William O’Hara is a retired Navy veteran with six years of combat in Vietnam. O’Hara, a friendly, easygoing and intelligent man, has a young Belgian Shepherd, also known as a Malinois named Major. Major is O’Hara’s third Psychiatric Service Dog.

“I was discharged in 1970,” he explained. “I had periods of great difficulty and mood problems which destroyed my marriage. I really didn’t know what was wrong with me.”

O’Hara, who was never informed he was eligible for V.A. benefits, finally sought help. “I wasn’t diagnosed with PTSD until 1983,” he said with a trace of irony in his voice. “I was on meds and therapy, but it really didn’t do much good. Then President Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) into law in 1991. And I began to learn about Assistance dogs. I went to a seminar at the Delta Society. I realized I might be able to have a dog that could help me with my problem.
O’Hara’s first dog was a Doberman named Albert Einstein, whom he trained.

In time O’Hara began to leverage the dog’s intuitive senses in order to discern whether or not there was danger in the environment. “It worked very well,” he said.

“Also he helped me to create a ‘safe zone’ around me in crowds or on line. When at night I wake up, not sure if I’m safe, I can reach out and there’s my dog. Then I know I’m safe. I was once asked in a social situation what my dog does for me, and I said ‘He keeps me from going up onto a university clock tower with a high-powered scoped rifle.’”

The statement, referring to the August 1966 massacre of 14 and wounding of 32 people by former Marine Charles Whitman from the tower of the University of Texas in Austin, had the effect of making the questioner realize how important Major and his predecessors were to O’Hara’s mental stability. “I said it offhandedly, but I was very serious.”

On the matter of discrimination, O’Hara said “In 2003, I was kicked out of the Palo Alto V.A. Hospital. The Security guard told me I had to leave since I wasn’t blind so I shouldn’t have a dog.”

O’Hara fought the issue, and after several months was allowed into that hospital with his dog.

“I often have to educate people about what my dogs do and how I have the right to have them with me. I prefer to educate rather than litigate.”

O’Hara gladly attests to the benefit of his dogs for his mental health. “I was on a lot of medications in the early years after my diagnosis. It wasn’t easy. And thanks to my dog, I’m glad to be off most of them now.”

The former Navy veteran now takes his dog to the Balboa Naval Hospital to see some of the wounded veterans, a show of support and compassion for his comrades, past and present.

Dr. Carmen Davis is a Portland Oregon psychologist who has dozens of patients with mental illnesses. Many of them suffer from PTSD as a result of childhood abuse, rape, assault or other trauma. She earned her degree at California School of Professional Psychology. Dr. Davis has associated professionally with Joan Esnayra for six years. She gladly expressed her opinions of dogs for persons with PTSD.
“I first heard of Psychiatric Service Dogs in 2000. Several of my clients have dogs, and I absolutely feel they are more beneficial than medications. And the work, the responsibility of having a dog is part of the therapy.”

In an illustration regarding the success of PSDs, Davis said “I had a client who lost her house, broken up a long-term relationship, was transferred from another therapist, and her father died, all in about four months. She really didn’t see that she had any reason to live. I began talking to her about getting a dog. We had to arrange a ‘No Suicide’ contract, before approving her to get a dog. Less than three weeks later she called and said ‘You can tear that up. There’s no way I’m going to leave my dog.’ She had a reason to live and the dog saved her life. She now helps to train dogs for other people.”
In her opinion, Davis says that dogs are much more effective than medications in stopping panic attacks. “I fully endorse self-determination for patients to decide if and when they need a dog.”

On the subject of Joan Esnayra and the PSDS, Davis said “Joan does amazing work, and her service to the whole psychiatric disability community is beyond measure. She has done so much hard work and made it so easy for people, with support to train and use their own dogs.”

Another bone of contention among opponents of PSDs is centered on the mistaken assumption that persons with mental illnesses are incapable of training a dog or even to take care of them. This stems from an ignorance of mental disorders, resulting in discrimination and bias.

“I strongly favor self-determination,” Esnayra says firmly. “A person with a mental illness is the best person to decide if they need the services of a dog and to decide they can train it, with or without assistance from professional trainers. For anyone to say ‘No, you’re mentally ill, you can’t train a dog or take care of it’ is narrow-minded and cruel. It’s discrimination. The mental health community  would never tell the blind community how it must use its Guide dogs. But that’s exactly what  the physical disability community is trying to do to us.”

On a related subject, the Department of Transportation (DOT) has been involved in an ongoing dispute concerning Psychiatric Service Dogs on airliners. It’s a well-known fact that the more common Assistance animals, such as Guide dogs have full access to all public air transport. But where dogs for individuals with mental illnesses are concerned the old bias rears its ugly head. Esnayra comments, “The DOT requires a person to provide a doctor’s letter that discloses the fact that the passenger has a mental illness. They have to provide the airline 48 hours advance notice before they can fly and they have to arrive an hour prior to any other Assistance dog owners.”

These requirements are a blatant breach of privacy and are highly discriminatory. The DOT, after being petitioned by PSDS, hosted a public comment forum in the Fall of 2009 in order to solicit the opinions of the public. “The responses are greatly in favor of PSDs being provided the same access as other persons with disabilities accompanied by Assistance animals,” she says happily. “I’ve read some of the airlines’ comments,” Esnayra said. “They’re blatantly discriminatory. It comes down to the same problem: People fear and don’t trust anyone with a mental illness. They probably want to put more Air Marshals on a plane simply because a mentally ill person is flying. This is ludicrous.”

To be Continued