Emotional support animals (ESAs) are being recognized as a valuable tool for managing many mental health conditions. Unlike service animals, ESAs provide comfort and companionship to help you feel good and reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression, and other related conditions. This article will look at how emotional support animals work, the psychological and physical benefits they offer, and the practicalities of getting and looking after an ESA.
In this article, we will look at emotional support animals, how they differ from service animals, the benefits and how they can help with mental health. We’ll also discuss how to get an ESA and their legal protections, and some challenges and considerations in integrating them into daily life.
What Are Emotional Support Animals?
An emotional support animal is a pet providing assistance to people going through emotional or psychological challenges. ESAs are usually dogs or cats, but they can be other animals such as rabbits, birds or even miniature horses.
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What Is the Difference Between Service Animals and Emotional Support Animals?
There are significant distinctions between service animals and emotional support animals despite certain similarities. Service animals help people with disabilities by carrying out specific tasks, while emotional support animals offer company and support.
Service animals are those that are specially trained to provide services to people with some form of disability that may be sensory, physical, intellectual, psychiatric, or mental in nature. Service animals perform tasks that include alerting a person to sounds, guiding a person down the street, pressing an elevator button, signaling others if the owner is having a seizure, or reminding them to take medication. Emotional support animals don’t need specialized training, but they must be able to provide emotional stability and comfort to their owner.
Emotional support animals should provide interactions that alleviate suffering, anxiety, loneliness, and depression. It is also important to note that emotional support animals and mental health animals are not the same thing. The latter type of pets undergo special training, and only then are they allowed to be with and live with people who are experiencing mental health issues.
Emotional Support Animals in Mental Health Recovery: Research
Why would people decide to use an animal for emotional support? It’s easy to say that animals can make people calmer and happier. But are pets that provide emotional support really that different from any other animal? So far, the results of the study cannot give a definitive answer.
Research has long supported the idea that animals can bring significant benefits to people’s mental health. This can be especially helpful for people who experience high levels of stress, anxiety or depression, as the presence of an ESA can create a calm environment:
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is tough as it often involves flashbacks, nightmares, or panic attacks that make it hard for people to function in daily life. ESAs have been shown to help people with PTSD by providing a grounding effect during episodes of stress or trauma.
- People with social anxiety may feel comfortable leaving the house with their ESA by their side, as it gives them a sense of security and reduces the fear of being judged by others. The animal’s calm presence may also help people with depression feel more motivated to do daily activities like going for a walk or doing household chores.
- People with mental health conditions feel misunderstood or stigmatized by others, but their ESA is always there to comfort them without fear of rejection. This unconditional support can help people feel more secure in their relationships with others and encourage them to go out and socialize when they might otherwise feel hesitant or isolated.
At the same time, scientists have not been able to demonstrate that ESAs are significantly better than ordinary pets. According to a 2016 study, the question remains whether emotional support animals provide any therapeutic effects beyond the benefits that pets provide in general.
American psychologist Jeffrey Younggren and his colleagues believe that at the moment it is impossible to say for sure that assistance animals are different from regular pets. There is not enough research and data to confirm or refute differences in the effectiveness of therapy for one or the other.
How to Get an ESA
If you think an ESA could help your mental health, the first step is to speak with a licensed mental health professional. They can determine if an ESA is appropriate for your circumstances and, if so, give you the paperwork you need to formally declare an animal an emotional support animal.
Once you have the proper documentation, you can get an ESA from an animal shelter, breeder, or adoption center. Make sure to choose an animal that fits well with your lifestyle and preferences. Remember that ESAs should be well-behaved. They also should be capable of providing comfort without adding to stress, even though they don’t need formal training like service animals do.
ESA Legal Protections
Emotional support animals are protected by U.S. law even though they do not have the same rights as service animals. People with an ESA can live in housing that might otherwise have a no-pets policy thanks to the Fair Housing Act (FHA). Landlords and sellers are required to make accommodations to allow individuals with disabilities to keep assistance animals in their homes. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development requires property providers to include pets in their leases.
In order to keep pets in such accommodations, two conditions must be met:
1) the person living with the animal must have a disability that limits one or more major life activities;
2) the animal must provide some relief or assistance to those identified limitations.
As an exception, a letter of verification from a mental health professional is required. Typically, this letter states the person’s need for an emotional support animal. Landlords may also require that people requesting housing provide a form completed by a doctor or therapist that verifies the disability.
Passengers with ESAs can travel with their animals on airplanes, though airlines may require documentation and have specific guidelines for traveling with an ESA.
It’s important to understand that emotional support animals do not have unrestricted access to all public places. Businesses such as restaurants, stores, and other public spaces are not required to allow ESAs unless they are also considered service animals.
Conclusion
For people dealing with mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, PTSD, and more, emotional support animals can be a big help in their recovery by giving them comfort and security. They provide emotional benefits by their presence.
ESAs can offer substantial emotional and psychological benefits by enhancing emotional regulation, lowering stress, and fostering a sense of security, even though they shouldn’t be used in place of conventional therapies.
Having an ESA means you’re taking on a big job. You have to:
- Make sure your animal is happy and healthy.
- Deal with any behavior problems they might have.
- Think about how your pet fits into your home and your daily schedule.
