Equine Therapy in the News....
"Practices of therapists using equine facilitated/assisted psychotherapy in the treatment of adolescents diagnosed with depression: A qualitative study"
Deborah L. Frame, Ph.D., New York University, 2006
"This qualitative study explored the practices of credentialed therapists using Equine Assisted/Facilitated (EAP/EFP) psychotherapy in the treatment of adolescent depression. A purposive sample of 15 licensed therapists experienced in EAP/EFP was recruited through membership roles in 2 leading EAP/EFP organizations. Respondents treated inner-city, suburban, and rural adolescents, representing diverse socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. This study explored the role of the horse in EAP/EFP and identified theoretical influences that informed this type of treatment. Respondents perceived that interactions and exercises with the horses provided feedback mechanisms to the adolescents, as well as object representations of past and current relationships in which therapeutic change could take place. Respondents perceived EAP/EFP aided in increasing self-esteem and self-efficacy, as well as decreasing isolation in the depressed adolescents treated. Cognitive behavioral therapy, experiential therapy, Gestalt therapy, as well as object relations theory, were cited as theoretical and clinical approaches in EAP/EFP."
"Why Equine Therapy Works for Eating Disorders"
Claire Dorotik, LMFT, PsychCentral, September 2012
"For a horse, when a person slips away from the relationship into the self (in order to engage in self objectification), the relationship process ceases, and so does his pursuit of it. The language would go something like this, “Yes I will accept you fully, unconditionally, but in order to have this relationship, you must be fully present.”
When the person is not fully present, and the horse moves away, temporarily halting the relationship, the disengagement on the part of the ED patient becomes vivid. This is an important observation for the person with an eating disorder, as often she may disengage so much and so frequently that even she is unaware that she is doing it or of the effect it is having on her relationships. And while the human relationships in an ED’s life may be the cause of much of her pain, their avoidance is also a hallmark feature of the disorder."
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"Horse Therapy Cuts Violence at Psychiatric Hospital"
M. ALEXANDER OTTO, Clinical Psychiatry News Digital Network, June 2011
"One patient, hospitalized for 15 years, was moved to tears working with the animals, and preferred the largest ones. That patient had attacked others 17 times in the 3 months before the project, but attacks were reduced to 9 times in the 3 months after the program started. This patient also required less restraint and seclusion.
It’s a mystery why working with horses made a difference, but perhaps "interacting with a very large animal that, on the one hand, is very imposing but on the other hand, is responding in a constructive and nonabusive way to – and perhaps tolerating – your behavior establishes a different perspective on how to relate to others," said Dr. Steven J. Schleifer, a psychiatry professor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, who worked on the project. The project was conducted at Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital, a 500-bed facility near Morristown, N.J."
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