什么是情绪支持动物？

Animals can provide joy and companionship. Animals can also provide emotional support to people with mental health concerns. These animal companions are known as emotional support animals (ESAs), and they have been growing in popularity in recent years.

Definition

An emotional support animal is an animal companion that offers some type of benefit to an individual with some form of disability. The animal is intended to provide companionship and support that will help alleviate at least one aspect of the disability.

Dogs are the most common type of emotional support animal, but cats are quite common as well. Other types of animals, such as miniature horses, can also serve as ESAs.

For example, a peacock made headlines after it was denied from entering a United Airlines flight, despite the fact that its owner said that the animal was an emotional support animal. Some of the more unusual emotional support animals that have flown with their owners include apig, a鸭, amonkey和A.turkey。The vast majority of ESAs are not rare, exotic, or barnyard creatures.

好处

Why would an individual choose to use an emotional support animal? Research has long supported the idea that animals can provide significant mental health benefits. Oneresearch review发现拥有宠物对心理健康的积极影响，通过培养情绪连接，帮助人们在危机时管理。万博手机客户端

Some of the other benefits that emotional support animals may provide include:

• Less anxiety。Simply petting an animal can create a relaxation response and elevate mood.
• Trauma support.Pets can provide comfort to people who are dealing with difficult situations, including those who have experienced some type of trauma.
• Improved physical health。Studies have found that emotional support animals help to lower blood pressure, decrease respiration rates, and improve the ability to cope with pain.
• 更少的感受寂寞。动物可以提供陪伴，这对于生活的人尤其重要，而且经历抑郁和焦虑的症状。
• 互惠护理和爱。照顾情感支持动物也可以帮助人们一种宗旨。动物不仅可以提供无条件的爱和友谊，而且还需要照顾和爱的回报，这可能是情绪奖励。

Research

It's easy to say that animals can help make people calmer, happier, and even more fulfilled. But are emotional support animals really that different from any beloved pet? So far, the research remains inconclusive. While some suggest that support animals may produce positive effects, support for the therapeutic effectiveness of emotional support animals tends to be scant.

For example, research has not been able to demonstrate that support animals provide significant benefits over what any regular pet would provide. According to a 2016 study published in the journalProfessional Psychology: Research and Practice, it is not clear whether emotional support animals have any therapeutic effects beyond the positive benefits that animals provide in general.

“Little empirical data exists to support the conclusion that ESAs are effective in mitigating psychological disorders and related problems, and empirical research that does exist is inconsistent, sparse and emerging,” suggested psychologists Jeffrey Younggren and his colleagues inan article发表于这件事American Psychological Associationin 2016.

Emotional vs. Service Animals

While emotional support animals and service animals share some similarities, there are important distinctions between the two. Emotional support animals are intended to provide companionship and support. Service animals, on the other hand, assist individuals with disabilities by performing specific tasks.

服务动物是那些经过专门培训的人，以便为具有某种形式的残疾人执行服务的服务。这种残疾可能是感官，身体，智力，精神病学或精神上的性质。服务动物可能表现的任务包括警告一个人的声音，引导街道的人，按电梯按钮，检索物品，如果个人正在经历癫痫发作，或者提醒个人服用他的人或她的药物。

Emotional support animals, on the other hand, are there to provide companionship aimed at alleviating distress or provide some other type of relief.

Titles II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act specify that service animals must be dogs, although reasonable accommodations must be made to allow miniature horses to serve as service animals in cases where the animals have received training to perform specific tasks for the disabled person.

It is also important to note that emotional support animals and psychiatric service animals are not the same things. Where an emotional support animal may provide benefits to people with mental illness, psychiatric service animals are specially trained to perform specific tasks for people with psychiatric conditions. This might include reminding the individual to take their medications or stop someone from engaging in self-harm.

法律

Under the Federal Fair Housing Act, housing providers are required to make reasonable accommodations to allow individuals with disabilities to keep an assistant animal in their home. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires housing providers to make exceptions to "no pets" policies.

The two conditions required for such an exception:

• The individual living with the animal must have some type of disability that significantly limits one or more major life activities.
• 动物必须提供与这些已识别的残疾有关的某种类型的救济或援助。

HUD does not specify which disabilities qualify an individual for an exception. Rather, they state that the functions of an ESA include "providing emotional support to persons with disabilities who have a disability-related need for such support.”

An exception usually requires a verification letter from a mental health professional stating the individual's needs for an emotional support animal. Landlords may also require that people requesting accommodation also submit a verification form completed by a physician or therapist that confirms the disability.

