Violence toward animals is correlated with violence toward humans. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual reminds us that one of the diagnostic criteria for conduct disorder is cruelty toward animals. People are victimized not only by being actual victims of a violent act but also when made to witness one. In dealing with the obvious and subtle animal abuse going on around them, children can be vicariously traumatized or identify with the aggressor. In either case, the individual and society loses.
Parents can coerce or punish the child into participating in our carnivorous society.
Or the parent can support their child s compassion and offer alternatives. We raise difficult questions for researchers around the ethics and validity of psychological research on animals. We encourage clinicians to ask the government for greater shares of monies to treat persons with addictions rather than continuing to waste dollars addicting another species to another drug. We champion a student s right to not engage in animal research when they morally oppose it. We have developed invasiveness measures to remind researchers that the degree of suffering in their protocol must be addressed.