Service Dogs Can Help Reduce Anxiety In Veterans

Providing a service to your country is a sacrifice that no faint-hearted makes. People who go fight for what is right and represent their countries often go through unthinkable experiences and traumas that those of us who haven’t seen, simply cannot understand.

Although there are certain measures we take that can help veterans, or retired soldiers, deal with their past traumas, the human hand can only help to a certain point. This is where the super service of our devoted and loyal canines come in. Service dogs accompanying veterans have significantly decreased the impact of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). With post-traumatic stress disorder, it has been noted that severe bouts of anxiety overcome veterans on a regular basis.

What a study done by Purdue University’s College of Veterinary Medicine has shown is that service dogs trained for this have actually managed to disrupt these severe anxiety cycles. How they manage to do this, scientists cannot explain, but the results are there! What investigation through a clinical trial did show, is that these specially trained service dogs alert the individual when an anxiety attack is about to begin, as well as provide physical comforting to him/her.

These trained dogs also do little things such as look in the opposite way of a crowded room which, in turn, provides the veteran with a sense of security. In a previous study, results also showed that untrained tasks done by the service dogs to help the veterans actually ranked higher ineffectiveness. This pretty much means that the natural movements and actions of a canine companion is significantly effective on veterans too. I think it’s safe to say that dogs are a gift to mankind!

Feature Image Source: Pixabay

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