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Researchers at Purdue University are studying how dogs can help people with mental health disorders, specifically post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD. They want to find out whether there is a tangible impact and what it is about dogs that can help improve people’s lives.

The Purdue researchers are partnering with K9s for Warriors, a veterans organization based in Florida. Fifty veterans who already have service dogs and 50 who are on the wait list will undergo a series of tests including assessments of differences in medication, stress levels, relationships and overall quality of life.

“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 the resources to improve this service or to reach a wider variety of people who might really benefit from it,” stated Maggie O’Haire, the human-animal interaction professor at Purdue who is leading the study.

According to K9s for Warriors, more than 90 percent of the program’s graduates report being able to reduce medications or stop taking them altogether within six months of receiving their service dogs. O’Haire says non-biased data is needed to back up that claim.

“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,” said O’Haire.

A 2008 study found that 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, which is providing some of the funding for the study, feel the research could steer the Veterans Affairs Department toward policy changes.

Congress ordered the VA to do a study on the impact of service dogs in 2010, but it has been postponed twice. O’Haire and her Purdue team hope to complete their research by the end of the year.

Source: WISH TV