
By Staff Writer
In order to help teens with emotional and psychological conditions, a number of mental health programs are giving adolescents service dogs to help them with their daily routines. For example, Montana native Seth Marshall - a teen who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, social anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder - noticed that his life improved drastically after receiving a service dog, news channel KULR8 reports.
Throughout high school, Marshall had behavioral troubles and was sent to a new school in Missouri.
"The moving, the turning 18 led to a suicide attempt which got me in a mental hospital which got me diagnosed," Marshall told the news source.
He went on medications, but his life was still unbalanced until the family veterinarian mentioned the Prison Paws program, which allows prisoners to train service dogs. Marshall immediately bonded with a young golden retriever named Brooke.
The dog brings Marshall his pill bottles every morning and she is trained to notify people if there is an emergency. She also helps alleviate social anxiety by being a nearby friend.
According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, as many as one in 200 children and adolescents struggle with OCD.