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If you live with a debilitating mental health disorder like anxiety, depression, or PTSD, then you may be wondering if a Psychiatric Service Dog (PSD) could benefit you. These dogs are a type of service dog and are trained to perform tasks that alleviate symptoms of mental health disorders.
To help you better understand if a PSD could be right for you, we’ll go over the different types of support animals, including Emotional Support Animals and Therapy Dogs. We’ll also discuss who can benefit from PSDs and what they can do for their handlers. Finally, we’ll explain how to get a Psychiatric Service Dog.
The Difference Between PSDs, ESAs, and Therapy Dogs
When talking about assistance dogs, there are usually three types mentioned: Psychiatric Service Dogs, Emotional Support Animals, and Therapy Dogs. Let’s talk about the differences so that you can better understand what type of dog might be best for your situation.
Psychiatric Service Dogs
Psychiatric Service Dogs are service animals, as their name suggests. This means they are trained to perform tasks to help mitigate or improve the symptoms of a mental health disability.
As service dogs, they also undergo extensive public access training as they are allowed in many public spaces and must be well-behaved. Psychiatric Service Dogs are allowed in restaurants and businesses, cannot be denied from living with their owners even in housing that doesn’t allow pets, and can travel with their owners on airplanes.
Emotional Support Animals
Emotional Support Animals do not count as service animals and do not have to be dogs, though many people favor dogs for this role. These animals provide comfort to their owners simply by being present.
They do not have to undergo any special training and are not allowed in public areas, nor are they allowed to fly in airplane cabins with their owners. They are, however, protected by the Fair Housing Act. Just like PSDs, they can live with their owners anywhere, even in housing that doesn’t allow pets.
Therapy Dogs
Similar to ESAs, therapy dogs don’t need to undergo any specialized training. However, they do have to be well-behaved and often pass the Canine Good Citizen test. This is because therapy dogs are taken to places like nursing homes and hospitals.
Therapy dogs tend to be owned by volunteers, so anyone can train their dog to be a therapy dog. Unlike ESAs and PSDs, therapy dogs do not have any sort of privileges in regard to housing or travel.
Who Can Benefit From a PSD?
Psychiatric service dogs are meant for those who have disabilities. According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a disability is defined as any “physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activity.”
Major life activities include any function that most people do in their daily lives. Some examples would be sleeping, caring for oneself, working, and performing manual tasks. If your mental health disorder impairs or inhibits you from doing one or more of these activities, then it may be considered a disability.
Depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, PTSD, and OCD are examples of mental health disorders that can be helped by Psychiatric Service Dogs. If you have any mental disability that inhibits you from going about your day-to-day life as you would if you did not have said disability, then you may benefit from a Psychiatric Service Dog.
What Tasks Can PSDs Perform?
Psychiatric Service Dogs can be trained to perform a wide variety of tasks. For instance, these dogs can interrupt negative behaviors, ground individuals experiencing panic attacks, and provide a sense of security in public places by acting as a physical buffer between their handlers and other people.
The following is a list of tasks a PSD might be trained to perform:
- Wake their handler up
- Wake their handler up from nightmares
- Provide stimulation via touch
- Provide grounding during moments of fear and anxiety
- Help create a safe space by using their body as a physical barrier between the handler and their surroundings
- Retrieve items, including small items
- Retrieve medication and beverages
- Remind handler to take medication at a specific time
- Carry objects
- Close doors, cabinets, and drawers
- Help with daily chores
- Help handler undress
- Navigate crowds
- Interrupt anxious or repetitive behaviors
- Interrupt self-harming behaviors
- Deep pressure therapy
- Reduce fear occurring in public or crowded spaces
- Provide balance assistance
- Get help for their handler
How to Get a Psychiatric Service Dog
Now that you’ve learned more about Psychiatric Service Dogs and what they can do, you may be more interested in getting one. If so, you should start by talking to your therapist.
Tell them you feel a PSD may be helpful for you and ask their opinion on the matter. Your therapist will have a better idea of if your mental health disorder qualifies as a disability (and, in many cases, is the person who diagnosed you in the first place). They may also be able to point you to an organization that can pair you with a dog.
Getting a PSD From an Organization
Many organizations train and place PSDs. They may require you to provide a recommendation from your therapist. There are other requirements, as well, such as being able to provide for a dog financially. While some organizations can place dogs for free, thanks to donations and fundraising, in other cases, you may have to pay for the dog.
Unfortunately, it costs about $38,000 on average to raise and train a service dog. Though you may not be expected to pay the entire amount, it’s not uncommon to have to pay a fraction of the price, which can still be rather expensive. However, it is possible to train your service dog yourself, which can save you a significant amount of money.
Training Your Own PSD
As mentioned above, you have the option to train your own dog to be a Psychiatric Service Dog. There are online courses for this, and you may also be able to find training classes in your area. Puppies tend to be better options as they are more malleable and easier to train.
You can consider a puppy as a blank slate; you won’t have to worry about training any unwanted behaviors out of them (outside of potty training). Of course, it is still possible to train adult dogs, especially if they already have a firm foundation of obedience and are well-behaved in crowds of people.
However, you should understand that there is some risk in training your own PSD. This is because not all dogs are cut out to be service dogs. Even organizations that train PSDs for placement encounter dogs that just don’t have what it takes.
Psychiatric Service Dogs Alleviate Symptoms
If you have a mental health problem like anxiety, depression, or PTSD that is severe enough to be a disability, then a Psychiatric Service Dog may be beneficial to you. A disability is anything that inhibits you from doing major life activities like sleeping or caring for yourself. Psychiatric Service Dogs are specifically trained to perform tasks that alleviate symptoms of your disability.
In this way, PSDs are a lot different from Emotional Support Animals or Therapy Dogs. The latter two are not trained to do any tasks and just provide comfort with their presence.
If your mental health struggles aren’t enough to be considered a disability, an Emotional Support Animal may be a good alternative. However, if you do think a Psychiatric Service Dog could be helpful to you, start by talking with your therapist.