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Therapy Dogs Help US Veterans Beat Stress Disorders²

Simonsen, the senior enlisted³ leader at Joint⁴ Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, D.C. suffers from post traumatic stress disorder¹ and a traumatic brain injury he received while deployed⁵ in Afghanistan. He's been working with Yoko, a Black Labrador retriever, in his struggle through it.

“I think sometimes she realizes when I have a particularly tough email that I have to write, she would interrupt me and say, it’s Yoko time, it’s time to pet my belly⁶. And she is usually right," he admits.

Simonsen received Yoko from "Paws for Wounded Warriors⁷", a group that provides therapy dogs to members of the military. Yoko's job: to help Simonsen adjust back home. Yoko can follow more than 90 commands.

Since returning home, Simonsen has been battling anxiety, depression and memory loss, like thousands of other combat veterans suffering from the mental wounds of war.

“The things that were really easy for me, were a little more difficult, hard sometimes," he explains, "and the things in life that you can do but you struggle at doing them, became impossible."

Simonsen says since he received Yoko, life has become easier.

“Mild traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD have a lot of overlapping⁸ symptoms," explains Dr. Michael Yochelson, the medical director at MedStar National Rehabilitation⁹ Hospital in Washington. "The symptoms include difficulty concentrating, a lot of fatigue¹⁰, irritability¹¹, depressed¹² mood, sadness, anxiety.”

Dr.Yochelson says medication and psychotherapy are the usual treatments, but pet therapy also helps. 

"We actually have pets that come in that are specially¹³ trained and we do that in our hospital here,” he says.

Yoko, like other therapy dogs, received two years of special training so she can sense when her companion is depressed and be both unobtrusive and an unconditional¹⁴ friend.

Simonsen takes Yoko wherever he goes on the base. He says having a dog at his side has helped him and others open up. 

“I am the guy with the dog,” he jokes.

When the staff sergeant¹⁵ is with his family, Yoko is off duty. But Simonsen's daughter Rachel says since Yoko came to live with them, her father is less irritable¹⁶.

“I am very proud to call him my dad, and I love Yoko for what she does for him every day," she says.

“I don’t think everyone needs to walk around with a service dog," Simonsen notes, "but I think there are more veterans out there, whether they are on active duty or not, who would benefit from at least time with dogs.”

For Simonsen, the slow road to healing is easier now with his four-legged friend at his side.