Can a Service Dog Be an Alternative Treatment for People With ADHD?
Yes, a properly trained service dog can help those with ADHD. Dogs offer many benefits like compassion, security, and unconditional love. When trained, they can also serve many roles including mental health support.
Service dogs are relatively common for helping people with anxiety or PTSD and can also help people with severe symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
While there are differences between a service dog and a psychiatric service dog, to qualify for an ADHD service dog, your symptoms must be debilitating. Service dogs are classified under the ADA which defines disability as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits at least one major life activity.
A psychiatric service dog can support people with mental health challenges. A 2019 study found the following benefits to having a psychiatric service dog:
Increased independence, social relationships, self-esteem, and life satisfaction.
Decrease in anxiety, stress, and loneliness.
According to the Americans with Disabilities Act National Network, a psychiatric service animal is any dog that’s custom-trained to do work or perform tasks to aid an individual living with a disability, including an intellectual, physical, psychiatric, sensory, or other mental disability.
A properly trained psychiatric service dog can help with:
lower anxiety by applying soothing physical contact such as deep pressure therapy
retrieve medications
accompanying owner to high-stress environments
serve as a cushion between owner and people around them
PTSD
Anxiety
Depression
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
Service dogs can be any type or breed. According to the American Kennel Club, character, disposition ,and ease of training are more important than the breed. However, some breeds have successfully served as service dogs:
Labrador retriever
Maltese poodle
Yorkshire terrier
Golden retriever
Poodle
German shepherd
If you think your treatment would benefit from having a psychiatric service dog, you’ll first need to speak with your mental health provider. A licensed mental health professional can provide a letter to confirm your diagnosis and explain how a therapy dog could support your mental health.
List of references:
https://psychcentral.com/adhd/adhd-service-dog
https://add.org/adhd-dogs-work/