ABSTRACT
My interest in AAI developed from my experience growing up in a family that always included animals—dogs, rabbits, hamsters, snakes, bearded dragons, and turtles. As I pursued my social work career, the interplay of animals and healing surfaced in many ways. Specifically, in my clinical work with individuals struggling with eating disorders, a client with an eating disorder said the only thing keeping her alive was her dog. Given the theoretical postulations about eating disorders manifesting as an all-consuming relationship (Schaefer, 2009), it led to thoughts about the relational expectations of humans versus animals. Can an animal prompt less relational expectations thereby accessing emotions and affect in a less threatening way but, at the same time, offer the relational unconditionality desired by individuals struggling with eating disorders? This began the conceptual foundation upon which I built my research of AAI and eating disorders.
