Rick Nauert Research Paper

I talked to both my psychologist, Doctor Samantha Jordan, and my psychiatrist, Doctor Sandra Kovachi, and they both believe having a service dog would be helpful for my needs.

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.

Medical professionals have recently seen the positive effects animals are able to provide to their patients with mental disabilities. The emotional support dog MA recognizes

Nepps, & Bruckno, (2014) and Souter & Miller,(2007) results were determined by pre/ post questionnaires and scales that viewed each participant mood before and after each session to see the outcome and effectiveness. It showed a dramatic increase in mood. It was also shown that that therapeutic alliance is enhanced with the addition of a therapy dog within a group setting with adult clients in a residential drug abuse treatment setting. Animal assisted therapy has also been shown to reduce feelings of anger and symptoms of PTSD, which can contribute to an overall improvement of mood and reduce depressive

For centuries there have seen casualties of war; soldiers who have had various physical injuries and scars that last a lifetime. Yet until the 20th century little was known about the emotional effects of war on soldiers and it wasn't until soldiers were studied psychologically that the public began to understand what had happened to them. One of the many things that the public began to understand was that any returning veteran came back with disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder, and the shell shock also known as Combat Stress Reaction. The trauma that they suffered is so great that some veteran come back not knowing how to act in their new normal life and become homeless, they suffer from substance abuse to cope and it jeopardizes

In a recent study conducted by Rebecca Johnson, Ph.D., RN, of the University of Missouri-Columbia Center for the Study of Animal Wellness showed that when humans pet a dog, within minutes there is a huge amount of beneficial hormones known to be associated with health and feelings of well-being.(Becker par. 2) These hormones are called beta endorphin, prolactin, dopamine, oxytocin, and beta phenylethylamine (Becker par. 2). The hormones that are released from the interaction between the animal and the human allow the patients to feel more blissful and trusting. Along with being emotionally benefited from working with animals in assisted therapy; people can benefit physically. For example, people who have physical

One of the most common pre-existing perceptions towards assistance dogs are that individuals using these animals are just taking advantage of the system. In the online survey it was found that men have a higher misrepresentation towards both service dogs and emotional support dogs compared to women clearly depicted by the table in Appendix C (Schoenfeld-Tacher, Hellyer, Cheung, & Kogan, 2017, p. 10). This may be because women are perceived to be more comforting, as research has found that “increased levels of testosterone correlate with increased levels of suspicion and decreased interpersonal trust” (Schoenfeld-Tacher, Hellyer, Cheung, & Kogan, 2017, p. 10).

“A Healthy Dose of Puppy Love” by Kathryn Satterfield describes a new study that shows that dogs can improve an individual’s health by lowering anxiety levels and by improving cardiac function. Specially trained therapy dogs visited a hospital in November in Dallas, Texas to help conduct a study that animals can improve an individual’s health, to do this people split the seventy six patients into a total of three groups: visitors with dogs, visitors, and an “at rest group.” For accurate results researches preformed anxiety tests on the patients before, during, and after the visit, and the results concluded that patients who received visits from people had encountered a ten percent drop in anxiety, while patients who received visits from dogs

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: The Service Dog program focuses on training dogs with skills necessary to provide support to individuals with physical and mental health problems, specifically anxiety, panic disorders and depression. The organization itself does not provide service dogs to individuals. However, it provides soft benefits by assisting individuals with finding training professionals in their local areas. The training professionals in turn partner individuals with mental health problems with trained service dogs. Through the Service Dogs program individuals are provided with other soft benefits as well as they are directed to training schools and organizations with lesson plans, manuals, consulting services, and specific training support. Additionally, the program offers educational opportunities through public speaking events, clinics and seminars.

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,

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

A percentage of military personnel return from the aftermath of war, diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder “PTSD” or major depression. The Counseling Services Act for Veterans and their Families in 1975 established for management of psychological symptoms and injury that may take years or decades to manifest. PTSD accounts for some 40% of Vietnam veterans, 78% of those diagnosed would never reach full symptom remission. There were questions on whether cases of delayed-onset PTSD malingered, the observance also manifest because of severe injury unrelated to combat (Hassija, Garvert & Cloitre, 2015).

These studies have shown that there has been more of an effect on elderly people and patients while interacting with dogs rather than humans. Inmates that were therapy sessions with a dog present improved in social skills. “When the dog was present, participants, particularly those with the least positive attitude toward psychothera satisfaction with the therapist. Well as more willingness to disclose personal information.” (Front pyschol Increased trust and trustworthiness

The last objective the members will obtain is canine companionship. Stern, Donahue, Allison, Hatch, Lancaster, Benson, and Peterson (2013) announce how associating with an animal companion can reduce loneliness, anxiety, depression, and can improve an individual who is suffering from medical problems overall health (Stern, Donahue, Allison, Hatch, Lancaster, Benson, & Peterson, 2013). Finally, this companionship will help the member establish trustful relationships.

“Dogs: A medicine for mental health problems?”CNN, Cable News Network, 1 Aug. 2012, www.cnn.com/2012/08/01/health/mental-health-service-dogs/. Accessed 24 Apr. 2017.