Grief & Loss · Hypnosis session
Pet Grief: When You Still Listen for Them at the Door
The bowl is washed and put away, and you still step around the place they used to sleep. Pet grief can be sharp, and oddly lonely when the people around you don’t quite count it as grief. Here are four gentle things to try, and a guided recording for a quiet, regular rest.
First, one short box.
If today is heavier than grief for a petIf you have had thoughts of not wanting to be here, please talk to someone now, before reading on.
- Lifeline: 13 11 14, or text 0477 13 11 14. Open 24/7.
- Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467.
- In immediate danger, call 000.
- MensLine Australia, 1300 78 99 78, 24/7. 13YARN, 13 92 76, 24/7, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
- Griefline, now part of SANE Australia: 1300 845 745, Monday to Friday, 10am to 8pm AEST/AEDT. Grief support, not a crisis line. Its free online forums, including one for the loss of a pet, are open 24/7 to adults.
- Grief Australia, 1800 642 066: free bereavement counselling for Victorians, no crisis service. Its pages don’t say whether that covers a pet, so ask.
If many months on the grief is still intense and getting in the way of daily life, see your GP.
Death of a Pet
Just under twenty-three minutes of guided relaxation after a pet dies, a quiet, regular time to rest from grieving, with a free sample to hear first and ninety days to decide.
US$18.95one-off · no subscription · about A$27
I earn a commission if you buy through this page. It doesn’t change what you pay, and it doesn’t decide what I recommend.
Checkout opens on hypnosisdownloads.com in a new tab. Priced in US dollars; some cards add a foreign-transaction fee. Ninety days to change your mind, nothing to justify.
Chosen by Ernest McLeodClinical hypnotherapist. An Adelaide practice, seeing clients across Australia by video. Fourteen years in practice. About Ernest →
Which of these have happened since they died?
- A jingle from the hallway, or a thump off the bed, and you looked up before you remembered
- Their lead, blanket or scratching post is still where it was, and moving it feels wrong
- You opened the front door and waited, for half a second, to be met
- Someone said you could always get another one, and you went quiet
- You keep going back over the last morning, or the vet’s room, looking for what you missed
If a few are yours, read on. If the last is loudest, there is a section on guilt below.
What is in the Death of a Pet session?
A single guided session of just under twenty-three minutes, narrated by Roger Elliott, made for listening more than once. The publisher describes it as for adults grieving a pet, including those whose loss others haven’t taken seriously, and calls its approach ‘mindful grieving’. In practice it is a settled, structured time to rest and let the grief be there.
The largest recent review of hypnosis for pain (Yim and Derbyshire, 2026) compared how it was delivered and found no meaningful difference between a live clinician, a recording and self-hypnosis. That research was on pain, not on grief, but it’s the best evidence there is that a recording isn’t a second-rate version of sitting in a room with someone.
There is a free sample on the publisher’s page, so you can hear the voice first.
Is it harder to lose a pet than a person?
Not on average, but for many people it is just as painful. Studies comparing the two find grief after a pet a little less intense, on average, than after a close person, and the gap is small. What matters far more than species is closeness: how attached you were predicts how hard the loss lands.
Why does pet grief feel so lonely?
Because the people around you often don’t recognise it. Reviewing 48 studies of pet bereavement, Park, Royal and Gruen found owners frequently reported embarrassment and loneliness, and a consensus that the grief tends to be disenfranchised: real to you, not quite counted by others.
Death of a PetUS$18.95 · instant download · full refund within 90 days if it isn’t right.
Opens the publisher’s checkout in a new tab. Or keep reading — the free techniques below cost nothing.
Why do I feel so guilty?
Because you were responsible for them, and grief looks for the moment it could have gone differently. An Australian-led review by Cleary and colleagues, drawing on 17 studies of pet owners, found guilt was one of five recurring themes. It is common, and it is not proof you did something wrong.
A decision at the vet, a lump noticed late. You chose with what you knew that day, not what you know now. If guilt has become the whole of the grief, tell a GP.
How do you deal with the loss of a pet?
Gently, and not to anyone’s schedule. The research offers no formula, and most people gradually find their feet on their own. What it points to is modest and ordinary: being taken seriously by one person, taking breaks from grieving, and keeping your body going. Four free things, in the order I’d try them.
- Find one place where it counts as grief
A friend who has lost a dog or cat of their own, or Griefline’s pet forum. You needn’t talk it all out: a 2005 review by Stroebe and colleagues found no evidence, in ordinary bereavement, that pouring out feelings helps adjustment. One person who gets it is enough.
- Take a break from grief, on purpose
One widely used model, Stroebe and Schut’s Dual Process Model, describes grieving people swinging between facing the loss and getting on with life, and counts respite from both as part of coping. A break is not forgetting them. Twenty minutes a day of something absorbing is allowed. The recording is a good place to practise this one.
