Equine Assisted Therapy (EAT) is a form of animal assisted therapy in which horses are an integral part of the therapeutic process. Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy falls under the scope of Equine Assisted Therapy in which clients are offered the opportunity to work on self-awareness, feelings, attitudes and destructive behaviors. This type of therapy is an experiential psychotherapy that incorporates horses into the treatment process. EFP is based on mutually beneficial equine activities such as grooming, handling, lunging, vaulting, driving and riding. In the United States alone over 59 million people have received some type of mental health treatment (American Psychology Association 1). Equine facilitated Psychotherapy is an effective …show more content…
When you look back in history horses have been a very integral part of the human life. Horses were used as a method of transportation, a machine to farm a living with and many other uses. Human equine alliance is an organization that educates and advocates for the horse human relationship. They believe development and improvement on social skills, “starts with the bond that is naturally built between the horse and individual during the lessons that are given (humanequinealliance 2). For those whom suffer from aggression or frustration EFP allows them to channel these challenges they face in a positive way which in turn allows them to be able to open up to therapists. (humanequinealliance 2). An article written by Margaret Tartakovsky, M.S quotes Brad Klontz, Psy.D belief when she states, “therapists can use clients’ reactions to horses’ behaviors to understand how clients interact with people and help them gain self-awareness” (Tartakovsky 2). The main insight to these beliefs is that horses offer an instant insight through instant and accurate feedback. Many times, individuals whom have problems with social skills find it difficult to fully engage in a traditional therapy alone. Being able to utilize horses as partners in the therapeutic process of improving and developing social skills gives these individuals a chance to receive therapy without the overwhelming feel and fear of judgement found in …show more content…
This fact is correct and most “proof” of its effectiveness is through anecdotal reports. You see this concern of evidence lacking in most articles that discuss and explore Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy. A great example of this is found in Karen Bachi’s article that describes the theoretical-conceptual frame of Equine facilitated Psychotherapy when she states, “limited research exists regarding mental, emotional, and social components that EFP address” (Bachi et al 299). To this, the point needs to be made that in the few studies that have been conducted improvement is seen in most all areas of a standardized measurement taken pre-study and post study. Evidence of this claim is seen in the results gathered by Leigh Shambo MSW, LMHC from a ten-week pilot study using Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy conducted on adult women suffering from Trauma related disorders. Standardized measurements were taken pre-treatment, mid-treatment, post-treatment and four months’ post-treatment. (Shambo 4) Measures captured significant and enduring positive changes in depression symptoms, dissociative symptoms and overall effectiveness of treatment (Shambo 4). Even though equine therapy is not an empirically supported therapy it should not be disregarded as a treatment option because the experience is important and allows for the patient to actively self-heal. Equine therapy has
Although horse assisted therapy is growing in popularity and supporters, there are those that present valid surface-level arguments against it. The most obvious and basic drawback to an equine aid is the accessibility. Horses are large animals that cannot be easily brought to a patient, unlike other smaller and more popular therapy animals, like dogs (Fundukian). A patient in most situations must be brought to the horse in order to participate in the therapy, and for those with severe impairments this may be too great of a challenge. However, although it is true, the accessibility of horses is an issue, it could easily be solved if the therapy received more support. More centers, closer and with methods specifically designed to make the therapy
Equine therapy, as everything else, has its pros and cons. According to Meghan Vivo of Elements Behavioral Health, a drug rehab treatment center, equine therapy “can bring up unmet needs, fears, past trauma, and feelings of inadequacy or lack of control.” The use of these huge creatures can make people feel inadequate and the idea that another being has some control does not work for everyone. Therapy can be a long, extensive process and the results are not immediate. Patients do not always want to to wait for progress to be made, especially when that progress requires the patient to face his/her fears. Additionally, “trying to control or dominate will not work with a horse,” because horses are prey animals, so attempting to control a horse can worry the creature and, in response, the horse may act out. Horses are very clear about their boundaries and, for the most part, do not tolerate people crossing said boundaries. Riders must be careful around horses, wrong movements or upsetting a horse does not typically end well. To combat this, equine therapists and mental health professionals are well equipped to deal with horse-related injuries and emergencies and therapy horses must go through rigorous training to become certified. Patients and riders are also trained on barn etiquette and rules, such as no running or yelling around horses, no walking
As of 2011, it has been reported that there are 650 million disabled people in the world (“Disabilities”). Though this number is high, it is greatly underestimated because disabled people are commonly isolated and stigmatized by their community (“Disabilities”). After hearing of this extremely high number of disabled people, I then ultimately decided I would write my research paper on ways to help the disabled. Therapeutic riding has been actively helping individuals with disabilities for decades, and can benefit these unfortunate people physically, mentally, and emotionally. “Therapeutic riding, which originated in Europe, has been actively helping individuals with disabilities since the 1950's” (Shepard). Through equine-orientated activities, therapeutic riding is used to contribute to the cognitive, physical, emotional, and social well being of people with emotional issues and disabilities (Shepard). I was astonished on how many ways therapeutic riding can benefit disabled people.
