By Michael Ye
The National Institutes of Health reports that animal-assisted therapy or pet therapy has been reported to help veterans with their PTSD and aid in suicide prevention. The New York Times writes suicide rates among veterans who are suffering from PTSD and traumatic brain injuries continue to rise, averaging 20 suicides per day.
But according to the Times, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has opposed funding for programs that would provide service dogs to veterans to treat PTSD.
PTSD is a trauma and stressor-related disorder caused by the experience of one or more traumatic events. People diagnosed with PTSD will suffer from negative moods, periods of depression and anxiety, flashes of anger and reckless behavior, and sleeplessness. They are additionally susceptible to drugs and alcohol, which can lead to becoming disengaged from relationships and others, avoiding public places and strangers, and detaching themselves away from the whole.
Army Airborne Veteran Phillip Labaria, majoring in therapy at York College, who made over thirty jumps in his military career, said he suffered from Traumatic Brain Injury during some of and PTSD during and after deployment to Iraq.
“My ex-fiance left me when I was still on deployment, so that really took a toll,” said Labaria. “I was then on the second month of deployment, so I still had seven to eight months left. It was hard, and I had suicidal thoughts.
According to the 2023 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report, on the National average, the rate of suicides from ages 18-34 is the highest, and in New York, ages 55-74 is the highest.
Marine Corps veteran Antonio Velasquez, a Marketing major at York College, teared up when asked if he knew anyone who has suffered from PTSD and committed suicide. “Sadly, it’s come up a couple of times,” Velasquez said. “He was very young, a little older than me, and he was a happy-go-lucky guy. He had a wife and kids, and it caught everybody off guard.”
Lara Trump, former U.S. President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law, lobbied for the Puppies Assisting Wounded Service members (PAWS) Act, but the PAWS Act never went to a vote. The PAWS Act was bipartisan legislation that would pair veterans with service dogs who would aid their owners in coping with fear, stress, and anxiety.
V.A. officials had opposed this bill because they thought it would lead to unintended and negative consequences for veterans entrusting their well-being to an unproven treatment regime. The V.A. further endorsed that they use evidence-based medicine, which is a therapy that has proven to be valuable.
Labaria, who owns three cats, said, “When I’m with my pets, I don’t really think about that deployment. I think about when my pet was still a kitten, then all the bad thoughts really just go away.”
Velasquez has three dogs and one cat. “Being that I have so many animals in my house, I do a lot of research on them, and I just see their tendencies,” he said. “I had actually seen how my cat would favor her and heal her when my sister was hurt, and dogs are just so empathetic.”
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America campaigned for the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act, which became law in 2015. The bill allows more access to veterans to get evaluations from outside sources without waiting for V.A. professionals to get assistance with PTSD, TBI, and other mental health disorders.
Larry Eaton, Director of Veterans Affairs at York College, said, “I help veterans transition from military to civilian life, and I help them to adjust to college life,” and adds, “I’m very involved with my students and make sure that they get all they need, and anybody who comes in from the community. With respect to the suicide rates, it’s just having more services that they can connect to and being an outlet for them so they can speak to somebody and that they have the resources to do so.”
