For people who suffer from things such as depression, they often turn to the use of different symbols and objects. These things can range from smoking and drinking, to stuffed animals. But what is the most healthy and effective usage of support objects?
In my opinion animals are more reliable, and should be incorporated into more organizations from school to airplanes and therapy sessions. Emotional support animals such as dogs, turtles, cats, and guinea pigs are used to help guide and provide a ‘safe space’ during hard times. I believe that emotional support animals should be more commonly used, and the rules and regulations of them should not be so strict.
According to www.dailytrojan.com, “Dogs and other animals have been proven to alleviate and help with mental health, especially for college students.” If schools, especially colleges, were to have at least one or two emotional support animals for their students, it could dramatically effect their work ethic, and their mental state. School is already stressful enough, so using these animals could give students who are more emotionally deprived an opportunity to form connections. It also gives students who may be homesick and may not get to see their own family/pets as much a healthy alternative. Specifically for people with anxiety and certain mental disorders, emotional support animals could help to calm them tremendously.
The animals are not only useful just for things such as airports, but other situations in which someone might feel stressed or unsettled. For example, testing sites, large venues, doctor’s offices, etc. If surveyed, I believe most people would express that they’d feel much more comfortable about going to these places if they knew that precautions such as emotional support animals were utilized.
As previously stated, emotional support animals serve a healthier purpose for people when stressed, instead of resorting to things such as drugs and other medications. This theory has been long studied. According to www.medshadow.org, “The assistance of emotional support animals has helped veterans to ease their PTSD symptoms without the side effects of drugs.” This is why a lot of people with syndromes and disorders such as PTSD, use support animals to overcome traumatic experiences, proving the effectiveness of support animals.