College students increasingly taking emotional support animals to campus

College students increasingly taking emotional support animals to campus:
"...The last few years have seen a growing number of college students requesting, and being approved, to keep a personal cat or dog with them on campus, in the name of an emotional support animal.
While traditional service dogs for people with certain disabilities have been around for many years and are protected under the Americans With Disabilities Act, emotional support animals have become more of a recent phenomenon as a new way of treating mental illness.
...While doctors can refuse to diagnose individuals as needing an emotional support animal based on the severity of their condition, online advertising by several online companies has emerged as a way for willing providers to conduct telephone screenings with patients in need.
A spokesman for one company, CertaPet, acknowledged the likelihood that many clients likely fake their symptoms, but defended the animals as being medically appropriate..."
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