Psychiatric service dog
Encyclopedia
A psychiatric service dog is a specific type of service dog
trained to assist their handler with a psychiatric disability
, such as post-traumatic stress disorder
or schizophrenia
.
Although assistance dogs have traditionally helped with people with disabilities such as blindness or more recently deafness or mobility disabilities, there are a wide range of other disabilities that an assistance dog may be able to help with as well, including psychiatric disabilities.
s, a psychiatric service dog is individually trained to do work or perform tasks that mitigate their handler's disability.
Training to mitigate a psychiatric disability may include providing environmental assessment (in such cases as paranoia
or hallucination
s), signaling behaviors (such as interrupting repetitive or injurious behaviors), reminding the handler to take medication, retrieving objects, guiding the handler from stressful situations, or acting as a brace if the handler becomes dizzy
.
Psychiatric service dogs may be of any breed
or size suitable for public work. Some psychiatric service dogs are trained by the person who will become the handler- usually with the help of a professional trainer. Others are trained by assistance or service dog programs. Assistance dog organizations are increasingly recognizing the need for dogs to help individuals with psychiatric disabilities.
, the Americans with Disabilities Act defines a disability as "a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of such individual," and therefore allows handlers of psychiatric service dogs the same rights and protections afforded to those with other types of service animal
s. Service dogs, including psychiatric service dogs, are allowed to accompany their handler in any location that is normally accessible to the public whether or not health codes or business policy normally would allow a dog to enter, provided the dog behaves properly and does not interfere with normal operations (e.g. barking, biting, defecating, or obstructing other people) or pose a direct threat to the safety of others.
Besides accompanying their handler in public accommodations, the Fair Housing Act also allows tenants that have service animals or emotional support animal
s to stay in housing that has a "No Pets" policy. Some individual state laws may also provide additional guidelines or protection.
The Air Carrier Access Act also permits psychiatric service dogs and emotional support animal
s to be permitted to travel in the cabin when accompanied by a person with a disability.
An alternative to a psychiatric service dog is an emotional support animal
, which may or may not have specific training related to the handler's disability, but provides companionship and emotional support. They do not qualify as service animals in the United States, though they do qualify for the aforementioned exceptions to house and air travel.
about themselves.
This places the handler in a difficult position, where they may feel pressured to reveal their condition and face inappropriate stigma and scrutiny. Or they may opt to not identify their dog as a service animal in the first place and forfeit accessibility, instead treating the dog as though it were a normal pet when in public.
Service dog
A service dog is a type of assistance dog specifically trained to help people who have disabilities including visual or hearing impairment, and also to help people with mental disabilities including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and severe depression...
trained to assist their handler with a psychiatric disability
Disability
A disability may be physical, cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional, developmental or some combination of these.Many people would rather be referred to as a person with a disability instead of handicapped...
, such as post-traumatic stress disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Posttraumaticstress disorder is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to any event that results in psychological trauma. This event may involve the threat of death to oneself or to someone else, or to one's own or someone else's physical, sexual, or psychological integrity,...
or schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
.
Although assistance dogs have traditionally helped with people with disabilities such as blindness or more recently deafness or mobility disabilities, there are a wide range of other disabilities that an assistance dog may be able to help with as well, including psychiatric disabilities.
Training
Like all assistance dogAssistance dog
An assistance dog is a dog trained to aid or assist a person with a disability. Many are trained by a specific organization, while others are trained by their handler .-Classification:...
s, a psychiatric service dog is individually trained to do work or perform tasks that mitigate their handler's disability.
Training to mitigate a psychiatric disability may include providing environmental assessment (in such cases as paranoia
Paranoia
Paranoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...
or hallucination
Hallucination
A hallucination, in the broadest sense of the word, is a perception in the absence of a stimulus. In a stricter sense, hallucinations are defined as perceptions in a conscious and awake state in the absence of external stimuli which have qualities of real perception, in that they are vivid,...
s), signaling behaviors (such as interrupting repetitive or injurious behaviors), reminding the handler to take medication, retrieving objects, guiding the handler from stressful situations, or acting as a brace if the handler becomes dizzy
Dizziness
Dizziness refers to an impairment in spatial perception and stability. The term is somewhat imprecise. It can be used to mean vertigo, presyncope, disequilibrium, or a non-specific feeling such as giddiness or foolishness....
.
Psychiatric service dogs may be of any breed
Dog breed
Dog breeds are groups of closely related and visibly similar domestic dogs, which are all of the subspecies Canis lupus familiaris, having characteristic traits that are selected and maintained by humans, bred from a known foundation stock....
or size suitable for public work. Some psychiatric service dogs are trained by the person who will become the handler- usually with the help of a professional trainer. Others are trained by assistance or service dog programs. Assistance dog organizations are increasingly recognizing the need for dogs to help individuals with psychiatric disabilities.
