Equine Assisted Psychotherapy with Combat Vets
Soldiers are deployed and re-deployed, separated from family, loved ones, home, and from even the seeminly-mundane things of life most of us take for granted, like color, variety, commercials, driving, grocery shopping, internet, restaurant choices, people not in uniform, recreation, socialization, flexibility, restful sleep, and freedom to make decisions.
There are sometimes consequences....
Lack of confidence, sleep disturbance, irritability, isolation, depression, anxiety, hypervigilance, aggression, lack of trust, loss of perspective, grief, poor impulse modulation, feelings of inadequacy, lonliness, inability to express needs, inability to relate, intimacy problems, marital discord, lack of spontaneity and loss of self-respect.
Equine-assisted psychotherapy and other non-traditional therapeutc approaches may reach the combat vet when other approaches have been unsuccessful. Lose the walls, the office, in fact, the therapist with a notepad, the stigma of going to see "the shrink" and what is left is a person more relaxed and open to alternatives.
To treat combat veterans, researchers and labs are trying to quantify "it", "label it," "measure it," "study it," and "find solutions for it." Standards for practice are being written with studies trying to replicate "it."
Meanwhile, Milagro is about "getting on with it!"
Why does Eye Movement and Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) work? How does it work? No one really knows including Francine Shapiro who developed the technique. Yet it is used and useful.
What do we know about equine assisted psychotherapy?
1. Human-animal interactions have therapeutic value
(Beck, 2000).
2. Solution-focused therapy works (Lethem, 2002;
Haglund, 2007).
3. Metaphorical learning and experiential treatment works
(Rector, 1992; Gordon, 1978).
4. The growing field of equine-assisted psychotherapy is
showing positive results dealing with the issues of combat
vets (Lancia, 2008).
5. The number of soldiers with mental health issues and
those experiencing personal crisis is staggering
(Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, 110th
Congress, May 24, 2007).
Milagro equine-assisted psychotherapy is solution-focused, uses metaphorical and experiential learning, takes place in nature without the office, allows for lack of verbal communication, fosters problem solving, creativity, self-reintroduction and relearning. It is an effective treatment to reintegrate the soldier with family, home, and life.