“What Am I Going to Do Without Him?”: Death Anxiety, Projection, and the Human–Animal Relationship

Abstract

The bond between humans and companion animals has been explored from a range of theoretical perspectives, perhaps indicative of the complexity of this relationship. This paper reports on a series of semistructured interviews with five males, each living with HIV and an animal companion in Australia. The human–animal relationship is examined through a psychoanalytic lens with a focus on projection, projective identification, and death anxiety. The reports show a complex interplay among attachment to a companion animal; projection of thoughts, feelings, and emotions onto, and into, that animal; and feelings of death anxiety. It is suggested that companion animals may provide a depository for feelings of death anxiety as well as a buffer to suicidal ideation. Therapists should be aware of, support and validate the important and varied roles that companion animals may play in the lives of their humans.