A small study has found that specially trained service dogs helped ease PTSD symptoms in US military veterans, and researchers hope the study will help expand options for service members.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs provides talk therapy and medication to veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and is running a pilot program for service dogs. VA can prescribe service dogs to certain veterans diagnosed with vision, hearing, or significant mobility impairments, including eligible veterans with PTSD, and will cover some of the costs associated with owning a service dog.
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“VA continues to review research and evaluate the effectiveness of service dogs,” VA spokesman Terrence Hayes said. “VA is committed to providing quality, evidence-based care to all who have served.”
Study co-author Maggie O’Hare of the University of Arizona College of Veterinary Medicine said one of the researchers’ goals was to “provide evidence to support a practice that appears to be growing in popularity but that historically has had no scientific basis.”
Dave Crenshaw poses for a photo with his service dog, Doc, in front of his home on Monday, June 3, 2024, in Kearney, New Jersey. (AP Photo/Mary Conlon)
For the study, service dogs were provided by K9s For Warriors, a nonprofit that matches trained dogs with veterans for three weeks of group classes. The dogs are trained to detect signs of physical distress in veterans and interrupt panic attacks or nightmares with gentle, affectionate prompting.
The researchers compared 81 veterans who received service dogs with 75 veterans who were on a waiting list for trained dogs. PTSD symptoms were measured by a psychology doctoral student who was unaware of which veterans received service dogs.
After three months, PTSD symptoms improved in both groups, but on average, the veterans who owned dogs saw greater improvement than those on the waiting list. The National Institutes of Health-funded study was published Tuesday in the journal JAMA Network Open.
The study wasn’t clear whether spending time with any dog would have the same effect (about 40 percent of veterans in both groups had pet dogs), and all of the veterans in the study had access to other PTSD treatments.
O’Hare says service dogs should be thought of as a supplement, not a standalone therapy.
“Adding this to existing medical practices could potentially improve the patient experience and further reduce symptoms,” she said.
PTSD is more common among veterans than civilians, with 29 percent of Iraq War veterans suffering from PTSD in their lifetime, the VA says. Symptoms can include nightmares, flashbacks and feeling numb or on edge all the time.
“I woke up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat almost every night,” said Dave Crenshaw, who served in Iraq with the Army National Guard and was diagnosed with PTSD while working undercover for police in 2016. Antidepressants helped some of his symptoms, but he said he still felt numb.
The 41-year-old veteran met his service dog, Doc, a pointer-black Labrador mix, in 2019. He described an immediate feeling of “joy and wholesomeness” and “an overwhelming sense of, ‘OK, everything’s going to be OK.'”
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Crenshaw says Doc would sense when he was upset before he even knew it, and would come over to him. Now, Crenshaw is off antidepressants and enjoying retirement from the military and police. He credits Doc for getting his life back on track.
“It’s the best drug with the fewest side effects,” Crenshaw said.
