美国国家公共电台 NPR Veterans Struggling After Sexual Assault Increasingly Turn To Service Dogs

Veterans Struggling After Sexual Assault Increasingly Turn To Service Dogs

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Dealing¹ with the effects of sexual assault is a lifelong process that can be filled with, like, psychiatry² appointments and medication. As NPR's Adelina Lancianese reports, some veterans are turning to psychiatric service dogs as an additional way to navigate³ that overwhelming world, even though the Department of Veterans Affairs does not recognize them or pay for veterinary care.

ADELINA LANCIANESE, BYLINE⁴: Retired⁵ 1st Sgt. Leigh Michel guides a metal cart down an aisle⁶. Grocery shopping is full of anxiety for the Army veteran. Michel turns to the black Labrador named Lizzy keeping stride at her side. What do we need?

1ST SGT LEIGH MICHEL: Dog food and dishwasher would be over here.

LANCIANESE: Michel reaches for an item on a shelf. Lizzy keeps watch. Michel drops a coin, and Lizzy picks it up.

MICHEL: Yeah, good - look; she just wants a treat. Yeah. Good dog.

LANCIANESE: Lizzy is Michel's service dog, and she's helping⁷ Michel overcome mobility⁸ issues from back injuries, as well psychological pain. At her house near Quantico, Va., Lizzy pulls off Michel's flip-flops.

MICHEL: Good dog. Give it. It's not a toy.

LANCIANESE: Michel spends most of her time here alone with Lizzy.

MICHEL: And I feel safer that way. But when I have to interact with her, she's developed relationships and I see how happy she's making everybody else, I feel safe with them.

LANCIANESE: She fidgets with her jewelry⁹ as she speaks. Lizzy, sensing discomfort¹⁰, nestles her head under Michel's foot. Michel has major depressive disorder¹¹ and post-traumatic stress resulting from multiple unreported sexual assaults during her 29 years of service. And as an Army chaplain assistant, she was a sounding board for peers who had experienced similar trauma¹².

MICHEL: I hear the sexual assaults, the rapes¹³, the abuses of children coming up. I hear that they're in a position now with their boss that they can't seem to get out of. You know, horrible family stories, how many people they've killed.

LANCIANESE: Michel reached her breaking point.

MICHEL: You know, I'm walking around with all this stuff in my head, and compounded with my own stuff that ends up happening, and it's just - it's way too much.

LANCIANESE: She says she became jumpy, quick to anger, forgetful, reclusive. Michel started seeking help through therapy and medication, but Lizzy calms Michel down like nothing else can, especially during panic attacks or nightmares.

MICHEL: She'll come up right behind me and lay, but her whole body is touching¹⁴ mine. And it's kind of like, hey, I'm here, it's OK. And there's been times that I've woken up once she's done that, and then, you know, I can go back to sleep because she's right there. And she just lays with me.

LANCIANESE: According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, a fourth of all female service members report experiencing military sexual trauma, or MST. That includes sexual assault and harassment¹⁵. Recovery is complex, full of emotional ups and downs.

CHRISTOPHER BAITY: (Imitating crying) Oh, thank you.

LANCIANESE: This is Christopher Baity demonstrating how a service dog can comfort a crying veteran by distracting them.

BAITY: Essentially¹⁶, it's a game. He thinks, hey, when I see this behavior, I'm going to get a treat. All I got to do is bug¹⁷ you.

LANCIANESE: Baity runs Semper K9, the organization where Michel got Lizzy.

BAITY: We have seen an influx¹⁸ in veteran applicants¹⁹ who are willing to disclose, you know, that type of trauma.

LANCIANESE: Others are as well. Rory Diamond is the CEO of K9s For Warriors²⁰, a large service dog organization in Florida.

RORY DIAMOND: We do three female classes a year. By and large, those classes are composed of women who have MST.

LANCIANESE: He says working with them requires extra care.

DIAMOND: So we have a very masculine male military staff. They have to approach the warriors much differently that have MST, which is to be kinder, gentler, quieter. Don't be, and don't act, like the people who perpetrated this to them.

LANCIANESE: But a statement on the VA's website argues that service dogs might harm recovery by rendering²¹ veterans unable to function without a dog at their side. Although the VA offers benefits to veterans who have service dogs for physical injuries, a spokesperson said in a statement that there's not enough evidence to form an official stance on the benefit of psychiatric service dogs. So Michel pays for Lizzy's veterinary care. She says it's worth it.

MICHEL: I want to get better. It's just hard. But she's the primary help that I have right now to get there, over going to a shrink and taking pills. You know, as long as she's with me, I feel OK, which is better than usual.

LANCIANESE: After years of failed attempts at studying the effectiveness of psychiatric service dogs like Lizzy, the VA says it is sponsoring a new clinical trial that's expected to wrap up next year. Adelina Lancianese, NPR News.

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1 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

2 psychiatry   

n.精神病学，精神病疗法

参考例句：

• The study appeared in the Amercian science Journal of Psychiatry.这个研究发表在美国精神病学的杂志上。
• A physician is someone who specializes in psychiatry.精神病专家是专门从事精神病治疗的人。

3 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

6 aisle   

n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道

参考例句：

• The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
• The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。

7 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

8 mobility   

n.可动性，变动性，情感不定

参考例句：

• The difference in regional house prices acts as an obstacle to mobility of labour.不同地区房价的差异阻碍了劳动力的流动。
• Mobility is very important in guerrilla warfare.机动性在游击战中至关重要。

9 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

10 discomfort   

n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便

参考例句：

• One has to bear a little discomfort while travelling.旅行中总要忍受一点不便。
• She turned red with discomfort when the teacher spoke.老师讲话时她不好意思地红着脸。

11 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

12 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

13 rapes   

n.芸苔( rape的名词复数 )；强奸罪；强奸案；肆意损坏v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的第三人称单数 )；强奸

参考例句：

• The man who had committed several rapes was arrested. 那个犯了多起强奸案的男人被抓起来了。 来自辞典例句
• The incidence of reported rapes rose 0.8 percent. 美国联邦调查局还发布了两份特别报告。 来自互联网

14 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

15 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

16 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

17 bug   

n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器

参考例句：

• There is a bug in the system.系统出了故障。
• The bird caught a bug on the fly.那鸟在飞行中捉住了一只昆虫。

18 influx   

n.流入，注入

参考例句：

• The country simply cannot absorb this influx of refugees.这个国家实在不能接纳这么多涌入的难民。
• Textile workers favoured protection because they feared an influx of cheap cloth.纺织工人拥护贸易保护措施，因为他们担心涌入廉价纺织品。

19 applicants   

申请人，求职人( applicant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were over 500 applicants for the job. 有500多人申请这份工作。
• He was impressed by the high calibre of applicants for the job. 求职人员出色的能力给他留下了深刻印象。

20 warriors   

武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I like reading the stories ofancient warriors. 我喜欢读有关古代武士的故事。
• The warriors speared the man to death. 武士们把那个男子戳死了。

21 rendering   

n.表现，描写

参考例句：

• She gave a splendid rendering of Beethoven's piano sonata.她精彩地演奏了贝多芬的钢琴奏鸣曲。
• His narrative is a super rendering of dialect speech and idiom.他的叙述是方言和土语最成功的运用。