Canine Companions on Boosting Lives of PTSD Veterans
Majority of the world know and understand what PTSD is but what most of them don’t know is how bad it affects the people who deal with it day to day. BOOM, a gunshot? a bomb? or just a balloon these veterans never know what to expect when coming home and simple things may trigger a PTSD vet and give them so called flashbacks to what they went through at a certain point in their life. Could there be something to fix those triggers and calm someone who suffers from this mental illness? Well there is an animal out there that is the number one helper with PTSD veterans and that is the dog, but more specifically a canine.
Canines are more slender, long legged dogs with pointy ears and a lovable personality. German shepherds are one of the most common companions prescribed to vets with PTSD as they make the vet feel safe and comforted. They show their owner love and affection in return for a companion that watches them and takes care of them. These dogs do miracles to the veterans by helping them cope with their illness and move on in life. I believe that when many of these veterans get home from a war or battle they feel that they are all alone and never try to get help but instead ignore these feelings of pain and suffering. Owning a dog is a huge responsibility for anyone and it could give a veteran some meaning back into their life.
VA studies have shown that approximately 20-30% of veterans live with PTSD and with that around 50% of those vets turn to suicide compared to non PTSD adults. According to the VA Suicide Prevention Annual Report, nearly 18 service members take their own lives each day. These numbers and statistics show the dangers of what PTSD can do to someone and how it makes simple daily tasks a complete struggle. The CEO of Canine Companions, Paige Mazzoni says that “Service dogs provide a significant therapeutic benefit for veterans with PTSD.” In providing these canines to veterans they can significantly reduce the suicide rate of PTSD patients and help them succeed with this fight against PTSD.
One main factor that leads to worsen symptoms of PTSD is being alone and having no one to talk to. Lots of vets live alone and are afraid to go out and speak about what they are feeling or avoid help in general, what if they may not need to speak to a therapists but can instead have a friendly animal? That’s where K9’s come into play as they will make a vet no longer feel lonely and empty as they have someone or something to take care of. Service dogs give back a meaning into veterans lives which is having a responsibility and that is to take care of their new companion.
Jeanne Segal, who is one of the writers of “The Health and Mood-Boosting Benefits of Pets” speaks on how owning a pet specifically boosts two key chemicals inside your brain. These two chemicals are serotonin and dopamine, also called the happy drugs which function in your brain help effect your mood, motivation, and even cognition. Boosting serotonin and dopamine with PTSD is a huge benefit and can help reduce the symptoms of anxiety, depression, and loneliness that these veterans face on a day to day basis.
These canine are special as they are trained to be service dogs and are specifically trained to help vets with PTSD-mitigating tasks such as turning on lights, and creating a buffer especially in public places, and even help prevent nightmares. Although these tasks seem awful easy for the regular person, for a vet suffering from PTSD its like a battle in their minds. Dogs in general help adults battle anxiety, depression, and loneliness, so specially trained dogs for PTSD vets are even more trained to help their owner with almost anything they struggle with. Lots of PTSD vets suffer from nightmares and often get very little sleep which then affects how they think even more and makes them feel more inclined to commit suicide as it affects their mind and thinking. Canines drastically help benefit veterans sleep as it makes the vets feel loved and having someone by their side helps with nightmares and panic attacks.
PTSD and its affects on ones mind very much can guide a person to commit suicide to end the struggle of battling with PTSD. Many vets don’t know where to get help and are scared to talk to others about their problems which makes their battle with it even worse. Nowadays more and more VA clinics are offering help to the vets and canines are just one of the many solutions to help combat PTSD. Canines are loyal and will always stick by their owners side taking away that feeling of loneliness and anxiety vets may face. The canine also gives the veterans activities to do like taking a walk or napping together on the couch even going to the dog park helps fulfill happiness in both the dog and the vet. These studies showing the effects of canines and PTSD vets offer a great explanation as to why a vet should really consider getting a trained dog and their quality of life will skyrocket.
References
Konopelski, Janine. “VA Study Shows Service Dogs Impact Veterans with PTSD Canine Companions® applauds expansion of VA insurance benefits for Veterans”. 17 March 2021 https://www.proquest.com/docview/2501802103?parentSessionId=EEyhmWEdF%2F2TDuaIT%2B8EwIiE25fuc2Sy0yezeZJKFbU%3D&pq-origsite=primo&accountid=13605
“The Health and mood boosting benefits of pets” L.Robinson, J. Segal (October 2 2023)- https://www.helpguide.org/articles/mental-health/mood-boosting-power-of-dogs.htm
Counterintuitive Fall 2024 
Hey Professor, I was wondering how each paragraph should be placed as I feel my essays are just all over the place with information and also how I could maybe implement more articles and citations into this argument. Thank you
OK, Thad, I broke up your long paragraphs and discovered that they were actually short paragraphs jammed together. Then I highlighted a few words to indicate the main topic of each paragraph. As you can see, the first is a description of PTSD, the second identifies canine companions, the third describes the danger of suicide, the fourth is about combating loneliness, the fifth is a description of brain chemistry.
After that, the reason you feel as if your ideas are not well organized is that the long sixth and seventh paragraphs lack clear focus. There are elements of training, of suicide, of loneliness, of companionship—a grab bag of things that didn’t find their rightful place in the paragraphs where they belonged.
First decide if the order of the paragraphs is ideal. Maybe the description of how companion animals help vets should follow the description of how they’re trained and prepared to be helpful. In fact, a lot could be said (CAUSALLY) about training the dogs to be alert to their owners’ moods, when to nudge them, when to demand a walk to get them out of the house. You’ve also only hinted that “having a responsibility” to care for an animal gives a vet purpose. So, the vet is being trained, too, right?
Helpful?
Provisionally graded. Revisions are strenuously recommended (required, in fact, for arguments in your Portfolio), and Regrades are always possible following significant improvements.