How Service Dog Helps Man With Schizophrenia During Hallucinations

A man with schizophrenia spoke. picture This is the moment his service dog came to his rescue after he started experiencing “visions.”

According to a report by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, schizophrenia is a mental health condition manifested by hearing voices, seeing things that aren’t real, and having unusual beliefs or confused thoughts. It is said that 1% are affected.

Cody Green from Wisconsin is among that 1 percent. “I started having symptoms of schizophrenia when I was 18 and was diagnosed at 21,” Green said. newsweek.

“My struggle with mental illness led to a struggle with addiction and incarceration. After successful treatment and medication, I realized what my life was like living with schizophrenia and what my daily routine was like. “I wanted to share some of the coping mechanisms I use to manage my life,” he added.

Green, a speaker and mental health advocate, has more than 1.5 million followers on social media and posts regularly under the handle @schizophrenichippie.

One of Green’s latest videos focuses on the important role his dog Luna plays in his daily life. Luna is a psychiatric service dog who came to Greene as a puppy.

“We adopted Luna from a family friend who gave birth to her by mistake,” he said. “We got her when she was eight weeks old and she’s almost four years old now.”

Green said Luna is different from most other dogs. “Luna was trained to help me with several tasks, including helping me identify visual hallucinations, grounding me, and preventing self-harm during hallucinations,” he said.

“These are the only major tasks she is trained to do, and she is trained to help with these tasks at home. Service dogs can be very expensive and are usually covered by insurance. “Dog trainers can teach many of these tasks as well, although they are not applicable,” he added.

In the video, Green demonstrated training for Luna, who began having hallucinations in which she “seeed other people” in the house. In the clip, Green can be heard instructing Luna to greet the person, but she sits silently. This response told Mr. Green everything he needed to know.

“Luna is trained to follow commands and greet people,” Green explained. “If she says hi, I know they’re really there. If she sits and looks up at me, I know it’s a hallucination.”

He added: “When she didn’t say hello to the person I was talking to, I could tell I was experiencing symptoms of active schizophrenia.”

Green said she shared the video to highlight how Luna has made her daily life “more manageable.” “I just wanted to use this video as a way to help people better understand schizophrenia and possible coping mechanisms,” he said.

Green said he cannot overstate the role his service dog has played in changing his life for the better.

“Luna has helped me feel more comfortable in my own home,” he said. “Unfortunately, I often hallucinate when I’m at home and in the evening, so being able to recognize these symptoms and recognize when I’m hallucinating is very helpful to me. ”

The mental health advocate also said having Luna by his side helped ease many of the concerns he once had about schizophrenia.

“I always asked myself if I was hallucinating, and Luna helped me eliminate the fear, confusion, and frustration that was a big part of my life. ,” Green said.