Guide Dogs for the Mind - Part 4

Dr. Joan Esnayra, in her role as President of the PSDS has over the past twelve years, delivered lectures, hosted workshops and lobbied all over the country, in order to educate organizations, mental health professionals and policymakers on the benefits of service dogs for psychiatric disabilities.

In every instance Wasabe traveled with her, setting his excellent example of a well-trained and loyal Psychiatric Service Dog. “I often had people asking what he did for me,” she said. “Lots of people were surprised at there being such a thing, but most reacted positively.”

Wasabe died in February 2005, an emotional blow to Esnayra. “We had a spiritual bond,” she said, evident sorrow in her voice at the memory. “Three days before he died, I truly felt him telling me he was dying. I know that sounds strange but anyone with a deep and long-lasting bond with a dog will probably understand.”

In May and June of the same year Esnayra soon adopted two Rhodesian Ridgeback puppies named Kenji and Rainbow. “Kenji, who came from a breeder in Michigan, is Wasabe’s successor dog. Rainbow, a southern belle from Atlanta, is the diva, as Esnayra puts it. They both accompany her in work spreading the word about Psychiatric Service Dogs.

 Her efforts have brought wide exposure to a subject many Americans hardly know exists, but little by little the psychiatric community has begun to explore the self-empowerment that comes from training and partnering with a PSD.

The PSDS has been given two noteworthy awards for its work. In 2006, the pharmaceutical company Lilly awarded Esnayra the ‘Welcome Back Award for Primary Care’, usually given to psychologists, for their work. “That was the first public endorsement of PSDs as a concept,” she said. “In 2008, SAMHSA, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration bestowed upon me a ‘Voice my Advocacy’ award within the mental health community. That award was significant insofar as it was from a Federal agency.”

In addition, Congress, from Esnayra’s work and several Assistance dog schools has begun to seriously look at promoting the use of dogs for returning veterans with PTSD.

Also in 2008, the U.S. Army awarded a $300,000 research grant to Esnayra’s research team so that it could launch an 18-month pilot study at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The project will enroll twenty soldiers with PTSD in matched pairs.  Baseline psychological testing and biological sample collection will commence.  Then, the 20 soldiers will be randomized to either the experimental or comparison groups for the remainder of the study.  The experimental group will receive a temperament and health-screen rescue dog followed by six months of intensive professional dog training instruction.  The comparison group will receive no dog and no training instruction.  Both groups will continue to receive the usual standard of care treatments at Walter Reed for their PTSD.  Every three months throughout the study, psychological testing and biological sample collections will be carried out with both groups.  At the end of the study, complex statistical analyses will help the research team discern whether or not the PSD partnerships reflect a notable treatment effect relative to those who were not partnered with dogs.

If the pilot study data are supportive then, a larger multi-site study is envisioned. Careful documentation of the positive benefits of PSD partnership will make the lives of veterans and other persons living with severe mental illness more tolerable and productive.

PTSD, through its effects on the person and the family, has intergenerational effects. The children of PTSD sufferers may have their own future diagnoses of PTSD as a result of trauma from a parent or family member. The need for positive action now can only help to change life for the better in those families.

Esnayra had this to say about the future. “The press has really gotten interested in Psychiatric Service dogs because of the returning veterans. And the legislators on Capitol Hill too. Ten years ago they knew nothing about dogs for psychiatric disabilities. Now they have a  far greater understanding of what they do. Five to seven years ago very few clinicians had heard of Psychiatric Service Dogs. But now their patients are, through self-determination, training and using them. The clinicians are starting to learn about the dogs from their patients. Think about the power dynamics there. The patients are taking control of their lives. It helps their self-esteem, it equalizes the power differential between the doctor and the patient.”

That in itself is something every patient can relate to. But deep in the roots of the issue are the dogs themselves, blissfully unaware of the controversy around them. They continue as all dogs do, to follow, protect and cherish their owners, to nurture and provide something you just can’t get from a medicine bottle or a therapist’s couch.

Unconditional Love.

So in all the work Joan and her colleagues do, the seeds of the pioneering PSDS will continue to grow and enrich the lives of thousands of people who are only now, beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Esnayra said in closing. “If the great amount of creativity, talent, and brainpower represented by persons living with mental illness can be released, then society can reap huge benefits.”

Dr. Esnayra and the Psychiatric Service Dog Society can be reached at:

571-216-1589

www.psychdog.org

written by Mark Carlson

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