Are Emotional Support Animals Effective Treatments for Anxiety?

Breathe, relax or meditate, but don’t count on your pet to reduce anxiety. I was on a recent teletherapy call with an anxious young college student. Let’s call him Robbie. Halfway in he told me he thought he needed an ESA. “ESA?” I thought. “Is that one of those texting anagrams I should know, like FOMO or YOLO?” 11 Things Anxious People Are Tired Of Being Anxious About Before I had a chance to ask, Robbie said that having his long-time companion, his adored tabby, in his dorm room would make his anxiety manageable. It came to me in a flash: Emotional Support Animal. I’d read about these. A quick Google search after the call revealed that people are contacting teletherapy services, like the one I took Robbie’s call on, to obtain virtually (pun intended) immediate certification to have their ESAs in dorms, pet-unfriendly apartments, and on airplanes. Happily, I’d punted and suggested that, since he said the college counseling office at his school was “certifying” people to have ESAs, he ought to contact them if he thought it would be helpful. I say happily because I didn’t know step-one about what makes a pet certification-eligible. I never heard from him again which told me that his stated intention for teletherapy, to reduce his anxiety, was merely a ploy to get said certification. I was relieved to be off the hook even before I read a recent scholarly article cautioning psychologists about providing su...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Anxiety and Panic Disorders Publishers Treatment YourTango Animals Depression emotional support animals ESA Judith Tutin Relaxation Stress therapeutic Source Type: blogs