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Service dogs ease PTSD symptoms in U.S. military veterans, researchers say
Specially trained service dogs helped ease PTSD symptoms in U.S. military veterans in a small study that the researchers hope will help expand options for service members.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs provides talk therapy and medications to veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and runs a pilot program involving service dogs. The VA can prescribe service dogs to certain veterans diagnosed with a visual, hearing or substantial mobility impairment, including eligible veterans with PTSD, and will cover some costs associated with having a service dog.
The agency continues to review the research “to evaluate the effectiveness of service dogs,” said VA press secretary Terrence Hayes, “and we are committed to providing high-quality, evidence-based care to all those who served.”
One of the researchers’ goals was “to bring evidence behind a practice that appears to be increasingly popular, yet historically did not have the scientific base behind it,” said study co-author Maggie O’Haire, of the University of Arizona’s veterinary college.
For the study, service dogs were provided by K9s For Warriors, a nonprofit organization that matches trained dogs with veterans during a three-week group class. The dogs are taught to pick up a veteran’s physical signs of distress and can interrupt panic attacks and nightmares with a loving nudge.
Mary Conlon / AP
Researchers compared 81 veterans who received service dogs with 75 veterans on the waiting list for a trained dog. PTSD symptoms were measured by psychology doctoral students who didn’t know which veterans had service dogs.
After three months, PTSD symptoms improved in both groups, but the veterans with dogs saw a bigger improvement on average than the veterans on the waiting list. The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, was published Tuesday in JAMA Network Open.
It wasn’t clear from the study whether spending time with any dog would have had the same effect. (About 40% of the veterans in both groups owned pet dogs.) And all the veterans in the study had access to other PTSD treatments.
Service dogs should be considered complementary and not a standalone therapy, O’Haire said.
“When you add it to existing medical practices, it can enhance your experience and reduce your symptoms more,” she said.
PTSD is more common among veterans than civilians, the VA says, affecting as many as 29% of Iraq war veterans over their lifetimes. Symptoms include nightmares, flashbacks, numbness or the feeling of being constantly on edge.
“I would wake up in the middle of the night, almost nightly, in a pool of sweat,” said Dave Crenshaw, who served with the Army National Guard in Iraq and was diagnosed with PTSD in 2016 while working undercover in law enforcement. Antidepressants helped with some symptoms, he said, but he still felt numb.
The 41-year-old veteran met his service dog, a pointer-black lab mix named Doc, in 2019. He immediately felt what he described as “joy and wholesomeness. It’s just an overwhelming feeling of ‘Hey, everything’s going to be OK.'”
Doc senses when he’s upset, often before he notices himself, and come close, Crenshaw said. Today, Crenshaw is no longer taking antidepressants and is enjoying retirement from the military and law enforcement. He gives Doc credit for getting his life back on track.
“It’s the greatest medicine with the least amount of side effects,” Crenshaw said.
NEW YORK — Former New York Gov. David Paterson and his stepson were attacked in New York City on Friday night, authorities said.
The incident occurred just before 9 p.m. on Second Avenue near East 96th Street on the Upper East Side, according to the New York City Police Department.
Police said officers were sent to the scene after an assault was reported. When officers arrived, police say they found a 20-year-old man suffering from facial injuries and a 70-year-old man who had head pain. Both victims were taken to a local hospital in stable condition.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the former governor said the two were attacked while “taking a walk around the block near their home by some individuals that had a previous interaction with his stepson.”
The spokesperson said that they were injured “but were able to fight off their attackers.”
Both were taken to Cornell Hospital “as a precaution,” he added.
Police said no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The 70-year-old Paterson, a Democrat, served as governor from 2008 to 2010, stepping into the post after the resignation of Eliot Spitzer following his prostitution scandal. He made history at the time as the state’s first-ever Black and legally blind governor.
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A 17-year-old boy was critically injured and a person is in custody after a gunman opened fire on a SEPTA bus in North Philadelphia Friday evening, police said.
At around 6:15 p.m., Philadelphia police were notified about a shooting on a SEPTA bus traveling on Allegheny Avenue near 3rd and 4th streets in North Philadelphia, Inspector D F Pace told CBS News Philadelphia.
There were an estimated 30 people on the bus at the time of the shooting, Pace said, but only the 17-year-old boy was believed to have been shot. Investigators said they believe it was a targeted attack on the teenager and that he was shot in the back of the bus at close range.
According to Pace, the SEPTA bus driver alerted a control center about the shooting, which then relayed the message to Philadelphia police, who responded to the scene shortly.
Officers arrived at the scene and found at least one spent shell casing and blood on the bus, but no shooting victim, Pace said. Investigators later discovered the 17-year-old had been taken to Temple University Hospital where he is said to be in critical condition, according to police.
CBS Philadelphia
Through their preliminary investigation, police learned those involved in the SEPTA shooting may have fled in a silver-colored Kia.
Authorities then found a car matching the description of the Kia speeding in the area and a pursuit began, Pace said. Police got help from a PPD helicopter as they followed the Kia, which ended up crashing at 5th and Greenwood streets in East Mount Airy. Pace said the Kia crashed into a parked car.
The driver of the crashed car ran away but police were still able to take them into custody, Pace said.
Investigators believe there was a second person involved in the shooting who ran from the car before it crashed. Police said they believe this person escaped near Allegheny Avenue and 4th Street, leaving a coat behind.
According to Pace, police also found a gun and a group of spent shell casings believed to be involved in the shooting in the same area.
“It’s very possible that there may have been a shooting inside the bus and also shots fired from outside of the bus toward the bus,” Pace said, “We’re still trying to piece all that together at this time.”
This is an active investigation and police are reviewing surveillance footage from the SEPTA bus.