The complexity of PTSD
The effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder are deeply seeded and extremely complex. They can affect nearly every facet of the mind including emotional, cognitive, and physical responses—nightmares, increased startle reflexes, depression, extreme irritability, and even times of rage. Although these issues affect separate parts of the brain, they cannot be treated separately. When the brain is exposed to consistent trauma, the brain is literally rewired in such a way that it is locked into the thoughts, fears, guilt, and emotions of those traumatic experiences long after the conflict is done.
When faced with the combination of cognitive, physical, and emotional symptoms (as with PTSD), the opportunity for recovery is at its highest when all three of these modalities can be experienced together during the therapeutic process. Therefore, the action-based approach of equine-assisted therapy is proving effective at treating post-traumatic stress disorders.
The Horse – a partner without an agenda
Horses are well-suited for the therapy environment because of their natural instincts and communication methods. While humans can speak, explain, and rationalize thoughts, horses live in an entirely action-based social structure. This works well in therapy because in action-based exercises you must change your actions to change your results—horses don’t question your motives; they react to the actions you take.
Their hyper-vigilance and heavy reliance on body language are also a large part of the counselling process. Horses are significantly more aware of body language than humans and more readily recognize and react to levels of anger, anxiety, fear, or sadness that are imperceptible to humans. This provides real-time feedback for the participant and the therapist.
There is no magic or mystery as to the use of horses in therapy. They’re therapy partners who simply have the natural perception, response, and inclination to allow participants to try new communication strategies.
Horses are well-suited for the therapy environment because of their natural instincts and communication methods
How it works
Sessions are tailored specifically for the person’s needs—we work within their agenda. The participant is given exercises & tasks to make the horse perform. It may be as simple as having the horse walk over a pole or as challenging as having it follow you through an obstacle course. The techniques that participants try with these challenges are varied and telling. The participant typically has to try several different approaches (some of them very different from how they usually communicate) before finding one that the horse understands and is comfortable with.
People tend to communicate with the horses in the same manner that they communicate within their relationships. If you can’t get the horse to do something, you have the chance to experiment with your approach to get the desired result. Observing the participant during these challenges and asking open-ended questions such as “do you think the horse understood what you were doing” or “What can you tell me about what just happened” guides the participant towards their goals but allows them to do it in their own words with their strategies.
“people enjoy coming to their sessions, they look forward to it”
Other Benefits
Equine-assisted therapy does not require the long process of establishing the connection between therapist and participant or achieving a certain trust level (as traditional “talk therapy” requires) because the real interaction takes place between the participant and the horse. In additional contrast, people do not fear being judged or exposed by the horse, accelerating the time it takes to make progress.
Since Equine equine-assisted therapy is done in an open and non-traditional environment, participants tend to be much more relaxed and less anxious than in a traditional talk therapy session. Furthermore, the action and task-based approach removes much of the stigma that many participants have about therapy.
Most importantly, people enjoy coming to their sessions—they look forward to it. Retention rates are much higher than with traditional therapies and the average number of needed sessions is lower.
Changing Lives
PTSD is a very complex affliction that brings together symptoms from many modalities of the mind. They’re all connected so it’s necessary to treat them all together—cognitive, emotional, and physical/experiential.
Traumatic experiences inundate you through all three of these modalities and by using therapy such as Equine Assisted Therapy, all three are used in the recovery process. Many times, traditional talk therapy struggles to effectively instil the required behavioural changes necessary for a sustainable recovery from PTSD. Furthermore, talk therapy can’t offer real-time feedback and the opportunity to quickly try multiple strategies for communicating such as Equine Assisted Therapy offers.
The horse acts only as a partner and many times as a mirror for how the participant sees the world and how they are responding to that world. Equine Assisted Therapy has been proven across the world as being highly effective in treating participants with PTSD and has a solid track record of enabling dramatic results in fewer sessions.
Reference: The Equine Therapy Group