Assistance dogs for PTSD: A study of canine detection accuracy, therapeutic potential, and ethical dimensions

Abstract

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental illness with high comorbidity with other psychiatric disorders, and potentially debilitating symptoms and associated features. Current first-line treatments are effective but often suboptimal, prompting interest in complementary and alternative treatments. One such possible treatment is the use of PTSD service dogs, albeit limited by insufficient scientific validation. Through three interconnected studies, this interdisciplinary thesis contributes to the relevant research by exploring the PTSD service dog intervention from the perspectives of clinical psychology/psychiatry, canine olfaction/cognition studies, and animal welfare and ethics. The introduction informs the core chapters by providing background information about PTSD’s etiology, pathophysiology, and currently available treatments, and outlining methodologies for training and testing scent detection dogs. The first core chapter discusses the assistance dog intervention from the perspective of people with PTSD. It critically reviews/evaluates canine-assisted interventions (CAIs) for PTSD, comparing emotional support dogs, therapy dogs, and assistance dogs. The chapter highlights the benefits of PTSD service dogs in reducing PTSD symptoms, improving family functioning, and enhancing social integration and quality of life. However, challenges such as lack of standardised protocols and insufficient randomised controlled trials hinder the broader adoption of CAIs in PTSD treatment. The second core chapter presents the empirical component of the thesis. This proof-of-concept study demonstrates that some dogs can detect putative stress-related volatile organic compounds in the breath of individuals with trauma histories during trauma cue exposure. This finding has the potential to improve PTSD service dog training protocols. The results further expand knowledge in the field of canine olfaction by suggesting that different dogs might detect distinct endocrine biomarkers in human stress response. The third core chapter explores the PTSD service dog intervention from the perspective of the dogs. It addresses the research gap regarding the welfare of PTSD service dogs by identifying concerns arising from the differences in their selection, rearing, training, and follow-up care. Additional concerns stem from the nature of their work, and the symptoms and comorbidities of their human partners. Ethical considerations are discussed from an animal rights framework, proposing guidelines to enhance PTSD service dog well-being and prevent their exploitation.