A Helping Paw: Therapy Dogs Improve Mental Health, Social Isolation, and Self-orientation in PTSD Veterans

           PTSD has become a prevalent issue today, with 17 percent of combat veterans suffering from mental health disorders (Ives). One of the biggest contributors thought to bring on PTSD is the lack of support and delayed treatment of illness. Dr. Sharon Stevelink, an author from the Institute of Psychology, Psychiatry & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College, stated that there is a higher risk for soldiers that are deployed in combat wars to develop PTSD. Soldiers, however, who already have mental health disorders, such as depression and anxiety, are more likely to leave the army and experience strong stressors back in society. In the military soldiers have order, structure and commands; after leaving the military, a veteran is forced to find their way on their own, having to gain independence. Veterans lose the social network and idea of a family that the military had given them. Transitioning into a normal life with the support of loved ones, such as finding a job and a home is key to lessening the onset of PTSD (Ives). These are the reasons PTSD needs to be taken seriously, as it has become more prevalent in recent years. However, more veterans with PTSD have begun to reach out for help, and some of the most effective help comes through work with service dogs. Therapy dogs greatly help PTSD veterans with improving mental health, social isolation, and self orientation. 

          Service dogs are shown to have a significant impact on lowering PTSD stress, anxiety and depression in veterans. For example, positive interactions between humans and dogs help improve levels of oxytocin. Oxytocin helps with a more positive mood, reduced negative emotions, and raising a stronger welfare in humans (Houtert).  Dog owners have lower responses to mental stressors, demonstrating “decreased reactivity” when put into stressful mental and physical conditions, allowing PTSD veterans to recover quicker. (Hyde 31). Jackson explains, “the mere presence of the dog [produces] calming effects”(qtd. in Ankenbauer 37). According to Yount, a social worker and service dog trainer, decrease in stress levels can be attributed to the “strain buffering impact” that the human-animal bond produces (qtd. in Ankenbauer 41). When stress on the brain reduces, their mental state begins to feel safe and, therefore, causes an improvement in sleep ( in Ankenbauer 41). Also, many veterans with PTSD struggle with hyperarousal. Hyperarousal is the experience of going into a high alert state due to excessive thinking about past trauma (Tull). Service dogs help to reduce a PTSD veteran’s state of hyperarousal, due to a decrease in anxiety the veteran experiences in the presence of the animal. Research Psychologist, Alex Bandura stated that depression and social support greatly impact self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is a personal belief a person has in order to perform in a certain desirable way (Cherry). According to Rebecca Johnson’s research on animal therapy for PTSD veterans, depression compromises the ability to deal with stress, an individual loses sight of aspirations, thereby allowing the depression to take over. Johnson and her team further note that, “an inability to improve and keep social relationships and help contributes to depression and lowers self-efficacy”. They concluded that, “perceived coping self-efficacy was veterans’ perceived ability to correctly respond to unexpected events” (Johnson). In order to improve the levels of self-efficacy and reduce depression, having a service dog present will force the veteran to strengthen “executive behaviors”, to become productive, and to calm the individual. Service dogs provide a calming effect, taking away the thoughts of loneliness, depression, and anxiety (Johnson). This allows for positive feedback in a veteran’s mental state, and balance in their life.

             By seeking attention and keeping their owner focused on the present moment, service dogs help reduce the number of flashbacks and certain triggers PTSD victims face. When a PTSD veteran begins to have a flashback due to an event triggering them, “the presence of a dog can help the person to focus on the present, reminding them that the danger is no longer there” (Houtert). Dogs are attention-seeking animals which distract the veteran from thinking back on the past and focusing on the present moment. “The specialized training of a service dog may further strengthen this association, as it can be trained to actively seek its handler’s attention, strengthening the re-orienting effect” (Houtert).  Additionally, veterans state that one of the key roles a service dog plays is their behavior towards the owner. Specifically, the role was shown to have great effect with attention-seeking behaviors such as licking or nudging the veterans. These qualities of a service dog help veterans to focus on the present moment and decrease flashbacks and thoughts of depression (Houtert). Service dogs are essential in helping PTSD veterans to not live in their past traumatic experiences, but work on enhancing their self-orientation effect. Once PTSD victims learn to reduce their triggers, these individuals feel safer and more comfortable when going into social environments (Houtert). 

              Beyond the direct calming effect service dogs have on PTSD veterans, dogs also help veterans return to social situations. Service dogs help reintegrate PTSD veterans into societal environments, allowing “the ability of the dog to function as a physical barrier between the veteran and strangers, reducing the stress or arousal the veteran experienced from such encounters” (Houtert). Because the dog serves “as a calming catalyst of the veterans’ mental/emotional state in potentially stressful situations,” the general welfare of the veteran increases (Houtert). Karen Thodberg, a senior researcher from Aahrus University stated that dogs provide a “social assist system” for veterans, helping to guide veterans into social situations, while “appearing as a protective barrier to diffuse environmental and interpersonal dating stressors” (qtd. in Ankenbauer 36). The dogs “reveal their human companions to encounters with strangers, facilitate interplay among previously unacquainted persons, and help set up trust most of the newly familiar persons” (Jackson 6). Service dogs help veterans who come back from the war  wanting to detach from the outside world and isolate themselves, which begins to disconnect them from any social support surrounding them. When veterans are around a service dog, they start to allow themselves to rely on others for support improving their need for detaching themselves from social situations (Ankenbauer 36). Attachment theory is a theory used in psychology that a person’s development depends on both physical and emotional attachment to a caregiver (Mcleod).  As researchers Marston and Kopicki state, “attachment theory suggests that a service dog provides the veteran with a secure base effect. Therefore, if a service dog is capable of helping to repair a veteran's ability to form attachments, his or her overall quality of life would also likely improve as a result” (qtd. in Ankenbauer 38). Service dogs also force the veteran in a physical way to have to walk the dog, go out to buy toys and food, and make vet visits. These tasks require the veteran to interact with society and make social connections, as well as help the veteran to gain a sense of responsibility. A PTSD veteran needs to be integrated into societal environments to prevent their mental health from deterioration. In order to see a change in their mental health, a service dog is essential for creating a safe and calm feeling for the veteran (Ankenbauer). 

               Service dogs truly help PTSD veterans with improving mental health, social isolation, and self-orientation. With a service dog by their side veterans do not feel like PTSD victims, instead they gain feelings of confidence and independence. Mr. Naranjo, a specialist in the Army Reserve stated,  “These soldiers are a very young population; they do not want canes or crutches,” Many veterans, after suffering traumatic injuries, are “fighting to get their independence back, and dogs give them a sense of independence,” he added (qtd. in Jones). With the love and help from these attention-seeking dogs, a veteran can begin to feel himself again, both mentally and physically.