Is a Psychiatric Service Dog a Service Dog?

Absolutely, under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) psychiatric service dogs are treated the same as other service dogs with the same rights. That’s because the ADA recognizes mental and emotional health conditions as qualifying disabilities for service dog ownership. A psychiatric service dog is trained to perform tasks for people with conditions like depression, anxiety, PTSD, and learning disorders. If you’re not sure whether you have a mental health disability, getting evaluated for a PSD letter can help.

Psychiatric Service Dog Tasks

Like other service dogs, a psychiatric service dog must be trained to perform at least one task. Examples include reminding a person to take prescribed medications, interrupting self-harming behaviors by gently placing their paw on the handler’s arm, creating a physical barrier in crowded spaces to reduce social anxiety, performing tactile grounding during dissociative episodes by nudging the handler’s hands, alerting to escalating anxiety before a panic attack occurs, waking the handler from trauma-induced nightmares, and guiding them to exits during overwhelming situations. Check out our giant list of service dog tasks to get an idea of what psychiatric service dogs can do.