As the name suggests a psychiatric service dog or PSD is considered a service animal and not a support animal. You’re likely used to seeing service animals like seeing-eye dogs provide a service where they help their handler navigate the world. Psychiatric service dogs help with disabilities that can’t be seen like PTSD or anxiety. Your dog must
Psychiatric service dogs are indispensable to their owners. They are trained to do work that allows people with psychiatric disabilities to function in everyday life. There are too many of these tasks to list in one article, but below is a sample of the important jobs that PSDs perform. The most common tasks performed by Psychiatric Service Dogs are:
Balance Assistance – For those that may need the added security when walking (eg. those that may have to take tranquilizers to stay calm).
Find a person/place – People who suffer from severe anxiety may become disorientated in a large crowd, a PSD can be trained to locate a person and place.
Ground and reorient – A PSD can help ground their handler back into a more present state of mind during an anxiety attack.
Interrupt and Redirect – A PSD can help limit obsessive compulsive and self-destructive behaviors by interrupting or redirecting.
Navigation and buffering – A PSD can provide a buffer and help guide their handler through stressful environments.
React/Alert to specific sounds – A PSD can alert their handler to smoke or security alarms along with unusual noises.
Retrieve Medications – A PSD may pick up medication from a table or ring a bell as a reminder.
Room Search – A PSD can be trained to perform a room search to help those that suffer hyper-vigilance caused by PTSD.
Stabilize routines – A PSD can help their handler maintain healthy routines by, for example, preventing them from oversleeping or reminding them to do daily tasks.
Tactile stimulation and pressure therapy – A PSD can use touch or gentle pressure to provide calm and comfort to a handler that is in distress.