Soon after a time, we get intact with animals and without them we cannot run our life. The same implies to the pet also. Emotional Support Animal An emotional support animal (ESA) is an individual’s pet which has been prescribed by the person’s licensed mental health professional to treat with it in the treatment program so as to minimize the victim’s physical and psychological disabilities.
Why? That seems to be a constant question society asks every time a tragic incident happens in the world or a child suffers from abuse or depression. Why do these things occur? The answer is still unknown, but the way of helping those who struggle from mental illnesses, abuse, or depression is not unknown. Allowing those individuals into a place that gives them a sense of safeness and a comfortable place to talk will show them strength and support and will also help them deal with their tragic event or problem. However, there are more ways than just sitting in a room talking about an individual's problems to help overcome the recurring issues in today's society, such as using therapeutic animals like horses to help individuals feel more at
Therapists such as Natalie Norrell believe that horses play a key role in the process of healing people with special disorders and
I have always wanted to be a Special Education teacher. I started deciding what I wanted to do in the eighth grade. This was also around the time I was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. Asperger’s is an autism spectrum disorder; people with it show difficulties in social interactions, and reading body language. For me, I have trouble making friends and having age appropriate conversations. It is difficult to read people’s emotions, which sometimes gets me into trouble. I have been given the gift to be able to help teach other children with special needs how to ride horses, and also learn about how the horses communicate with these riders differently then a “normal” person. Through working with Ian I have been able to obtain a better understanding of my career goals.
With over nine million types of horses in the United States, the need for quality health care for the horses has never been stronger. It’s certain that more equine veterinarians than ever before will be needed in the years to come to provide the care that owners want for their horses. According to the American Association of equine practitioners (AAEP), nearly half of the equine veterinarians are involved with performance horses(44.8%). The AVMA’S most recent employment survey of 2016 indicated that there were about 3,874 veterinarians in exclusively equine practice, with and additional 4,177 involved in mixed practices.
Most people are familiar with service dogs and have seen them in action. Animal-assisted therapy is similar service animals in that an animal-human healing partnership is being created. However, the difference is that therapy pets are typically used to treat a mental disability whereas people with physical disabilities use service dogs to help them in many ways. Therapy animals are used in a wide variety of places, such as, hospitals, prisons, nursing homes, therapy sessions, mental healthcare facilities, and even in people’s homes. These amazing animals are used on a wide variety of different disorders, but they are utilized mostly by people suffering from depression, anxiety, and PTSD. For people with these mental health disorders, everything in live can be difficult and challenging, however with the help of animal-assisted therapy, their mood, motivation, and life can dramatically improve. Anyone who hears about these brave, loving animals soon falls in love with them. From a medical standpoint, there have been many successful studies and the support for animal-assisted therapy still continues to grow in doctors and therapists across the nation.
Equine Therapy is known to help improve motor skills and psychological developments in children. Borgi illustrates, “having a goal oriented interaction with horses has an improvement in mental well-being, sense of self efficacy, and self esteem. Positively affecting individuals quality of life and global learning. Targeting sensory and motor difficulties, makes effects
As the animals are being passed out, the patients begin smiling, laughing, and talking to the animals. They stroke their coats, play with them, and feed them snacks that they have saved for this occasion. While the patients are interacting with other students and staff, two of the students begin making notes on the activities that are taking place in the room. The patients, staff, and students are clearly enjoying themselves, but there are greater benefits to be found here. Research has been done in the area of human-animal companionship and security, and stress management.
In the field of therapy, there are numerous of therapy available out there for different type of individuals and situations as well. There is one type of therapy that usually contains people and animal, it is animal-assisted therapy is a therapeutic approach that brings animals and individuals with physical and/or emotional needs together to perform the therapy. Animal-assisted therapy tend to be focused on individuals either children or elderly for them to be able to connect with the animal thus feeling comfortable talking with the therapist. Pet therapy works for all ages, whether sick or not (Lanchnit, 2011). Although, this paper, most of the focus is on animal-assisted therapy towards children using dogs.
Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT), which can be provided in a group or individual settings, is designed to promote improvement in a human’s physical, social, emotional, or cognitive function. An article by Chitic, Rusu, and Szamoskozi (2012) provides an analysis in order to determine the value of AAT. Both dogs and horses that were trained for AAT were examined and studied to determine their effectiveness in treating patients with psychological disorders. The results showed that both therapy dogs and horses were valuable aids to the therapeutic process. The analysis suggests that proper training and repeated sessions were necessary for proper treatment of patients. In addition, certain disorders may benefit more than others in regards to AAT. For example, a child with ADHD may not benefit from a therapy dog’s presence, for it may worsen the hyperactive symptoms. On the other hand, a patient with depression may benefit greatly from the same animal (Chitic, Rusu, Szamoskozi, 2012). These findings are a perfect starting point to answering the research question: Do patients who engage in AAT display a betterment in their overall emotional well-being, as well as show improvement in their interpersonal interactions...
(1997). Retrieved 2013, from Doctors Fosters and Smith website: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?c=15498&aid=1862 Effect of equine-therapy. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.scielo.br/pdf/rbfis/v15n5/AOP025-11.pdf Equine quotes.
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