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作成日: 2024/06/13 14:36

更新日: 2025/12/08 13:09

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Service Dogs Help Ease Veterans' PTSD Symptoms
Specially trained service dogs helped ease PTSD symptoms in US military veterans in a small study that the researchers hope will help expand options for service members.

The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides talk therapy and medicine to veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and runs a pilot program involving service dogs.

The dogs are taught to pick up a veteran's physical signs of distress and can interrupt 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 students who didn't know which veterans had service dogs.

After three months, PTSD symptoms improved in both groups, but the veterans with dogs saw a bigger improvement on average than the veterans on the waiting list.

Service dogs should be considered complementary and not an independent therapy, said study co-author Maggie O'Haire.

"When you add it to existing medical practices, it can enhance your experience and reduce your symptoms more," she said.

PTSD affects as many as 29% of Iraq war veterans over their lifetimes, according to the VA. Symptoms include nightmares, flashbacks, numbness or the feeling of being constantly on edge.

"I would wake up in the middle of the night, almost nightly, in a pool of sweat," said Dave Crenshaw, who served in Iraq and was diagnosed with PTSD in 2016 while working in law enforcement. Antidepressants helped with some symptoms, he said, but he still felt numb.

The 41-year-old veteran met his service dog, Doc, in 2019. He immediately felt what he described as a "feeling of 'Hey, everything's going to be OK.'"

Doc senses when he's upset, often before he notices himself, and comes close, Crenshaw said. Today, Crenshaw is no longer taking antidepressants and is enjoying life away from the military and law enforcement. He gives Doc credit for getting his life back on track.

"It's the greatest medicine with the least amount of side effects," Crenshaw said.

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