s/o emotional support animal

[amberlyrose]

First off- they shouldn't be questioning you on any support dog, from my understanding.
Second- if the dog is considered a support dog, they shouldn't be charging you for the dog in the room.

[Deleted]

1. No, you just need a mental health professional. Tell Southwest you will report them to the ADA and FAA if the don't back off.

2. Depends on the state I think, so call ahead, but yes, your emotional support dog should be allowed. Again, be an advocate for yourself!

[auntie]

You might want to look into this further. This comes up a lot of my autism forums as many parents consider emotional support dogs for their children.

The ADA laws pertain to service animals only. They do not necessarily apply to support or therapy animals. There are very strict guidelines as to what constitutes a "service" animal. Generally speaking, a service dog performs a task the individual can not do for themselves- open doors, detect rising blood sugar levels in diabetics, etc.

This difference is much in the news because of the increase in PTSD dxs in our military. But for now, therapy and emotional support animals do not have federally mandated access as service animals do.

www.servicedogcentral.org/content/PSD

[auntie]

And to answer your question. Psychoactive meds should be prescribed by a psychiatrist and not your PCP. These are the go to experts for medication- their area of expertise is titrating drugs to obtain the best therapeutic result with the minimum of side effects. Benzos like Xanax are only one approach; if you're a generally anxious person you might do better on an SSRI like Zoloft.

Your might consider a different talk therapist as well. CBT is proven to be effective over situational anxiety. If you aren't doing CBT, you should probably try it. There are also treatment protocols using CBT techniques specifically for flight anxiety that are said to be very effective.

money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1993/10/18/78455/

[auntie]

Here's Southwest's policy-

www.southwest.com/assets/pdfs/customer_service/emotional_animal_travel_instructions.pdf

[auntie]

I've had to advocate for my son on a number of occasions by way of paperwork. I can say that, IME, a letter from a MD is a bigger stick that one from even a clinical psychologist with a PhD. I can see where a lay person might not understand that some MSWs do therapy. Sometimes it's not about what is right, but what is expedient.

Perhaps this is a route to consider.