Specially trained service dogs helped alleviate PTSD symptoms in US military veterans in a small study which researchers hope will help expand options for the military.
The US Department of Veterans Affairs provides psychotherapy and medications for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and runs a pilot program involving service dogs. The VA may prescribe service dogs for certain veterans diagnosed with substantial visual, hearing, or mobility impairments, including eligible veterans with PTSD, and will cover some costs associated with having a service dog.
The agency continues to review research “to evaluate the effectiveness of service dogs,” said VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes, “and we are committed to providing high-quality, evidence-based care to all those who have served.”
Study co-author Maggie O’Haire of the University of Arizona’s veterinary college said one of the researchers’ goals was to “bring evidence behind a practice that appears to be increasingly popular but that historically has not had the basis science behind it. “
For the study, service dogs were provided by K9s For Warriors, a nonprofit that matches trained dogs with veterans during three-week group classes. Dogs are taught to pick up on a veteran’s physical signs of distress and can stop panic attacks and nightmares with a loving nudge.
Researchers compared 81 veterans who received service dogs with 75 veterans on the waiting list for a trained dog. PTSD symptoms were measured by psychology doctoral students who did not know which veterans had service dogs.
After three months, PTSD symptoms improved in both groups, but veterans with dogs had greater improvement, on average, than veterans on the waitlist. The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, was published Tuesday in JAMA Network Open.
It wasn’t clear from the study whether spending time with a dog would have the same effect. (About 40 percent of veterans in both groups owned pet dogs.) And all veterans in the study had access to other PTSD treatments.
Service dogs should be considered complementary and not a standalone therapy, O’Haire said.
“When you add it to existing medical practices, it can improve your experience and further reduce your symptoms,” she said.
PTSD is more common among veterans than civilians, the VA says, affecting up to 29% of Iraq war veterans over their lifetimes. Symptoms include nightmares, flashbacks, numbness, or the feeling of being constantly on edge.
“I would wake up in the middle of the night, almost every night, sweating profusely,” said Dave Crenshaw, who served in the Army National Guard in Iraq and was diagnosed with PTSD in 2016 while working undercover in law enforcement. Antidepressants helped with some symptoms, he said, but he still felt numb.
The 41-year veteran met his service dog, a black Labrador named Doc, in 2019. He immediately felt what he described as “joy and wholesomeness. It’s just an overwhelming feeling of ‘Hey, everything’s going to be OK.’”
Doc can tell when he’s upset, often before he realizes it and gets close, Crenshaw said. Today, Crenshaw no longer takes antidepressants and is retiring from military service and law enforcement. He credits Doc with getting his life back on track.
“It’s the best medicine with the fewest side effects,” Crenshaw said.
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