Mental Illness Service Dogs Essay

Emotional support animals can take on a multitude of jobs that “may include reminding the handler to take medicine, providing safety checks or room searches, or turning on lights for persons with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, interrupting self-mutilation by persons with dissociative identity disorders, and keeping disoriented individuals from danger,” (Brennan). These animals are often considered pets but are actually so much more than that, emotional support animals have a very important role in protecting the mental health of their owners and keep them safe. Not only do these animals protect people’s mental health but they also give people a purpose. Taking care of one of these dogs or other animals gives people something to take care of and focus on. Knowing that there is another living thing that relies on them can be very grounding and keep people connected to something outside of themselves.

Pets have long been known to have beneficial health effects on people, both physically and mentally. However, for someone with severe mental illnesses like major depression and anxiety, a psychiatric service dog can be a life-saver. With time, these dogs become more attuned to the needs of their handler/human, and can often recognize signs that even other people cannot. These non-judgmental, loyal, and trained animals can provide the right kind of care to mental health patients and set them on the path to

Guide dogs for the blind help their owner walk and keep them safe. It makes them feel okay to be blind and that they have someone there with them. The deaf also have service dogs that help them with everyday activities and take away the owner’s worries. These amazing dogs also bring happiness and lower depression. They love their owners and give them a sense of purpose. People who deal with anxiety are provided with comfort from their service dogs. Also, their dogs can sense a panic attack and will help keep the owner as calm as possible. There are service dogs for people who have seizures as well. These dogs give confidence to their owner’s and reduce seizures. They also are able to tell when a seizure is going to come and provide comfort during a seizure. Autism is another disability that service dogs are trained to help with. They can help the owner relax and bring peace to the entire family. Service dogs can also help those who are handicapped by picking up objects, opening doors and helping their owner get dressed. Overall, service dogs make a positive impact on their owner’s lives by creating a better lifestyle and allowing them to be more

Dogs can help us humans with mental health. Many service dogs are used to help people who are deaf or people that are blind. How about people with mental issues? Dogs not only help us with physical problems but also with mental problems like depression. In the article “Therapy pets and humans with mental health issues” the author “ dog time” starts to state in the 3 paragraph “Trained animals [iii] are used to benefit patients suffering with emotional and behavioral disorders, depression, autism, substance abuse, and dementia.” (2010) This can show how animals can help us with mental issues because animals can understand many struggles us humans have, because after their trained they can not only understand us but also

Dogs will protect you and they can also provide comfort and support in forms of affection and companionship for an individual suffering from various mental and emotional conditions.

military and government, brings forward in her article, that in “the 2010 Defense Authorization Act required VA to study the effectiveness of service dogs for PTSD” (Kime n.p.). Kime stated in her article that the “VA has said there isn’t enough scientific evidence regarding their effectiveness for that purpose to warrant benefits coverage” (n.p.). “And when it comes to PTSD, VA officials say they must use proven treatments” (n.p.). “VA’s original study on the effectiveness of service dogs for PTSD”, in 2010 “was suspended in 2012 because it amid concerns over the animals care at the facilities, as well as the dogs’ training” (Kime n.p.). Rick Nauert who has his Ph.D., had an M.D. say “One size does not fit all,” said Ira Katz, M.D. “senior consultant for mental health services in the office of patient service in the Department of Veterans Affairs” (n.p.). “Across the board, more research is needed on evidence-based treatment to provide a broad range of options”

Service dogs are a type of dogs that are specially trained to do specific responsibilities to help people who have disabilities, such as people with visual impairment. The dog’s role in this case is to guide them around the obstacles, stop at step ladders, and help them cross the street. Also, service dogs trained to help people with hearing impairment. They trained in a way to alert their partners to sounds and lead them to the source of it. On the other hand, service dogs help people with mental illnesses to take their pills at certain times of the day and carry medical supplies for them.

Resident therapy dogs have been implemented at the library of the Harvard School of Medicine, and these dogs may be checked out just like you would with a book. According to research, interaction with dogs decreases a person’s level of cortisol and increases endorphin levels (Adamle).

This article appeared in a scientifically reviewed, Psychology Central News, in 2010, making this a relatively credible source. Also this article is a fairly recent one, from 2010 and it relates to what the topic is about. Rick Nauert has a Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin in information science focused on health care informatics, health administration, health education and health policy and also has over 30 years of experience in clinical, administrative and academic healthcare. I included this article because it addresses how much psychiatric service dogs help military veterans with their PTSD symptoms and help cut down on their medications. In fact, “according to the Army Surgeon General’s special assistant for mental health,

For people with disabilities, performing daily tasks prove to be a challenge. People with severe disabilities are given medication and regular therapy to help them improve their daily lives. For some, however, this is not enough. Service dogs, animals specifically trained to aid their disabled owners in their everyday lives, may be a solution to these people. Service dogs are a common type of professional working dog and have several branches/classifications. Each classification is trained to perform specific tasks and are given different privileges/rights when it comes to public access. A service animal, such as an assistance dog, performs specific tasks or provides aid in another form to their disabled owner while other professional working

In today’s society, service dogs are very critical for current U.S soldiers and veterans that deal with PTSD and stress disorder especially saving lives within the Military field. Service dogs are not being noticed by individuals in a world that is full of technological influence because there are so many other little things to preoccupy their time. The service of these particular dogs offer are very beneficial especially to soldier that have PSTD and also reducing stress. Carl Ringberg, a current Missouri army veteran, Luthy, Air Force veteran, and Brett Simon, a current army solider had benefited from a service dog. These particular Individuals found positive results while having a service dog by their side and this service dogs completely

As you can see, the benefits are so great there is no harm of getting a dog. Not only will it help with mental and physical health, the dog would bring happiness, and joy into our

Some people have been known to have a fake “service dog” or “therapy dog” due to the idea that some people believe “oh my dog would be a perfect therapy dog he loves people” but they never do the training or the testing required to do this work. Many times the people want to do the work and not the dogs. This idea of “oh my dog would be perfect” can lead to a lot of problem from severity of bites to the lowness of stress and anxiety. A true therapy dog has to be a special balance of stability, lovability, tolerance, able to handle stress, and prepared to cope with the feeling that dogs and people can feel in these facilities ("Ethical Considerations in Animal”). While this problem is not an uncommon one it can be a very serious one, and can be remediated by proper education of the facilities and have stronger

Animal Assisted Therapy dates back to the early 18th century. It was used to help the mentally ill patients at the York Retreat in England. They would allow animals to wander the grounds with the patients and it was believed that is was helpful in increasing the socialization of the patients. The first documented use of an animal therapy was when Dr. Boris Levinson accidentally left his dog and a difficult child alone and when he came back the child was calm and talking with the dog. Today animals are being used in many different environments to help assist patients with their daily activities. Over the years, studies have shown that some animal assisted therapy has been more affective on people than the use of a medication.

With this program it can help children practice on their reading skills. The other category would be Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT). Now what that means is, “AAT [makes use of] health care or human resources provider and is an integrated part of a treatment process for specific individuals” (1168). With the AAT if a handler were to be in a position where he or she has a disability that they could not grab anything or needs help with getting up then that is what the animal assistance comes from. Many service animals can be a huge benefit to people when they don't even know it. Some services that could be essential from a service dog would be, grabbing a book from a shelf for an individual that is in a wheelchair, assisting a person who is having trauma of a war. Service dogs help with many disabilities. Take the case of war veteran Erick Scott for instance, in the video Watch Service Dog Calm War Vet’s PTSD Reaction. Erick Scott is a war vet that was recognizing to have PTSD. Erick would not take the medicine, and nothing else was helping