ADHD, OCD, and how dogs are beneficial

The month of October was a month where many mental health diagnosis were highlighted including ADHD awareness month and OCD awareness week as well as world mental health day. In this blog post, we are going to look at ADHD, OCD, and how dogs can benefit people who experience both disorders. We will also take a closer look at potential similarities and differences between them and how perceptions of them in pop culture can be damaging to those diagnosed.

ADHD

ADHD stands for attention/ deficit hyperactive disorder. According to a recent 2020 study published in the Translational Pediatrics Journal, ADHD is the most diagnosed developmental disorder in childhood that often persists into adulthood. The DSM-V (Diagnostic Statistical Manual) divides symptoms into two primary categories: inattentiveness and hyperactivity; and impulsiveness. Examples of the first look like inability to focus at school or work or difficulty organizing tasks and activities. The second looks like interrupting or intruding on others and leaving situations that it is inappropriate due to restlessness. Experiencing persistent symptoms of ADHD can lead to subsequent issues in relationships, at work, and overall self-esteem issues.

Dogs can be very beneficial for children and adults with ADHD. Several recent studies including one completed in 2019 at UCI are looking more and more at how dogs can help children and adults diagnosed with ADD and the results are quite promising!

A common symptom of ADHD is struggling with organization including managing schedules and time. Dogs thrive on routine and need to be cared for in consistent and regular manner when it comes to walks, food, and grooming. Caring for a dog can help people with ADHD create routine and structure for the dog and themselves. Feeling a sense of accomplishment in creating and following through with the routine created for their dog and themselves can in turn boost self esteem and confidence.

The H in ADHD stands for hyperactive which can look like restlessness, fidgeting, and talking too much as a result of excess energy. Dogs provide a perfect outlet to burn off this energy in a healthy way. Physical exercise has been shown to improve our mental health in a number of ways. Read our blog post Your Body is a Temple (and so is your dog’s) to learn more about the benefits of physical activity for you and your dog.

OCD

OCD stands for obsessive-compulsive disorder. According to the DSM, OCD is an anxiety disorder that is characterized by obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are undesired intrusive thoughts and or images and compulsions are behaviors usually done in response to alleviating the suffering experienced by obsessions. For example, a person with OCD may have the intrusive thought that their house will burn down and kill them and everyone they love so as a way to alleviate the thought they will check the knobs on the stove 3 times every time they leave the house. This type of behavior can be completely debilitating for a person with OCD.

Dogs as pets can be very beneficial for people with OCD. Service Dog Training School International highlights the types of tasks dogs can learn in the role of psychiatric dog for people with OCD. They are a fantastic example of how assistance dogs can transform the lives of people with mental illness. Service dogs can learn to tell when their human is all consumed by an obsession and can learn to distract them by nuzzling them or licking them. Service dogs can be trained in deep pressure therapy, which can help people with OCD who are experiencing an anxiety or panic attack. They can also learn to bring their humans necessary medication if experience an attack. Service dogs can also be taught to interrupt compulsive behaviors. Dogs can be so attuned to human beings and vice versa, which makes this type of relationship possible.

Final Thoughts

It is interesting that these two diagnosis both hold days in the same month because they are often thought of as opposites. OCD can look like rigid, repetitive, compulsive while ADHD can look like chaos, disorganized, and impulsive. Interestingly according to the International OCD Foundation, OCD can often be mistaken for ADHD and misdiagnosed. They also have some overlap in symptoms like being distracted, but this is usually for different reasons. One can also be diagnosed with both but it is highly unlikely and research suggest that if you have the two OCD causes the ADHD symptoms.

Lastly, when learning more in depth about OCD and ADHD it occurred to me that in pop culture we often use these terms to describe one-off behaviors we may have. For example, if someone is very neat and organized they may say, “I am so OCD” or if someone forgets something important at work they may blurt out “I’m so ADD”. It’s almost as if we do this to excuse our behavior so others don’t think poorly of us. Or in the case of the OCD example we are also glorifying the disease as a good thing. By using these acronyms so carelessly (I am guilty of this too) we are minimizing the reality of suffering caused by the two disorders. We are also making them a personality trait or one-off behavior, which is damaging to the fact that they are real mental health disorders that are only diagnosed through rigorous assessment and long term process.

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