{"id":476,"date":"2020-08-17T19:26:20","date_gmt":"2020-08-17T23:26:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/psychcapilano\/chapter\/16-0-introduction\/"},"modified":"2021-09-07T19:43:49","modified_gmt":"2021-09-07T23:43:49","slug":"16-0-introduction","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/psychcapilano\/chapter\/16-0-introduction\/","title":{"raw":"16.0 Introduction","rendered":"16.0 Introduction"},"content":{"raw":"
\n

Psychology in Everyday Life<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/header>\n
\n\nTherapy on four legs<\/strong>\n

Lucien Masson, a 60-year-old veteran, put it simply: \u201cSascha is the best medicine I\u2019ve ever had\u201d (Alaimo, 2010, para. 9).<\/p>\n

Lucien is speaking about his friend, companion, and perhaps even his therapist, a Russian wolfhound named Sascha. Lucien suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a disorder that has had a profoundly negative impact on his life for many years. His symptoms include panic attacks, nightmares, and road rage. Lucien has tried many solutions, consulting with doctors, psychiatrists, and psychologists, and using a combination of drugs, group therapy, and anger-management classes.<\/p>\n

However, his four-legged friend Sascha seems to be the best therapist of all. He helps out in many ways. If a stranger gets too close to Lucien in public, Sascha will block the stranger with his body. Sascha is trained to sense when Lucien is about to have a nightmare, waking him before it starts. Before road rage can set in, Sascha gently whimpers, reminding his owner that it doesn\u2019t pay to get upset about nutty drivers.<\/p>\n

In the same way, former military medic Jo Hanna Schaffer speaks of her chihuahua, Cody: \u201cI never took a pill for PTSD that did as much for me as Cody has done\u201d (Shim, 2008, para. 2). Veteran Karen Alexander feels the same way about her Bernese mountain dog, Cindy: \"She\u2019ll come up and touch me, and that is enough of a stimulus to break the loop, bring me back to reality. Sometimes I\u2019ll scratch my hand until it\u2019s raw and won\u2019t realize until she comes up to me and brings me out. She\u2019s such a grounding influence for me\" (Shim, 2008, para. 6).<\/p>\n

These dramatic stories of improvement from debilitating disorders can be attributed to an alternative psychological therapy, based on established behavioural principles, provided by psychiatric service dogs<\/strong> (see Figure 16.1<\/a>). The dogs are trained to help people with a variety of mental disorders, including panic attacks, anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and bipolar disorder. They help veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan cope with their traumatic brain injuries as well as with PTSD.<\/p>\n \n\n \n\n[caption id=\"attachment_4410\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"300\"]\"This<\/a> Figure 16.1. Psychiatric therapy dogs.[\/caption]\n

The dogs are trained to perform specific behaviours that are helpful to their owners. If the dog\u2019s owner is depressed, the dog will snuggle up and offer physical comfort; if the owner is having a panic attack, the owner can calm themself by massaging the dog\u2019s body. The serenity shown by the dogs in all situations seems to reassure the PTSD sufferer that all must be well. Service dogs are constant, loving companions who provide emotional support and companionship to their embattled, often isolated, owners (Shim, 2008; Lorber, 2010; Alaimo, 2010; Schwartz, 2008).<\/p>\n

Despite the reports of success from many users, it is important to keep in mind that the utility of psychiatric service dogs has not yet been tested. As such, these dogs would never be offered as a therapy by a trained clinician or paid for by an insurance company. Although interaction between humans and dogs can create positive physiological responses (Odendaal, 2000), whether the dogs actually help people recover from PTSD is not yet known.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Psychological disorders are tremendously costly to individuals and society. Disorders make it difficult for people to engage in productive lives and effectively contribute to their family and to society. Disorders lead to disability and absenteeism in the workplace, as well as physical problems, premature death, and suicide. At a societal level, the costs are staggering. In 2012, 7.5 million people in Canada were living with a mental health issue, and of those receiving treatment, two-thirds were cared for by a family physician (Mental Health Commission of Canada & College of Family Physicians of Canada, 2018). A substantial number of people are not treated, possibly due to social stigma, cost, or not knowing where to get help from. One-third of emergency department visits for mental health or substance use in Ontario were by people who had never been assessed previously (Brien, Grenier, Kapral, Kurdyak, & Vigod, 2015). According to the 2014 Survey on Living with Chronic Diseases in Canada (Government of Canada, 2015), three million Canadians reported a mood or anxiety disorder in 2013, about three-quarters consulted a health professional, and the vast majority had been prescribed medication, while only 20% received any psychological counselling.<\/p>\n

The goal of this chapter is to review the techniques that are used to treat psychological disorders. Just as psychologists consider the causes of disorder in terms of the bio-psycho-social model of illness, treatment is also based on psychological, biological, and social approaches.<\/p>\n\n