Rita similarly describes her dog as having a motivating role in overcoming her avoidance of outside, thereby increasing her willingness to do the behavioural homework tasks she is set in treatment: Rita: You oh I’ll give it a go, and even though you don’t want to do it, I’m doing it because with somebody else aren’t I. Interviewer: Is this like going out the house and- Rita: Yes, or, or for me it was going in the garden, or- whatever it was, it’s like, come on Coco, and it’s like back up, you’re doing it together, something that as soon as it was said in your head you kind of thought, oh, (583-591). can’t do it The sense of togetherness appears to boost Rita’s sense of confidence and self-efficacy and encourages her to make literal steps towards recovery. Being able to go into her garden again was particularly meaningful as (129). In this way, having passion was gardening before’ ‘my Coco has also been facilitative in reclaiming her life by enabling her to reconnect with her interests. The desire to social interaction was a common experience. For Alan, this was severely impacting the quality of his life: would go to Tesco at 3 o clock in the morning so ‘I (126-127). Like the other I could avoid people, and I didn’t really have much of a life’ participants, Alan feels more at ease navigating the outside world accompanied by his dog. Fred’s calm presence appears to reduce his level of arousal in social situations, enabling him to cope better: don’t interact with people very well um I panic, I get anxious. Fred takes a ‘I Furthermore, Alan finds that people’s attention is little bit of sting out of that tail’ (187-188). deflected away from him, towards Fred: so when Fred comes out with me people treat ‘Yeah
Rita similarly describes her dog as having a motivating role in overcoming her avoidance of outside, thereby increasing her willingness to do the behavioural homework tasks she is set in treatment: Rita: You oh I’ll give it a go, and even though you don’t want to do it, I’m doing it because with somebody else aren’t I. Interviewer: Is this like going out the house and- Rita: Yes, or, or for me it was going in the garden, or- whatever it was, it’s like, come on Coco, and it’s like back up, you’re doing it together, something that as soon as it was said in your head you kind of thought, oh, can’t do it (583-591). The sense of togetherness appears to boost Rita’s sense of confidence and self-efficacy and encourages her to make literal steps towards recovery. Being able to go into her garden again was particularly meaningful as ‘my passion was gardening before’ (129). In this way, having Coco has also been facilitative in reclaiming her life by enabling her to reconnect with her interests. The desire to social interaction was a common experience. For Alan, this was severely impacting the quality of his life: ‘I would go to Tesco at 3 o clock in the morning so I could avoid people, and I didn’t really have much of a life’ (126-127). Like the other participants, Alan feels more at ease navigating the outside world accompanied by his dog. Fred’s calm presence appears to reduce his level of arousal in social situations, enabling him to cope better: ‘I don’t interact with people very well um I panic, I get anxious. Fred takes a little bit of sting out of that tail’ (187-188). Furthermore, Alan finds that people’s attention is deflected away from him, towards Fred: ‘Yeah so when Fred comes out with me people treat
Catherine%20Wikholm%20Ethesis.docx