What Disabilities Qualify for an Emotional Support Animal?
An Emotional Support or Emotional Support Animal (ESA) is a special type of assistance animal that helps to alleviate the onset of autosomal or emotional impairments such as modesty, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. In most cases, these animals are usually brought in by a licensed mental health professional under the prescription of an individualized treatment plan.
As an official document and ESA certification, this prescription is known to be in text form, Emotional Support Animal Letter. This letter certifies that a person requires the assistance of their support animal due to a legitimate medical need and characterizes certain legal rights that are promoted in federal law [3].
What Is an Emotional Support Animal (ESA)?
An Emotional Support Animal is an animal used to reduce the symptoms of a mental or emotional impairment. An ESA letter is a letter from an ESA letter certified psychotherapist or other medical professional who knows a person’s medical condition or disability (e.g. a general practitioner or psychiatrist).
People who suffer from mental illness, or who are emotionally distressed, such as anxiety disorders, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or other cognitive disorders according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), are often prescribed an Emotional Support Animal.
If a psychotherapist decides that a person may benefit from the company of a support animal, they will issue them an ESA letter. A prescription is written by a licensed professional, and a legitimate ESA letter is printed on the licensed professional’s letterhead with information about the license and the signature and date of the prescription. When reading through the letter, it’s clear that the patient is diagnosed with an impairment and the emotional support animal will give the recommended support [3].
What Disorders Qualify for an Emotional Support Animal
Millions of Americans live with mental and emotional health issues, both diagnosed and undiagnosed, and each person affected needs an individualized treatment plan. For pet lovers struggling with these challenges, their everyday pets can provide the comfort and support they need to cope with their daily lives. You may qualify for an ESA if you suffer from one of the following disorders:
- Anxiety disorders;
- depression;
- bipolar disorder;
- post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD);
- obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD);
- schizophrenia;
- severe psychiatric conditions.
Your ESA can help you better cope with the challenges of your condition and give you the emotional balance you need to lead a fulfilling life [7].
Anxiety Disorders
One of the most common problems that pet owners complain about is that their dogs are destroyed or misbehave when left alone or the owners want to go out of the house. Dogs may:
- Urinate or defecate;
- bark or howl;
- chew or destroy things;
- digging;
- try to escape;
- walk up and down restlessly.
Generally, these problems indicate that the dog has not been taught nice house manners, but they can also signal anxiety. Separation anxiety is probably present if these problems are coupled with other apparent signs such as drooling obvious restlessness or depression while owners are about to depart.
In cats, stress and anxiety can show themselves as hiding, decreased appetite, social withdrawal, panting, increased alertness, dilated pupils, aggression, and twitching tails or ears [1].
Depression
Pets can become depressed for the same reasons that humans can. A common trigger of depression in animals is hormonal changes. Another way to make your pet depression-prone is anything that disrupts your pet’s usual routine. This can cause a depressive episode if your pet has someone who comes by daily (let’s say it stops coming by because the person is not available anymore).
The approach of a new pet or person to the home can trigger a depressive mood. Pets often recognize that their owners are depressed and often respond in a way that suggests they, too, are depressed. Depression could be a sign of a recurring health situation. But if you see signs of sadness in your pet you should take that very seriously and consult a vet to find out if there could be a medical problem underlying it [2].
Bipolar Disorder
Dogs’ emotions don’t go from one extreme to the other very often. They have mood swings triggered by external factors. Borchelt says there’s no chemical reason for a dog to switch from one state, as with people who have bipolar disorder.
This includes the fact that a dog can be friendly and affectionate to family members and at one moment be fearful or fearful to see a stranger. It’s a kind of pole reversal, but isn’t like the manic and depressive periods people with bipolar disorder can suffer.
You may have a usual warm and positive attitude, but you are afraid of spiders. If you get scared when you see a creepy spider in your room, you never get back to your normal mood until you remove an animal from your room (or you can scream and ask someone to do it for you). It’s not to be confused with bipolar disorder; it’s just a temporary mood swing for a specific trigger [6].
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
If you bring your dog to the vet because he shows symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the vet is going to rule out physical causes of your pet’s fear first. Various areas may be swollen, painful to the touch or simply sought after, a thorough physical examination can reveal areas of concern.
Blood tests are used to look for bacterial or viral infections, hormonal imbalances, or toxins. The vote before the policy will be taken if the patient has no physical reasons. If the doctor can diagnose PTSD in dogs, recent traumatic incidents are important, but if the symptoms are delayed or a traumatic event that you don’t remember has occurred, it may be more difficult to make the diagnosis [9].
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
It looks like there are new drugs for this everywhere, or new names for what. But people have more worries and struggle with insomnia, anxiety, or panic attacks, for example, as studies show. Our pets are more alert because they react to our emotions. We notice when we are upset and they sense when we are happy. This explains why many pets, loosely related to their humans, such as dogs, cats, horses, pigs, and exotic birds, often stomp obsessively.
