Service Dogs May Help In Alleviating PTSD Symptoms - Forbes

In a new study, researchers proved that veterans who were paired with service dogs experienced a lower severity of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms.

PTSD is known to affect veterans and those who work in the military industry disproportionately. That also puts them at a far greater risk of dying by suicide. According to a study, veterans are at a 41% higher suicide risk compared to the general U.S. population.

In an effort to improve their mental health and quality of life, a growing number of veterans are opting for psychiatry-trained service dogs who can perform tasks like waking up people during nightmares and interrupting flashbacks by nudging and applying pressure, among other techniques.

To better understand the mechanisms through which service dogs can help in alleviating some PTSD symptoms, Clare Jensen of Purdue University, Indiana, U.S., and colleagues studied 82 veterans and their respective service dogs. The participants were recruited from the K9s For Warriors' database of military members and veterans.

"As with humans and companion dogs, each veteran-service dog dyad is unique and multi-dimensional. Similar to the range of activities and interactions people have with their pet dogs, the relationships between handlers and their service dogs are not homogenous," the researchers wrote in their study.

Three months after the participants were enrolled in the study, the researchers assessed the veterans' mental health through a series of surveys in an attempt to gain a deeper understanding of the veteran-dog interactions. They also took into consideration the closeness of their bonds.

In cases where they observed that the service dogs were less likely to get excited in the presence of their owners, it was linked to lower severity of PTSD symptoms and even a closer relationship between the dog and veteran.

"As a large component of PTSD includes symptoms of hyperarousal and a heightened startle response, our data suggest that a calm, less excitable dog may be better suited to help reduce these symptoms than a dog who is more easily excitable," the researchers noted. "Selecting dogs with less excitability or promoting these traits in training might increase benefits for the veterans with whom they are partnered."

"Consistent with prior research, military members and veterans in the present sample did report less depression and anxiety after receiving a service dog for PTSD, but these effects were not related to service dog characteristics or temperament. This suggests that demographic variability among service dogs (e.g., mixed vs. pure breeds, animal shelter vs. puppy raiser, differences in sex or weight) does not determine whether or not they are effective as PTSD service dogs," the authors added in their paper that was published in the journal PLOS One.