- Keep the body going
healthdirect’s advice for anyone grieving is plain: regular exercise, healthy food, enough sleep, alcohol in moderation. If the daily walk was your only exercise, keep the walk.
- Watch your sleep, and ask for help if it doesn’t settle
A 2020 review of 85 articles by Lancel and colleagues found sleep problems common in bereavement, rising with the intensity of grief. No sleep treatment has been trialled in bereaved people specifically, but the American Psychiatric Association notes CBT for insomnia is effective. Weeks of bad nights are a GP visit.
Death of a Pet
US$18.95About A$27 · one-off, no subscription.
- 22 minutes 59 seconds, narrated by Roger Elliott of Uncommon Knowledge
- An instant MP3 download you keep and can replay as often as you like
- A free sample on the publisher’s page, so you can hear the voice first
- For adults grieving a pet, not for anyone thinking of not wanting to be here
Opens the publisher’s secure checkout · no account needed
How long do most people grieve after losing a pet?
There is no set time, and anyone who gives you one is guessing. healthdirect puts it simply: for most people the intensity of grief eases over time, but every person grieves differently, and grief can come in waves, fading for a while before coming back. A hard week, months later, doesn’t mean you’ve gone backwards.
When grief gets stuckCounselling offered to everyone after a loss shows little lasting benefit, largely because people improve on their own (Currier and colleagues, 61 controlled studies, 2008). Help aimed at people who are struggling does better: in Shear and colleagues’ 2016 trial of 395 people with complicated grief, 82.5% responded to grief-specific therapy plus a placebo pill, against 54.8% given the placebo with grief monitoring and encouragement. They were grieving a person, but the route in is the same: your GP, who can refer you for up to 10 Medicare-subsidised sessions a year under Better Access.
No free, government-funded national pet-loss helpline turned up in the research for this page; Griefline’s pet forum is the nearest thing.
What has and hasn’t been studied?
Pet grief has been studied; hypnosis for it has not. Across every kind of grief there is one small randomised trial of hypnosis: Çınaroğlu and colleagues, 2026, with 39 university students in Turkey who had symptoms of prolonged grief. Face-to-face Ericksonian hypnotherapy, CBT and a waiting list were compared.
Both therapies did better than waiting. That is about 13 people per group, a waiting-list comparison, and in-person sessions, not a recording. The abstract doesn’t say what kind of loss the students had, the full paper is paywalled so its effect sizes couldn’t be checked, and it hasn’t been replicated. No one has tested a hypnosis recording for grief, and a September 2026 PubMed search found nothing on hypnosis for pet loss.
So this recording isn’t a treatment for grief, and grief isn’t a problem to be fixed. It is the second step above, ready to press play on.
Will you be in control while you listen?
Yes. You hear every word and can switch it off at any point; it feels closer to being absorbed in a film than to sleep. Never listen while driving or using machinery, and check with your doctor first if you have epilepsy.
The publisher reports 436 purchases of Death of a Pet.
That is their own figure: a count of people who bought it, not of how they got on.
Who is this session wrong for?
For most people grieving a pet, it is a reasonable small thing to try beside the free steps. For the people below, something else should come first, and each line says what. None of these is a failing; they are simply better served elsewhere.
- You have had thoughts of not wanting to be here. Ring Lifeline on 13 11 14 today.
- Many months on, the grief is still intense and stopping you working, sleeping or eating, or you are drinking to get through the evenings. Start with your GP.
- You are buying it for a child. The publisher made it for adults; their GP is the better start.
- You want it to stop you missing them. It won’t, and it isn’t meant to.
If tonight is hard, these lines are open now.
Free and confidential, open now. Tap to call.
Common questions about pet grief
How long does grief last after losing a pet?
There is no set length, and no deadline you are failing. healthdirect says the intensity eases over time for most people, but everyone grieves differently and it can return in waves. It suggests getting help if grief is still distressing after 12 months or more, or is getting in the way of everyday life.
Is it normal to grieve a pet as much as a person?
For many people, yes. Studies comparing the two find pet grief slightly less intense on average than grief for a close person, but the difference is small. In a 2016 study of 357 bereaved students, closeness to whoever died was overwhelmingly the strongest predictor of how severe the grief was.
What can I say to someone whose pet has died?
Say you’re sorry, use the animal’s name, and ask what they were like. Leave out ‘only a dog’ and ‘you can get another one’. A review of 48 studies found bereaved pet owners often felt embarrassed and lonely, so simply taking the loss seriously is most of the job.
Can losing a pet cause depression?
Grief is not depression, but it can run into low mood that needs a doctor. I haven’t found a reliable figure for how often that happens after a pet dies. healthdirect suggests help if sadness and despair persist, if grief disrupts work, sleep or eating, or if it has lasted 12 months or more. Thoughts of harming yourself mean Lifeline, 13 11 14, today.
Is there a pet loss helpline in Australia?
