Why therapists shouldn’t approve patients’ emotional support animals
(Reuters Health) A growing number of therapists are certifying their patients pets as emotional support animals, allowing people to bring their cats, pigs and birds on planes and into rental canada goose uk black friday homes even though it may not be medically necessary, a recent study suggests. Canada Goose sale Then, researchers questioned these professionals about how support animals should be certified.
Overall, about 31 percent of the survey participants canada goose clearance sale said they had previously recommended emotional support Canada Goose Online animals for people. However, 36 percent of them said they didn feel qualified canadian goose jacket to do make these recommendations, including two practitioners who had Canada Goose Parka done so in the past.
animals are formally trained to perform specific healthcare duties/function and their training matches the patients needs and they are not considered pets, he told Reuters Health by email. is a formal process.
emotional support animals do uk canada goose not have any training requirements under the Canada Goose online law nor are these certifications limited to dogs, Younggren said. turkeys and potbelly pigs have all been certified by somebody as emotional support animals.
Federal and state laws regulating emotional support animals (ESAs) cheap canada goose uk often are convoluted and constantly canada goose coats on sale changing, Younggren and his colleagues note in a report Canada Goose Jackets of their study, which is scheduled Canada Goose Coats On Sale for publication in the journal Professional Psychology: Research and Practice.
For example, landlords who normally prohibit pets must allow ESAs and waive any fees or pet deposits.
Airlines are required to allow ESAs buy canada goose jacket cheap to accompany their owners in the canada goose factory sale main cabins of aircraft.
The mental health professionals in the survey believed certifying emotional support animals can sometimes be appropriate, the survey found.
But to sidestep potential legal and ethical problems, clinicians should not certify animals for patients they are already treating, the canada goose researchers argue. Mental health professionals who work in courts of law and who don have a prior relationship with a patient may be better able to make an impartial decision on whether uk canada goose outlet an emotional support animal might actually benefit that person.
These evaluations should be done with the same thoroughness and impartiality that is found in evaluations for any disability, the researchers also argue. This may require the development of professional guidelines for what assessments are done, who conducts them and how they are completed.
Many mental health professionals may canada goose coats not understand canada goose clearance that a conflict of interest exists when a patient asks for an animal to be certified because they want to make the patient cheap Canada Goose satisfied and keep the Canada Goose Outlet patient engaged in therapy, said Dr. Paul Cherniack, a researcher at the University of Miami Miller School canada goose uk outlet of Medicine who wasn involved in the study.
Another issue is that clinicians may rely on subjective reports from patients about how animals help them, especially canada goose black friday sale in the absence of objective ways to measure the therapeutic benefits https://www.jacketstock.com of these animals, Cherniack said by email.
believe there is no evidence yet that emotional support animals benefit people health, Cherniack said. canada goose uk shop service animals like seeing eye dogs are different.
While better guidelines and standards for certifying emotional support animals is needed, there is some evidence to suggest that pets do have the potential to comfort people with mental health problems, said Dr. Helen Brooks of the Mental Health Research Group at the University of Manchester in the UK.
helped their owners manage feelings by distracting them from canada goose store symptoms and upsetting experiences such as hearing voices and suicidal ideation and provided a form of canada goose outlet encouragement for activity, Brooks said, who wasn involved in the current study, said by email. provided secure relationships and unconditional support which buy canada goose jacket were often not available elsewhere.