Corbitic forms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in dogs include chasing their tails or excessive licking. This usually shows itself in excessive grooming of a cat or pica of a nonfood item. Animal compulsive behavior is similar to what psychologists observe in humans. It starts with fear that becomes a repeated habit, it becomes a behavior that is difficult to control, so difficult to control. The initial behavior provides a kind of temporary relief, which then becomes an obsession that only exacerbates the fear. The cycle repeats itself over and over again, causing stress for both humans and animals [10].
Schizophrenia
All sorts of mental illnesses that humans get, such as anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), can happen in animals as well. However, there is one mental illness that, until now at least, we have assumed animals do not get: Schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia is a complex and serious disorder marked by disruption in perceptions and thinking as well as behavior. Animals do not have identical symptoms as people with schizophrenia, experiencing hallucinations and delusions. However, it is important to mention that in humans and animals, the neurological and psychological processes are different [4].
Severe Psychiatric Conditions
If a survivor of a mental illness is a companion animal, this pet may suddenly refuse to eat, become violent, and get pretty sad. Fortunately, there are treatments for any amount of anxiety, from mild to full-blown blown such as obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Treatment is one of our favorite pet insurance recommendations but the choices are much more limited than regular veterinary care. For instance, a company that includes behavioral issues in its contracts might pay for prescription meds, but not be trained or consulted by a licensed vet without a written order for training or therapy. So check with the pet insurance what’s covered, before getting an appointment so that you don’t get a bad surprise [5].
Do I Need an Emotional Support Animal?
To register an emotional support animal, you will need a prescription from a mental health professional of the type qualified to provide a prescription of this type, which will attest to your condition and provide the benefit to which you should receive the emotional support animal.
Requirements for specific registration vary from state to state, and some states now require that the writer of this letter has an established relationship with the client. If you’re attending a therapist or psychiatrist, they may be able to provide you with the letter or refer you to a professional to help you [5].
What Signs Qualifies You for an Emotional Support Animal
People with mental disabilities or emotional illnesses – such as anxiety, depression post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other mental problems – are often prescribed comfort animals, including emotional support dogs. The disability that a person has has to be in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, sometimes referred to as the DSM. This manual is often referred to by mental health professionals around the world as an accurate way to make a diagnosis.
This is why someone must have a mental disability, or mental illness, as defined under the DSM to be eligible for a comfort animal and the staff of Gramston Hospital must determine this first. This determination can be made by a primary care physician as well as by psychologists and licensed counselors.
Telemedicine means that mental health professionals and physicians may be able to assist people for whom they may not already have access to a mental health professional or physician however for obtaining an emotional support dog. CertaPet is a telehealth platform that is helping improve access to mental health care by offering services for individuals who want animal-assisted interventions as part of their treatment plan.
Once you’ve filled out the online questionnaire with a telehealth platform, you’ll have to wait for a letter to be received to assist with an emotional support animal. The online questionnaire is a preliminary screening to decide if a person qualifies for an emotional support dog or cat (but other pets such as rabbits are commonly acceptable as well) [8].
Conclusion
Overall, it’s important to acknowledge that emotional support animals can be an instrumental aid in helping to mitigate symptoms of several mental health conditions, including anxiety, depression, PTSD, and other mental disorders. Thus, understanding the qualifications for acquiring an emotional support animal and the pros and cons involved from a clinician’s visit to the visit of the animal to the provision of required documentation can give you a good time even as you achieve your goals in life.
If your pet suffers from mental health, we are here and our Behavioral Health team at the URP is trained to help meet your unique needs. You do not have to go through these issues alone, this is a brave and amazing first step on the road to recovery. As you embrace this journey of becoming more mentally healthy you too embrace enriching your life through an emotional support animal.
References:
- ASPCA. (n.d.). Can pets suffer anxiety? Retrieved from https://www.aspca.org/news/can-pets-suffer-anxiety
- American Behavioral Clinics. (n.d.). Can pets suffer from depression? Retrieved from https://americanbehavioralclinics.com/can-pets-suffer-from-depression/
- (n.d.). Emotional support animal. Retrieved from https://www.certapet.com/emotional-support-animal/?srsltid=AfmBOoo8rYPZo80GmXqdsK8X7Pxb5zzHoAoHMXwQPsUSkHLfiymUWIVR
- Discover Magazine. (n.d.). Can animals get schizophrenia or is it unique to humans? Retrieved from https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/can-animals-get-schizophrenia-or-is-it-unique-to-humans
- (n.d.). Pet mental health. Retrieved from https://money.com/pet-mental-health/#manage
- (n.d.). Can dogs have bipolar disorder? Retrieved from https://www.petmd.com/dog/behavior/can-dogs-have-bipolar-disorder
- (n.d.). Do I qualify for an emotional support animal quiz. Retrieved from https://pettable.com/blog/do-i-qualify-for-an-emotional-support-animal-quiz
- Psych Central. (n.d.). Emotional support animals. Retrieved from https://psychcentral.com/health/emotional-support-animals#registering
- (n.d.). Post-traumatic stress disorder. Retrieved from https://wagwalking.com/condition/post-traumatic-stress-disorder
- Anchor Animal Hospital. (n.d.). Could your pet have animal obsessive-compulsive disorder? Retrieved from https://anchoranimalhospital.com/could-your-pet-have-animal-obsessive-compulsive-disorder/
