depressed widow. She was sadden to the point of not eating or sleeping and was contemplating suicide. And what was the precipitant of this extreme state? The death of her cherished dog! I recall in my early 20's thinking how silly to be so attached to a dog. Oh, I had so much to experience.
The psychoanalytic interpretation that day was that the dog was a displacement from the loss of her husband. This made sense to me. I had had only a few losses by that time even if they had been very significant: my father and grandfathers and even a few dogs, with the latter getting little regard.
Now fast forward 50 plus years. My looses have multiplied of course including family, friends, and acquaintances. I have been able to acknowledge and experience grief repeatedly.
Recently my life partner and I had to euthanize her increasingly debilitated poodle. She had known the dog 11 years and I had known her 8 years. Sadness has overwhelmed us both. Sadness for the loss of Isadora herself! And in this grief I recall my case conference of 50 years ago.
Isadora was a wonderful, gentle dog, affectionate and ever present. She was non-intrusive but engaging and ever conscious and accommodating of her master's mood. We grieve for other losses and our own mortality but we also grieve for Isadora. She is gone and we will miss her sorely.
-- the Bishop
The psychoanalytic interpretation that day was that the dog was a displacement from the loss of her husband. This made sense to me. I had had only a few losses by that time even if they had been very significant: my father and grandfathers and even a few dogs, with the latter getting little regard.
Now fast forward 50 plus years. My looses have multiplied of course including family, friends, and acquaintances. I have been able to acknowledge and experience grief repeatedly.
Recently my life partner and I had to euthanize her increasingly debilitated poodle. She had known the dog 11 years and I had known her 8 years. Sadness has overwhelmed us both. Sadness for the loss of Isadora herself! And in this grief I recall my case conference of 50 years ago.
Isadora was a wonderful, gentle dog, affectionate and ever present. She was non-intrusive but engaging and ever conscious and accommodating of her master's mood. We grieve for other losses and our own mortality but we also grieve for Isadora. She is gone and we will miss her sorely.
-- the Bishop