然而，如果他们的动物对人员或财产造成任何类型的损害，租户是财务责任。

While the Americans With Disabilities Act allows people to legally bring their service animals into public areas, emotional support animals are not covered by the law. Emotional support animals do not meet the definition of a service animal under the law, which requires that service animals be specifically trained to perform tasks to help the individual with the disability. Because of this, business and public spaces can deny the admission of emotional support animals.

Controversy

While there is some evidence pointing to the value of emotional support animals, not everyone agrees that they are always necessary. Some mental health experts have suggested that support animals may be overused.

The number of emotional support animals appears to be growing every year. United Airlines, one of the largest airline carriers in the US, reported a 75% increase in the number of emotional support animals flying on the airline between the years 2016 and 2017.

一项研究published in普罗斯一体found that the number of emotional support animals found in the state of California had increased 10-fold between 2002 and 2012.

航空公司，其他业务和联邦监管机构正在考虑有关使用欧川亚空的额外规则，包括：

• Limiting the number of species that may be allowed to be used as support animals
• 要求所有者提前提交文件，以便他们使用情绪支持动物
• 陈述动物是无人间的，安全成为别的人

The increased demand for ESA's sometimes places therapists in a bind as well. More and more, patients request letters of documentation supporting their need for an emotional support animal from their psychologist, therapist, or doctor.

为什么这么多人对拥有支持伴侣感兴趣？许多专家将其归因于法律允许这些个人残疾人在飞机上以无需额外成本将情绪支持动物带来。通常情况下，航空公司要求人们支付额外的费用，以便在飞行中携带宠物，但通过一封信，他们需要一个情绪化的支持动物，人们可以避免这笔费用。

The Air Carrier Access act suggests that a wide variety of animals may be permitted to board flights as emotional support animals, although airlines are able to use their discretion in cases where animals are too heavy, large, or disrupting as well as those prohibited in other countries.

问题是，法律在定义谁需要欧安全观时含糊不清。这导致许多人试图获得支持他们需要情感支持动物的信件，以便与宠物一起旅行，而无需支付将动物带入航班。

People also occasionally obtain letters from physicians and psychologists in order to justify keeping an animal in their rental home or apartment. Because the Fair Housing Act requires landlords to allow renters to keep emotional support animals in their residence, tenants may sometimes have their pet designated as an emotional support animal to keep their pets in their homes.

Ethical Considerations

法律的模糊性为许多心理学家和治疗师创造了一个宽计。他们是否为可能没有真正有需要的患者写一封信，或者他们否认丢失患者的要求和风险？

Some patients may become angry if a therapist or doctor denies their request for a documentation letter. This creates an ethical problem for therapists. Should they write a letter in order to ensure that a patient stays in treatment, even if they do not feel that a support animal is necessary?

In the absence of such guidelines, a number of online businesses have emerged that promise to deliver a diagnosis and provide an ESA documentation letter. Many of these sites promise to provide a diagnosis and letter of documentation in under 24 hours for less than $100.

This type of abuse of the law has led to many airlines requiring that an ESA documentation letter be submitted in advance of the flight along with the name and contact information of the mental health professional who provided the diagnosis.

For example, in June 2018, JetBlue announced that it would require passengers to submit additional proof that their emotional support animals were needed and properly trained. Representatives for the airline attributed the new rules to "dramatic increase in industry incidents involving emotional support animals that haven't been adequately trained to behave in a busy airport or the confined space of an aircraft.”

These rules include only accepting dogs, cats, and miniature horses as support animals and only allowing one animal per customer. Passengers are also required to submit a medical form completed by their care provider, a veterinary health form, and an animal behavior form.

合格

情绪支持动物可能对那些患有某些心理健康状况（如抑郁或焦虑）的人有所帮助。万博手机客户端如果您觉得支持动物可能有助于缓解您的症状，请与您的医生或治疗师讨论一些可能的福利和风险。

Having a pet requires an investment of time and effort, so it is important to be sure that you are prepared for the commitment and capable of caring for the animal. It may be helpful to talk about what you hope to gain from having an emotional support animal and discuss which type of animal might be right for your needs.

An ESA can provide support and comfort that some individuals may need to cope with their disorder or disability. Obtaining an ESA documentation letter to avoid paying extra for your pet ultimately hurts the legitimacy of the many patients who have a real need for a support animal.

If you feel you have a legitimate need for an emotional support animal, talk to the doctor or therapist who is currently treating you. Don't buy a letter from a scammy online site that promises a dubious certification document to anyone willing to pay their fee.

A Word From Verywell

While research has yet to demonstrate the long-term effects of emotional support animals for alleviating the symptoms of psychological conditions, you may find a support animal a helpful and rewarding addition to your existing treatment plan. Whether you are dealing with stress, anxiety, trauma, or some other type of mental health condition, a pet can provide companionship and support. Talk to your care provider about whether an emotional support animal might be helpful for your individual situation.