Service Dogs Help Veterans with PTSD

It took a long time for post-traumatic stress disorder to be classified as a real diagnosis and even longer to find ways to help people who were experiencing it. You can have a mild version of PTSD or you can have life-affected PTSD, making it almost impossible to live as you would like.

Sadly, many people who live with PTSD are returning service men and women. Regardless of their work in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan, the events they see, hear, their experiences, have an enormous impact on them once they return home.

While some veterans are able to cope with counseling and other types of psychological or psychiatric help, others are affected severely and need alternate methods. For this, enter the service dog.

Service dogs have come a long way from being just for guiding people who are blind. They are now trained to help those who are hearing impaired “hear” things like doorbells. Dogs are trained to help sense on-coming seizures and to help people in wheelchairs get around. And now, they also play a role with some people who are experiencing mental health issues.

According to this article,  Service Dogs Help Traumatized Veterans Heal, the dogs help their owners by detecting the owner’s stress and anxiety levels.

“If a dog observes when a person with PTSD is escalating, the dog will be able to signal that they are escalating and, given it’s so early in process, the person can manage and even prevent the escalation,” explained Joan Gibbon Esnayra, president and founder of the Psychiatric Dog Service Association.

In this article, the writer describes a veteran who unknowingly was speeding until her dog reminded her that he was there with her. He grounded her, bringing her back to the hear and now, so she was able to slow down before anything terrible happened.

Dogs are truly amazing, aren’t they?

~~~~~

Images: PhotoXpress.com