Psychiatria Fennica (Oct 2023)
EQUINE-FACILITATED THERAPY IN TREATING AN ASYLUM SEEKER GIRL WITH POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER: A CASE STUDY
Abstract
Previous studies exist in using equine-facilitated therapy (EFT) in treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), however, no studies among refugees or asylum seekers were found. This study aimed at describing and analysing a 12-week EFT process for an asylum seeker girl with PTSD. The polyvagal theory was used as theoretical background, where strengthening the body-mind’s system for regulating arousal is stressed. The case subject was a 13-year-old girl “Meryam”, born in the Middle East, who had entered Finland eight months before the EFT process started. No interpreter was used in the process. The EFT sessions were videotaped and analysed. The methodological approach based on grounded theory. The analyses ended up forming three main categories of relevant contents involving: 1) anxiety regulation and growing the window of tolerance, 2) reciprocal expression of needs and desires and increasing of agency, and 3) strengthening the body-mind integration. All of these increased during the process, observed both in the sessions and in real life. The horse played a crucial role in the process: it acted as a force of attraction that motivated the patient to stretch her window of tolerance in order to be able to perform desired actions, such as riding. Both the therapist and the horse need to be competent in offering enough safety for the patient at all times in the therapeutic triangle. One advantage in using EFT with this target group was the small need for shared spoken language. This paper contends that EFT can be used with this target group.
