Nearly every American knows more than they want to about the terrible wars in Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan and the terrible price servicemen and women have paid while serving their country.
Many of these brave heroes return to their home shore suffering from a terrible condition called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Because this disorder is centered within the brain, it does not manifest itself with any physical cues about what the person is suffering.
What is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder?
PTSD is one of many anxiety disorders that can afflict people. It usually occurs after the person has experienced some kind of trauma, either physical or mental.
The person who is affected is left with the perception that their life or someone else's life is in imminent danger and they become hypervigilant and riddled with anxiety about perceived dangers.
They have absolutely no control over their reactions which can be devastating to them and those around them. For veterans of our most recent wars, their PTSD is almost always triggered by scenes and experiences during combat.
Someone who is suffering from PTSD can often benefit from a trained service dog to help through times of stress.
These special friends, the service dogs, are trained to assist their handlers during any kind of medical crisis, give limited treatment assistance when required, help their handlers cope when they are feeling emotionally overloaded and unduly stressed and give added security to their handler.
These highly trained service dogs are able to give their handlers an added sense of security and provide some calming effects on their handlers.
Because they are usually larger dogs like either German Shepherds or Labrador Retrievers, they need a certain amount of physical exercise and this helps their handler deal with some of the sense of isolation that often plagues returning veterans.
These dogs are also trained to provide environmental assessments for their handlers and pick up on feelings of paranoia or if their handler is experiencing a hallucination.
They are able to retrieve items and bring them to their handler. Many veterans experience feelings of absolute terror when they are in large crowds.
Their service dog can act as a buffer between them and a large crowd by literally standing between their handler and other people.
Research has shown that a PTSD service dog can help a veteran adjust his or her own serotonin levels just by being around their dog, lower their handler's blood pressure and perhaps most importantly, help their handler deal with feelings of isolation and depression by serving as their best friend.
In the United States, the largest organization that provides PTSD service dogs to veterans is Canines4Hope Canines4Hope which is located in Palm City, FL.
Though they are a not-for-profit organization there is a cost associated with acquiring a PTSD dog. Financial assistance may be available at some time through the Office of Veteran's Affairs.
Though they are only providing financial assistance to veterans with physical disabilities at the present time, legislation has been proposed in Congress to change this.
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