$300,000 for study of dog therapy for soldiers with PTSD

Great news, I believe in therapy dogs! my own dog has visited a locked psych ward and was very beneficial to patients, one being my daughter and another patient. Not a certified therapy dog, but close enough, he can sense when to just "be" in those situations and being with dogs is therapeutic.

From an article :

"..the Defense Department is financing a $300,000 study that will pair troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with dogs trained to sense when their masters are about to have a panic attack and give them a calming nudge or nuzzle.

These psychiatric service dogs have been assisting people with a variety of mental illnesses since the late 1990s. About 10,000 such dogs are now in use.

New but preliminary research suggests that the dogs may be particularly helpful for people with PTSD.

And that has the military interested.

“It’s a powerful intervention. We expect a very large effect,” said research psychologist Craig Love."

AND

"The dogs can serve their owners in several ways. For example, they can sense when someone with bipolar disorder is becoming manic and give an alert by barking or nuzzling. The dogs also can provide a reality check to people experiencing hallucinations; if the dog does not react to voices, it is assurance that no one else is in the room.

Love and Esnayra surveyed 39 people with PTSD who were teamed with psychiatric service dogs.

Eighty-two percent have reported fewer PTSD symptoms since they have had the dogs, and 40 percent said they were using fewer medications.

“The longer the team had been together, the more likely they were reducing symptoms and medications,” Esnayra said.