Women and beings with
extra-sensitive nervous systems have unique responses to trauma (Held 2006). Trauma often involves Post Traumatic Stress symptoms such as
reexperiencing the trauma, avoidance, emotional numbing, hyperarousal, guilt,
anger and grief (Kubany, Leisen et al.
2000). Spirituality is integrally connected to
coping. Spirituality can be a
stable burden and resource (like prayer, religious practice, general health);
an intervention (like clergy-facilitated discussion, spirituality focused
psychotherapy, counseling, and exercsie program); coping (like
positive/negative spiritual coping, and problem-focused/emotion-focused
coping); and an outcome (like spiritual well-being, psychosocial adjustment,
health status). One intervention
that involves the spiritual-coping connection, is nature-related therapies. These therapies have been shown to be
effective with trauma victims (Held 2006).
According to the American
Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders, Fourth Edition (2005), Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder is:
The development of characteristic
symptoms following exposure to an extreme traumatic stressor involving direct
personal experience of an event that involves actual or threatened death or
serious injury, or other threat to one’s physical integrity; or witnessing an
event that involves death, injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of
another person; or learning about unexpected or violent death, serious harm or
threat of death or injury experienced by a family member or other close
associate (Criterion A1). The
person’s response to the event must involve intense fear, helplessness, or horror
(or in children, the response must involve disorganized or agitated behavior)
(Criterion A2). The characteristic
symptoms resulting from the exposure to the extreme trauma include persistent
avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma and numbing of general
responsiveness (Criterion C), and persistent symptoms of increased
arousal. The full symptom picture
must be present for more than 1 month (Criterion E), and the disturbance must
cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or
other important areas of functioning (Criterion F).
In other words, trauma involves the
perception of threat with a response ranging from intense fear, helplessness,
disorganized behavior and increased arousal to numbing and avoidance. Symptoms must be present for more than
a month and cause problems functioning in daily life. There is a strong relationship between mental stress and
physical stress. Women who
experience trauma and are unable to cope well often at risk for having serious
medical conditions (Nicolaidis and
Touhouliotis 2006). A growing body of evidence shows that
participation in nature can decrease stress and trauma while increasing coping
skills. Using animals to explore
the mind, body and spirit connection helps with trauma coping and
stresses. Nature lends to a
wholeness of physical and spiritual psyche.
It is not surprising that nature
has therapeutic abilities. Ancient
shamans incorporated nature and nature’s healing powers into traditional
rituals and medicine (e.g. Al-Krena, 1999). Erik Erickson used nature in his therapy by sending his
clients to take hikes in the mountains as part of their therapeutic process
(Kinder, 2002). Adventure therapy
and wilderness therapy also utilize the power of nature in order to help people
(e.g. Simpson & Gillis, 1998). Originally, all ancient psychologies were
“ecopsychologies” (Roszak 2001). However, western society has tended to dichotomize the mind
and the body. René Descartes began the belief that 'there are two distinct and
separate substances in the world: matter, which behaved according to physical
laws, and spirit, which was dimensionless and immaterial' (Newman 2005). Descartes’ philosophies tore apart the established mind-body
connection, which has remained generally separated in western civilization to
this day.
Freud viewed spirituality as
detrimental to psychological health and it was seen as a defense
mechanism. However, spiritual
coping often helps reduce distress and enhances adjustment to tragic events. Kalsched (1999) further states that it is a
person’s spirit that is damaged in trauma. “The person who suffers a mind/body split after trauma is
ill in his psyche…not necessarily in the mind or in the body…closer examination
reveals that there is something missing in these people’s body-experience, and
this we can only vaguely describe as a missing personal spirit…” Spiritual
coping often helps reduce distress and enhances adjustment to tragic
events.
Traditionally, “those who sought to
heal the soul took it for granted that human nature is densely embedded in the
world we share with animal, vegetable, mineral…[and] was in times past
understood to be holistic” (Roszak 2001). Our modern society has become more and more removed from
nature. Technology keeps us
indoors and living in a virtual world.