There is no free, government-funded national one. Griefline, now part of SANE Australia, runs free online forums open 24/7 to adults, including one for the loss of a pet, and a support line on 1300 845 745, Monday to Friday, 10am to 8pm, which is not for crises. In a crisis, ring Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Can hypnosis help with pet grief?
What a recording offers is a guided, regular time to rest, which one leading model of grief counts as part of grieving. Whether hypnosis changes pet grief hasn’t been tested. Across all grief there is one small trial, 39 students given in-person hypnotherapy, CBT or a waiting list, and no trial of a recording. It is not a treatment for grief.
Where these numbers come from
- Eckerd LM, Barnett JE, Jett-Dias L. Grief following pet and human loss: closeness is key. Death Stud. 2016;40(5):275-82. doi:10.1080/07481187.2016.1139014
- Cleary M, West S, Thapa DK, Westman M, Vesk K, Kornhaber R. Grieving the loss of a pet: a qualitative systematic review. Death Stud. 2022;46(9):2167-78. doi:10.1080/07481187.2021.1901799
- Park RM, Royal KD, Gruen ME. A literature review: pet bereavement and coping mechanisms. J Appl Anim Welf Sci. 2023;26(3):285-99. doi:10.1080/10888705.2021.1934839
- Stroebe M, Schut H. The dual process model of coping with bereavement: rationale and description. Death Stud. 1999;23(3):197-224. doi:10.1080/074811899201046
- Shear MK, Reynolds CF 3rd, Simon NM, Zisook S, Wang Y, Mauro C, et al. Optimizing treatment of complicated grief: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA Psychiatry. 2016;73(7):685-94. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2016.0892
- Stroebe W, Schut H, Stroebe MS. Grief work, disclosure and counseling: do they help the bereaved? Clin Psychol Rev. 2005;25(4):395-414. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2005.01.004
- Lancel M, Stroebe M, Eisma MC. Sleep disturbances in bereavement: a systematic review. Sleep Med Rev. 2020;53:101331. doi:10.1016/j.smrv.2020.101331
- Currier JM, Neimeyer RA, Berman JS. The effectiveness of psychotherapeutic interventions for bereaved persons: a comprehensive quantitative review. Psychol Bull. 2008;134(5):648-61. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.134.5.648
- Çınaroğlu M, Yılmazer E, Ülker SV, Çinar F. Effects of Ericksonian hypnotherapy versus cognitive behavioral therapy on prolonged grief among university students: a randomized clinical trial. Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 2026;74(1):93-120. doi:10.1080/00207144.2025.2464747
- Yim TH, Derbyshire SWG. A systematic review of hypnosis for clinical pain relief. Eur J Pain. 2026;30(8):e70369. doi:10.1002/ejp.70369
- healthdirect. Grief and loss [Internet]. Last reviewed February 2026 [cited 2026 Sep 25]. healthdirect.gov.au
- American Psychiatric Association. Prolonged grief disorder [Internet]. August 2025 [cited 2026 Sep 25]. psychiatry.org
- Griefline (SANE Australia). Telephone support; pet forum [Internet]. [cited 2026 Sep 25]. griefline.org.au; pet forum
- Grief Australia. Contact [Internet]. [cited 2026 Sep 25]. grief.org.au
- Australian Government Department of Health. Better Access initiative [Internet]. [cited 2026 Sep 25]. health.gov.au
- PubMed search, 25 September 2026: hypnosis, hypnotherapy or self-hypnosis with grief, bereavement or mourning in title or abstract. 17 records; one randomised trial; none on pets.
- Running time, sample and purchase count: the publisher’s product page, 25 September 2026.
Other pages that may fit better
- Grief and lossEvery grief session in one place, sorted by who or what you have lost
- Anticipatory griefIf the grieving started before the goodbye. Written for carers of people, but the research on grieving ahead applies
- Waking in the nightIf the 3am waking has outlasted the first rough weeks
Whatever you decide about the recording, do one small thing this week: tell one person their name and one thing you miss about them, or write it in Griefline’s pet forum tonight.
Ernest McLeod — clinical hypnotherapist. An Adelaide practice, seeing clients across Australia by video. Fourteen years in practice.
- ICHP
- FELLOW, ASCH
- IICT MEMBER
On a grief page the phone numbers go near the top and the sale stays small. Someone reading may have lost their animal this morning. More →
Just under twenty-three minutes, a sample first, and ninety days
If you want a quiet, regular time to rest, and the sample voice suits you, this is a small, private way to take it.
US$18.95Instant download · 90-day refund · about A$27 · opens in a new tab
Results vary from person to person, and hypnosis does not replace medical care or treatment. This is a self-help audio session, not a diagnosis or a substitute for professional care. If you have thoughts of not wanting to be here, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or the Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467; in immediate danger, call 000. Griefline (1300 845 745) is a support line, not a crisis line. Never listen while driving.