WHAT IS AN EMOTIONAL SUPPORT ANIMAL PROGRAM?

Sometimes a person in sheer distress or chronic pain may need some emotional support and affection as well apart from the occupational and physical therapist’s help. In order to heal faster and stay healthier mentally and physically, an individual should be less aggressive and distressed. Studies show that people with depression took typically longer to heal and those with confrontational responses to stress were not healthy. So, the sum and substance is that there is a connection between the mind and body and how the state of one can so vividly affect the other.

An emotional support animal program is a kind of mental therapy where an assistive animal provides comfort in the form of companionship and affection to an individual suffering from a mental or emotional issue. Your emotional support animal is not charged with the task of helping you with specific activities like service animals. Service animals are different from emotional support animals. A physically disabled or ill person might need a service dog to help him out in doing certain physical activities.

According to the federal law, emotion support animals are neither required to have any specific training nor are they restricted to a specific specie.

The emotional support animal program is considered to be mandatory, especially at children’s hospital. It is a session where an animal assisted therapy coordinator visits every patient with an affectionate animal that instantly lightens up their mood. There are innumerable and noticeable benefits of conducting such programs. Some are – it lowers anxiety, reduces pain, enhances social engagement and interaction, reduces depression, normalizes heart rate and blood pressure, reduces stress and pain, etc.

Though ESAs are like regular pets that please you on a daily basis, however, an ESA must be prescribed by a licensed mental health professional like a psychiatrist, psychologist or a counsellor.

In order to speak in a more intellectual way, science also backs therapy by ESAs. Studies show that by looking into your dog’s eyes, your dopamine (a neurotransmitter associated with the feeling of pleasure) is boosted, which means that an animal can help you with depression and also increase your capacity of affection for others. So in order to alleviate loneliness, you can have a gentle pet around you that would make you feel loved.

ESAs are very helpful for people who feel anxious in airplanes. An ESA can make travel more convenient, anyone who is anxious of travelling in planes might get busy in taking care of their ESA instead of becoming overwhelmed by the fear of airplanes.

The major cause of depression and distress is that people hardly find someone who loves them unconditionally whereas an ESA gives you that feeling of being loved and connectedness if you otherwise feel alone.

Whatever treatment you think is suitable for you, having an ESA in conjunction with it might help facilitate the procedure and improve the symptoms too. A person with a diagnosis cannot regulate everyday routine tasks without external support. Your ESA could be your stabilizer for intense emotions when your feelings are dysregulated.

ESA is just like a supportive friend or family member and the people who rely on emotional support animal programs should be treated with respect and empathy.