Purdue researchers study impact of service dogs on PTSD
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Service dogs have long been assigned to veterans with certain physical disabilities. Now researchers at Purdue University want to see how dogs can help those with mental health disorders.
The researchers are focusing specifically on post-traumatic stress disorder, known to many as PTSD. They want to find out if service dogs really have a tangible impact on veterans suffering from PTSD and possibly other anxiety-related conditions.
The veterans studied will all be linked with the Purdue professor through K9s for Warriors, an organization based in Florida. 50 veterans who already have service dogs and 50 who are on the wait list will undergo a variety of tests, including those to assess differences in medication, stress levels, relationships, and overall function and quality of life.
Maggie O-Haire, a human-animal interaction professor at Purdue University, is leading the efforts and told 24-Hour News 8 there is truly a need for this research and its results.
“If we don’t know through research that it works, a doctor isn’t going to necessarily recommend this service and we won’t have resources to improve this service or to reach a wider variety of people who might really benefit from it,” O’Haire said.
The director of K9s for Warriors said more than 90 percent of the program’s graduates report they are able to reduce medications or stop taking them all together within six month of the three-week dog pairing course. But O-Haire said non-biased data is needed to back that up and to find out what it is about dogs that often can help improve people’s lives.
“There are a lot of theories and a lot of suggestions, but we don’t know exactly why and it may be different for different people so for some people having that relaxing, calming impact of petting the dog or watching that fish tank can reduce their anxiety and that’s really where the benefit is. But for other people, it may be that they’re shy and they’re lonely and having that social connection with that animal,” O’Haire said.
According to a 2008 study, at least 20 percent of post-9/11 veterans are affected by PTSD and combat-related depression. O’Haire and the Human Animal Bond Research Institute Foundation, who is providing some of the funding for the study, said this research could steer the Veterans Affairs Department toward policy changes.
Back in 2010, Congress ordered the VA to craft a research study on the impact of service dogs for those vets. It has been suspended twice, but the VA announced in March that the three-year study is again restarting. O’Haire and her Purdue research team hopes to have completed research by the end of this year.