Altschuler Eric L
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Metropolitan Hospital, 1901 First Avenue, New York, NY, 10029. E-mail:
Mil Med. 2018 Jan 1;183(1-2):11-13. doi: 10.1093/milmed/usx073.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can follow war trauma, sexual abuse, other traumas, and even be experienced by commanders for the PTSD of their subordinates. Medications and counseling are sometimes not effective, so new treatments are needed. Some years ago, I suggested that animal-assisted therapy (AAT) (pet therapy) might be beneficial for PTSD. A large randomized controlled trial is underway of canine-assisted therapy for PTSD. Randomized controlled trials are most useful in assessing the efficacy of a medical intervention as these trials control for known and unknown biases. However, due to their very nature and rigorous requirements, knowledge gained from randomized controlled trials may need to be supplemented from other kinds of studies. Here, I note that media reports of AAT for PTSD may effectively function as case reports and suggest further studies: For PTSD, these demonstrate that (1) AAT can be dramatically effective in improving PTSD symptoms; (2) there is the potential for benefit from AAT by multiple different animals besides canines for PTSD; and (3) AAT may have a role in preventing suicide in patients with PTSD.
创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）可能继发于战争创伤、性虐待、其他创伤，甚至指挥官也可能因下属的创伤后应激障碍而经历此病。药物治疗和心理咨询有时并不有效，因此需要新的治疗方法。几年前，我曾提出动物辅助疗法（AAT）（宠物疗法）可能对创伤后应激障碍有益。一项关于犬辅助疗法治疗创伤后应激障碍的大型随机对照试验正在进行中。随机对照试验在评估医学干预的疗效方面最为有用，因为这些试验可以控制已知和未知的偏差。然而，由于其自身性质和严格要求，从随机对照试验中获得的知识可能需要从其他类型的研究中加以补充。在此，我指出媒体关于动物辅助疗法治疗创伤后应激障碍的报道可能有效地起到病例报告的作用，并建议进行进一步研究：对于创伤后应激障碍，这些报道表明：（1）动物辅助疗法在改善创伤后应激障碍症状方面可能非常有效；（2）除犬类外，多种不同动物的动物辅助疗法对创伤后应激障碍可能有益；（3）动物辅助疗法可能在预防创伤后应激障碍患者自杀方面发挥作用。
