When a family member gets diagnosed with a specific mental disorder, you readily know that they need comforting. You don’t have the be an expert in that field to understand that the condition developed because something or someone caused them to feel down. Because of that, they need more of your attention and love now than ever.
Despite how much you want to focus on your troubled loved one entirely, though, it is unrealistic to let your world stop to be on their side 24/7. You need to work; you need to socialize too. That’s the only way for you to avoid becoming the next person in the family with mental health issues.
That’s the reason why psychiatrists and psychologists typically recommend getting a dog as an emotional support animal (ESA). It will allow your family member to have a constant companion and feel emotionally stable wherever they may be. However, to ensure that the pet can travel anywhere with your loved one, you ought to secure an emotional support dog letter from the doctor.
Considering it’s the first time you hear about this thing, we can tell you the benefits of having this prescription.
Go To Places That Do Not Usually Let Animals In
The first advantage of getting an emotional support dog letter is that you can break the “No Pets Allowed” policy that some establishments have. You will typically notice that signage in restaurants or clothing stores since they want to ascertain that their customers won’t get bothered by animal noises or furs won’t be flying everywhere. Despite that, since you have a note from a medical professional that states that you cannot part with your ESA for too long, the staff members have no choice but to allow you and your pet to come inside the establishment.
Ride A Plane With The Emotional Support Dog
Something that you may never see when you travel by plane on a regular basis is an animal that is free to stay beside their owner. It is common for airlines to ask people with pets to present various documents for the latter before letting the animals go to a different section of the aircraft. Similar to restaurants, they also have this rule to make sure that the pets will not create a disturbance, especially when the other passengers look for peace and quietude.
When your family member comes with a service dog letter at the airport, though, the airline personnel understand that they need to give special consideration to the matter. The bonus is that the pet can ride the plane without you having to pay anything. That’s a win-win situation, for sure.
Have The Animal Living With You
New condominium and apartment owners are quite particular about the rules that their tenants should follow these days. Some prevent them from having more than a couple of visitors at once; others require the renters to pay extra if they want to bring specific appliances in their new place. Unfortunately, many do not accept folks who wish to live in the building with their pets as they will apparently “disturb the peace” there.
The thing is, landlords are not exempted from individuals who need to comply with what’s written in an emotional support dog letter. They cannot ask your troubled family member to pay pet deposit; they cannot turn them away for having an animal companion. As per federal laws, after all, persons who depend on ESAs for emotional stability are not supposed to get charged for living with them.
Keep The Mental Disorder A Secret
There is undoubtedly no troubled individual who wants to be questioned all the time for walking around with a service dog. Not only will it be stressful to explain the reason to everyone who asks, but it also violates their privilege to keep the mental disorder a secret. That may aggravate the symptoms of their condition, frankly speaking.
What can help your family member to avoid being in this situation is carrying an emotional support dog letter wherever they go. Once they present it to the person wanting to know why they always travel with the animal, they can no longer force your loved one to talk about the illness. Doing the opposite of that will give your relative a reason to file a case against that individual later.
To Wrap It Up
It is not rare to hear news stories about pets saving their master from physical danger. Well, the emotional support dogs are no different from those, in the sense that they can keep your loved one company and prevent them from making rash decisions out of loneliness. You can count on them to help your troubled family member to feel emotional stability once again.
In case you know someone who can use a service dog in their life too, you should not hesitate to inquire to their doctor if that can be a part of their treatment.