Emotional-Support Pigs, Snakes, Dogs, Birds
Have you been asked to write a note for a patient for an emotional-support peacock, or perhaps an emotional-support snake? Or, more commonly, a dog or a cat that your patient says provides relief from stress and anxiety?
Source: thejetset.tv
The desire for people's pets to travel with them has been mushrooming lately. While most emotional-support animals (ESAs) are dogs, or cats, in 2014, a woman tried to take her pot-bellied pig aboard a US Airways flight. (The pig was asked to deplane after becoming unruly and defecating in the aisle.) In 2016, a passenger took an emotional-support turkey on a Delta flight from Newark to Boston. And in early 2018, United Airlines refused to let a peacock fly on a plane from Newark.
Anyone who flies on a semiregular basis has likely noticed that animals have become commonplace.
Varied as those animals may be, they have something in common with thousands of other furry and feathered travelers: a note from a mental health provider or possibly a physician stipulating that they are therapeutically necessary for the emotional well-being of their owner.
While a lot of those notes are penned—for a fee—by online concerns, a growing number of physicians and mental health providers are fielding patients' requests for letters attesting to their need for an ESA. In fact, Delta Airlines is now requiring a signed document from a physician or a licensed mental health professional.
"This has now metastasized into the world of the family physician and the treating psychologist," says Jeffrey Younggren, PhD, a professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of New Mexico, who has published two papers on the topic. "They've opened Pandora's box."
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Any views expressed above are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of WebMD or Medscape.
Cite this: Shelly Reese. Write Your Patient a Note for an Emotional-Support Peacock? - Medscape - Aug 07, 2018.
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