Dog helps owner to manage PTSD symptoms
Truly a dog is a great help for us human. Aside from being a companion, guard, hunter, etc., dog also help with mental illness too, like managing PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder.
67-year-old Michael Gaither spent four years holed up in his Chiefland, Fla., home, leaving only for doctor appointments. About three months ago, things got worse when he fell and broke four ribs. The agonizing pain and the thought of yet another disabling condition left Gaither wondering if life was still worth living. But not until he met Honey.
Gaither found found the relief he needed from a 16-month-old German shepherd named Honey. "When I get tense, she knows it, and she comes up and puts her head on my leg or my chest to comfort me, and I forget what I'm concerned about," said Gaither. "If I have nightmares, she'll jump on my chest and wake me up." Honey also picks things up if Gaither drops them, and if he's inside and needs his wife when she's outside, Honey will go fetch her.
According to Joan Esnarya president and founder of the Psychiatric Service Dog Society, dogs are very sensitive to escalations of mood. They can tell if a person's mood is starting to escalate to a panic attack and tell it to them before they lost their composure and lost their ability to think clearly.
A growing number of veterans are turning to dogs to help with PTSD symptoms, and experts say dogs can help with other psychiatric problems as well, including major depression and panic attacks.
67-year-old Michael Gaither spent four years holed up in his Chiefland, Fla., home, leaving only for doctor appointments. About three months ago, things got worse when he fell and broke four ribs. The agonizing pain and the thought of yet another disabling condition left Gaither wondering if life was still worth living. But not until he met Honey.
Gaither found found the relief he needed from a 16-month-old German shepherd named Honey. "When I get tense, she knows it, and she comes up and puts her head on my leg or my chest to comfort me, and I forget what I'm concerned about," said Gaither. "If I have nightmares, she'll jump on my chest and wake me up." Honey also picks things up if Gaither drops them, and if he's inside and needs his wife when she's outside, Honey will go fetch her.
According to Joan Esnarya president and founder of the Psychiatric Service Dog Society, dogs are very sensitive to escalations of mood. They can tell if a person's mood is starting to escalate to a panic attack and tell it to them before they lost their composure and lost their ability to think clearly.
A growing number of veterans are turning to dogs to help with PTSD symptoms, and experts say dogs can help with other psychiatric problems as well, including major depression and panic attacks.
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