Why it matters
With more than 17 U.S. military veterans dying by suicide daily, their mental health is a pressing concern. Up to 29% of post-9/11 veterans have been diagnosed with PTSD at some point. Some treatments for PTSD are available, such as exposure therapy and medications. But barriers to care, stigma, and high dropout rates from treatment programs limit their effectiveness; thus, there is a push to identify additional treatment options.
For example, there has been recent research on the use of the drug MDMA, combined with psychotherapy, for PTSD. However, an Food and Drug Administration advisory panel voted in June 2024 against approving the drug’s use as a PTSD treatment due to concerns about safety and the potential for abuse.
Service dogs are trained in specific tasks to help with a disability. For veterans with PTSD, a dog’s role could include interrupting a panic attack or laying across veterans’ laps to calm them. People with disabilities have a legal right to be accompanied by their service dogs in public, whether they’re at a supermarket or a baseball game.
Our findings can inform policymakers, health clinicians and insurance companies on the value of service dogs for veterans with PTSD, potentially increasing funding for groups that train and place service dogs and shortening wait times.
What’s next
We’re conducting a randomized clinical trial called the Service Dog and Veteran Experiences Study, or SERVES. It’s being done in collaboration with K9s For Warriors and Canine Companions, another nonprofit that trains and provides service dogs to veterans.
In this next study, we will have a randomized group of veterans receive a service dog early or remain on the waitlist as a control. We will follow those veterans for 12 months – rather than just three months – after they receive a service dog or not.
The SERVES study, in turn, will be followed by another randomized clinical trial funded by the Defense Department. It will investigate whether service dog partnerships can enhance the effectiveness of prolonged exposure therapy, an existing gold standard treatment for PTSD.