Accessibility
In the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the Americans with Disabilities Act defines a disability as "a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of such individual," and therefore allows handlers of psychiatric service dogs the same rights and protections afforded to those with other types of service animal
Service animal
Service animals are animals that have been trained to perform tasks that assist people with disabilities. Service animals may also be referred to as "assistance animals," "assist animals," "support animals," or "helper animals" depending on country....
s. Service dogs, including psychiatric service dogs, are allowed to accompany their handler in any location that is normally accessible to the public whether or not health codes or business policy normally would allow a dog to enter, provided the dog behaves properly and does not interfere with normal operations (e.g. barking, biting, defecating, or obstructing other people) or pose a direct threat to the safety of others.
Besides accompanying their handler in public accommodations, the Fair Housing Act also allows tenants that have service animals or emotional support animal
Emotional support animal
An emotional support animal is a US legal term for a pet which provides therapeutic benefit to its owner through companionship and affection. Emotional support animals are not specially trained to ameliorate disability as psychiatric service dogs are...
s to stay in housing that has a "No Pets" policy. Some individual state laws may also provide additional guidelines or protection.
The Air Carrier Access Act also permits psychiatric service dogs and emotional support animal
Emotional support animal
An emotional support animal is a US legal term for a pet which provides therapeutic benefit to its owner through companionship and affection. Emotional support animals are not specially trained to ameliorate disability as psychiatric service dogs are...
s to be permitted to travel in the cabin when accompanied by a person with a disability.
An alternative to a psychiatric service dog is an emotional support animal
Emotional support animal
An emotional support animal is a US legal term for a pet which provides therapeutic benefit to its owner through companionship and affection. Emotional support animals are not specially trained to ameliorate disability as psychiatric service dogs are...
, which may or may not have specific training related to the handler's disability, but provides companionship and emotional support. They do not qualify as service animals in the United States, though they do qualify for the aforementioned exceptions to house and air travel.
Social Issues with Accessibility
People with psychiatric service dogs are often faced with several problems that other service dog handlers typically do not experience. While guide dogs for the blind and hearing-impaired and helper dogs for people who use wheelchairs are well-known to the public, dogs for psychiatric conditions are not. Further adding to this issue is that many people with psychiatric conditions do not appear to have anything externally wrong with them, and because of the heavy social stigma of mental illness, the handler may be reluctant to explain their condition or the dog's trained tasks even in the vaguest of terms. In addition, the dogs can be any size (even toy breeds) depending on their trained task, yet there is a common public misconception that all service dogs are medium or large breeds. Any of these issues can lead to other people inappropriately impugning the dog's status or pressing the handler to divulge medical informationProtected health information
Protected health information , under the US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act , is any information about health status, provision of health care, or payment for health care that can be linked to a specific individual...
about themselves.
This places the handler in a difficult position, where they may feel pressured to reveal their condition and face inappropriate stigma and scrutiny. Or they may opt to not identify their dog as a service animal in the first place and forfeit accessibility, instead treating the dog as though it were a normal pet when in public.
See also
- Autism service dogAutism service dogAn autism service dog is a service dog trained to assist a person with autism, to help them gain independence, confidence, and the ability to perform activities of daily living similar to anyone else...
- Guide dogGuide dogGuide dogs are assistance dogs trained to lead blind and visually impaired people around obstacles.Although the dogs can be trained to navigate various obstacles, they are partially color blind and are not capable of interpreting street signs...
- Hearing dogHearing dogA hearing dog is a specific type of assistance dog specifically selected and trained to assist people who are deaf or hearing impaired by alerting their handler to important sounds, such as doorbells, smoke alarms, ringing telephones, or alarm clocks...
- Medical response dogMedical response dogA medical response dog is a specific type of service dog specifically trained to help mitigate an individual's medical disability. Typically, they are dogs whose job does not handle primarily epilepsy or psychiatric-based conditions, though some seizure response dogs or psychiatric service dogs may...
- Mobility assistance dogMobility assistance dogA mobility assistance dog is a service dog trained to assist a physically disabled person. Among other tasks, they are commonly trained to pick up objects, open and close doors, and operate light switches...
- Seizure response dogSeizure response dogSeizure response dogs are a special type of service dog, specifically trained to help someone who has epilepsy or a seizure disorder.Due to the differing needs between each case, every potential seizure dog receives specialized training...
- Service dogService dogA service dog is a type of assistance dog specifically trained to help people who have disabilities including visual or hearing impairment, and also to help people with mental disabilities including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and severe depression...
- Assistance dogAssistance dogAn assistance dog is a dog trained to aid or assist a person with a disability. Many are trained by a specific organization, while others are trained by their handler .-Classification:...
- Emotional support animalEmotional support animalAn emotional support animal is a US legal term for a pet which provides therapeutic benefit to its owner through companionship and affection. Emotional support animals are not specially trained to ameliorate disability as psychiatric service dogs are...