Likewise, you can get depressed after a physical injury like a car accident. You must take your mental health seriously to survive the rollercoaster of emotions that we call life. An animal by your side can significantly improve your chances of recovering quickly from a mental health issue.
What is an ESA?
An emotional support animal is any animal that can provide you with emotional stability. By cuddling, grooming, and feeding them, you will begin to form a strong bond. This bond will help your mental health improve within no time. After getting an ESA Letter for housing, you can keep your ESA in your apartment even if there is a no pets policy. Contact any licensed mental health professional to write this letter for you.
What is a service animal?
A service animal is quite different from pets and ESAs. They are specially trained to help their disabled owners. Their job is to physically help their owner in some way. For example, retrieving items from another room, opening and closing doors, placing garbage in a bin, and carrying mail or news from and to the house. In a general context, service animals are for physical disabilities, while ESAs are for emotional breakdowns.
Service animals for emotions?
Should you buy a service dog for the betterment of your emotional health? The answer is a big fat NO! Even though cuddling a service animal can help you, it's an improper use of their purpose. It's like buying a Ferrari race car for millions of dollars just to look at it and feel pleasure. An ESA can help you better since that is their specific purpose.
Type of animal
Service animals are very limited since not all animals can be trained. An ESA is special because any animal can act as your ESA; e.g., a fish is a common type of ESA but it cannot act as a service animal. The same goes for cats, birds, hamsters, and chameleons, etc. However, a dog can act as an ESA and a service animal. If you are a physically disabled individual who is depressed, a dog is perfect for you.
Jurisdiction – ESA vs Service animal
ESA
An ESA is for the therapy of a physically abled but mentally frustrated individual. After getting your realesaletter, you should be allowed to keep your ESA in your apartment. However, you still cannot take your ESA everywhere. For example, most restaurants will not allow ESAs to enter. The same goes for most private buildings like your place of work.
Service animal
A service animal can basically go anywhere where its owners are permitted to go. This means that, unlike ESAs, they can be brought to restaurants, libraries, and general stores, etc. Additionally, similar to ESAs they can live with you even if your landlord disallows ESAs
Logic vs Ethics and Law
Logic
It makes logical sense to go for a service animal, even if you are physically able. Depression has no time and may strike you in a mall, restaurant, and library. Since your ESA cannot accompany you in these places, you may be inclined to opt for a fabricated document to get a service dog. However, please do not do this!
Ethics
Why should you not go for a service dog since it has more benefits? The answer is ethics. It is unethical to fool the government and the public with a fabricated document. Additionally, it would be unfair to the animal and the disabled community because they are given special training to help disabled individuals. If your conscience allows you to craft a fabricated service dog document, read the next part
Law
It is illegal to get a service dog document if you are disabled. You will need to consult online scammers for this task which isn’t easy as they may scam you. If you get caught with a fake letter, you may face jail time and have to pay massive fines. Don’t be stupid – get an ESA if you are mentally suffering.
Why getting an ESA is beneficial
Distance is good
A service dog accompanies you everywhere and thus, you never really miss them. When outside, you will look forward to going home and cuddling with your furry friend. Affection is bound to decrease if there is no space between you and your ESA dog. That is why it makes more sense to not take your ESA everywhere you go.
Does the job
When do you usually feel vulnerable and depressed? The chances are that your mental health deteriorates in your apartment since that is where you are alone. Outside your apartment, you are usually busy with errands. However, at home, people usually don't have much to do and thus they have time to think. It is during this time that depression strikes.
Conclusion
To sum it all up, comparing ESAs with service animals is like comparing apples and oranges. Both of them have their benefits and drawbacks. If you are suffering from a physical disability, you should get a service animal. If your mental health has taken a toll, you should opt for an emotional support animal. There is no need to wait; consult a licensed mental health caregiver now and ask them to diagnose your health and consequently send you a real ESA letter. A real esa letter is a document that verifies your need for an emotional support animal and allows you to enjoy the benefits of having one, such as housing and travel accommodations. It's important to note that only a licensed mental health professional can provide you with a real ESA letter, so be wary of online services that claim to offer instant or fake ESA letters.
More Resources:
can you take your ESA snake on a flight?
Can a dog be an ESA and service dog both?
How to make sure that your ESA is getting enough exercise during lockdown
