Equine Assisted Psychotherapy helps recovering addicts by giving them a deep connection with a majestic animal and teaching them the virtues of patience and self-confidence.
People who are dealing with drug and alcohol addiction often have trouble making meaningful connections with other people in their lives. Often times, mental health issues, past traumas or difficulty coping with stress can cause people to “shut off” from their friends and family. Abusing illicit substances becomes a substitute for contact with other people for the addict and can lead them to wall themselves off and sink further into their addiction.
One of the tools that can help people who are in a alcohol or drug rehabilitation is Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP). Within the past decade, a growing number of addiction programs have started to use EAP programs as a form of experiential therapy. Much like with other forms of experiential therapy, the goal of EAP is to use outside activities to help patients connect with hidden feelings that could provide obstacles to healing.
The concept of EAP is to have patients dealing with drug addiction perform tasks with specially-trained horses. Many of the tasks involve being physically active with the horse. Patients might be asks to chase down a horse that is running free in a stall. Another exercise that is frequently used is something called “Temptation Alley,” where patients guide horses through a series of obstacles — including many possibly tempting things for the horse such as water and snacks.
Accomplishing these tasks can often take multiple sessions and be very frustrating for the patient. However, this is one reason why EAP is frequently used in drug rehab. The process of treatment can be extremely frustrating and the temptation to quit the program or start using again after treatment can be great. Performing tasks with horses helps to teach people in a rehab program that the process is difficult and requires patience and hard work but the rewards can be great.
EAP is derived from the equine therapy which has been proven to work over the past several decades for people with autism and other mental challenges. Horses are a perfect animal for EAP purposes because they are very social animals who react to both positive and negative body language. Their size can be intimidating to some people but also creates a sense of accomplishment when a task is completed.
When used properly, EAP can help people struggling with drug and alcohol addiction connect with deep-seeded emotions and find the inner strength and confidence to complete their addiction treatment program.