a New Perspective
Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is a new name for a very old condition. In the earlier 1900s, it was known as "shell shock" or "battle fatigue." Before then, it had no name. In PTSD, a witness or victim of a terrible event or tragedy is so haunted by memories of the event that personal health and personality is affected. These symptoms persist for more than one month after the traumatic event, and occur together with other conditions such as depression, anxiety, or substance abuse.
At Better Together the Canadian Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Service Dog Association, we feel an over dependence on pharmaceuticals and an under developed understanding of alternative methods has left many who suffer from PTSD alone in the dark with a bottle of pills feeling further isolated and alienated. Eliminating the stigma of Mental Health and PTSD through education and conversation, we will open the door, extend a helping hand in fostering trust and working together with PTSD sufferers, working together with families and friends seeking alternative treatments including an emphasis on the use of service animals partnering sufferers with the people the treatment the chance to live well again. we truly believe we are "Better Together"
PTSD is a hidden disability. Its not a condition of weakness but a mental illness that affects those that have had to stay strong for too long. PTSD is something that affects everyone at some point in our lives after a traumatic experience and everyone handles it differently. PTSD can effect men, it can effect women and children, it can effect those in the LGBTQ community, it can effect anyone! Some will turn to drugs and alcohol to self medicate till all the drugs and alcohol don’t work anymore. They try to get back to being the husbands and fathers, wives and mothers the person they used to be but some will isolate themselves from their friends and loved ones and some eventually cannot bear the guilt of putting their loved ones through the anguish and torment they are going through so they choose to end their suffering through suicide.
Dogs can make an incredible difference in their lives and helping them get back to the person they used to be. We have seen many starting out on high levels of anti-anxiety medication and therapy that are now drug free and carrying on a normal life again. The dogs respond to their anxiety and take the partners out of those situations. Watch the partners back in crowds. Provide the partner with a perimeter in crowds, wake the member from nightmares and snap the partner out of flashbacks. One partners in a similar program refers to her dog as her anchor to reality.