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Psychiatric assistance dog

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Psychiatric Service Dogs are a specific type of assistance dog. Psychiatric Service Dogs, also known as PSDs, are individually trained to assist their handler with a psychiatric disability, including, but not limited to Major Depressive Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Autism, Anxiety Disorders, and Schizophrenia.

Like all assistance dogs, a psychiatric service dog are "...individually trained to do work or perform tasks...", including, but not limited to:

  • Medication reminders at specific times of the day
  • Alerting to incipient episodes such as significant mood shifts, panic attacks, or dissociative episodes
  • Responding to an episode in a manner that is adaptive for the handler
  • Waking the handler if she sleeps through alarms or cannot otherwise get herself out of bed
  • Assisting a handler with hallucination discernment
  • Assisting a handler with environmental assessment (i.e., reality-testing for feelings of fear and paranoia)
  • Interrupting a handler's repetitive or self-injurious behaviors
  • Assisting a handler with Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia to safely leave her home or to lead her out of a triggering situation.
  • Carrying a handler's identification in case of dissociative episodes or fugue states
  • Leading a handler out of a crowd during a panic attack, fugue state or dissociative episode
  • Providing exclusive focus and tactile stimulation when a handler requires it in order to mitigate symptoms
  • Aiding with mobility when the handler is dizzy from medication or has psychosomatic (physical) symptoms

Psychiatric service dogs may be of any breed suited for public work. Many are trained by the person who will become the dog's handler (with or without the help of a professional trainer). However, assistance dog organizations are increasingly recognizing the need for dogs to help individuals with psychiatric disabilities.

In the United States, federal law (such as the Americans with Disabilities Act) and sometimes state laws, allow handlers of psychiatric service dogs the same rights and protections afforded to those with other types of assistance dogs.


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