Post by flamincomet on Jul 24, 2011 23:15:04 GMT -5
I just discovered Maria Bamford and she is already my favorite comic. I relate to almost everything she is saying. I struggle with mental illness (there is some debate on my actual main diagnoses, but so far it looks like schizophrenia and 4 other "side diagnoses") and grew up in a very dysfunctional family. Her interpretations of her mom and sister who bites her nails remind me so much of my mom and step-mom, it makes me laugh so hard.
Anyway, I can tell that Maria is really a dog lover, and I try to tell as many people I think will benefit from this, but I really want her to know about psychiatric service dogs if she does not. PSDs are service dogs who are individually trained to mitigate their handler's mental illness symptoms. The dog does not have to be professionally trained, even the owner can do it (as I did/am doing with mine). I have a PSD, a border collie named Link, and he helps me so much with my MI. Some of the things he does is to turn on and off the lights on command in case of paranoia or nightmares, makes me focus on him (by nudging my hands away from my face or pawing my leg) when I am extremely emotionally upset, having a panic attack, and/or psychotic episode and stays with me until I am stable, and searches the house for people. But a PSD can be trained to do ANYTHING that mitigates their handler's disability. The Americans with Disabilities Act fully supports PSDs for those with disabling mental illness, and they get the same public access rights as all other service dogs (as long as they are appropriately trained). www.psychdog.org is a great source of information.
I didn't know the best way to get this information to Maria if she was not aware of them and thinks she would benefit, so I hope this is Ok. After Link has helped me so much I just want everyone to know about them, as I've found that most mental health professionals don't even know about them!
I've attached a picture of my PSD Link
Anyway, I can tell that Maria is really a dog lover, and I try to tell as many people I think will benefit from this, but I really want her to know about psychiatric service dogs if she does not. PSDs are service dogs who are individually trained to mitigate their handler's mental illness symptoms. The dog does not have to be professionally trained, even the owner can do it (as I did/am doing with mine). I have a PSD, a border collie named Link, and he helps me so much with my MI. Some of the things he does is to turn on and off the lights on command in case of paranoia or nightmares, makes me focus on him (by nudging my hands away from my face or pawing my leg) when I am extremely emotionally upset, having a panic attack, and/or psychotic episode and stays with me until I am stable, and searches the house for people. But a PSD can be trained to do ANYTHING that mitigates their handler's disability. The Americans with Disabilities Act fully supports PSDs for those with disabling mental illness, and they get the same public access rights as all other service dogs (as long as they are appropriately trained). www.psychdog.org is a great source of information.
I didn't know the best way to get this information to Maria if she was not aware of them and thinks she would benefit, so I hope this is Ok. After Link has helped me so much I just want everyone to know about them, as I've found that most mental health professionals don't even know about them!
I've attached a picture of my PSD Link
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