Some have even called for a new diagnosis: Nature Deficit Disorder (Louv 2005). The importance of the relationship of nature to human beings
has become more recognized (e.g. (Roszak 2001; Berger and
McLeod 2006). It seems that the break between modern
humans and nature is leading to a lack of psychological well-being and to
emotional problems and ill health (Kuhn 2001). The field of “eco-psychology reflects this attitude in its
developing social-therapeutic-environmental philosophy, claiming that
reconnection with nature is essential not only for the maintenance of the
physical world (habitats, animals, plants, landscape, and cultures) but also
for people’s well-being and happiness” (Berger and McLeod 2006).
Simply working in nature and on a farm with no
specific therapy focus has been shown to reduce stress and increase
coping. In a study done in Norway (Berget, Ekeberg et al.
2008),
spending time on a farm looking after cows, horses,
or other animals helped people better manage their anxieties and increase their
confidence. About 60 patients who
visited farms in Norway showed significant improvements in coping with anxiety
and in their confidence in managing new situations, compared to a group of 30
other patients who did not look after animals. The patients -- suffering from schizophrenia, anxiety,
personality or emotional disorders -- visited a farm for three hours twice a
week for 12 weeks and worked mainly with dairy cows, cattle raised for meat and
horses as well as smaller livestock such as sheep and pigs. A trauma victim who spends time on the
farm would naturally begin to develop coping skills to lower anxiety and
improve their emotional status.
Nature can also be
incorporated into trauma treatment more formally as a partner in the therapy
process. Therapy with farm animals, such
as horses alone, has also been found to help trauma victims. One of the most popular is
Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy. In
this method of therapy, individuals interact with horses through a variety of
activities aimed at eliciting metaphors for the person’s life. For example, when a woman shows fear of
the horse it becomes a metaphor for the fear she faces in her everyday
life. The metaphor can be
furthered in that she is taught to face her fear by facing the horse. In this way, interactions between the
client and the horse can be used to further therapeutic goals
One study (Held 2006) of equine interaction with
women who had experienced trauma found that trauma healing, intuition, sociosensual
awareness, leadership and non-verbal skills, survival skills and spiritual
awareness were enhanced through learning from horses. The dissociation, or “freezing,” that trauma survivors often
have can be dispersed through sensory awareness and the act of being present (Levine 1997). Being present helps the individual to focus their attention
and prevents them from dissociating to or away from the traumatic event. Horses require and teach the ability to
stay in the present, aiding traumatized individuals to learn this important
skill (Held 2006).
Horses have a natural curiosity and
playfulness that could encourage trauma victims to try new and enjoyable
behaviors. “Play requires an
openness that many trauma survivors sometimes lose in their rigid need for
control” (Held 2006). When humans and horses develop a relationship, it must be
based on respect, affection and attention. Trauma victims “are often play-deprived, and performance and
perfection-driven” (Held 2006). Therefore, building on the skills of respect, affection and
attention as well as learning to trust and opening up through interaction with
the horse can help the traumatized person to open up and develop improved
relations intrapsychically and with others.
One intervention for the development of coping with trauma victims is pendulation (Levine 1997). This is a practice that helps the traumatized person alternate between feelings of mastery and feelings of intimidation or fear. It is believed that going between these two opposites helps to increase a person’s capacity for dealing with challenging life situations without reverting back to the state of trauma victim. Held (Held 2006) believes that the use of a horse can be a pendulation intervention. A half-ton horse can easily injure a person and illicits feelings of fear and intimidation. Yet, a horse’s natural willingness to please and interact with people gives the traumatized person myriad opportunity to gain skills of mastery. Working with a horse provides an threatening and powerful, yet ironically a relatively safe escort in the journey of practicing mastery and responding to fear without emotional collapse.
Horses and nature help heal us and create and maintain spiritual growth. Horses teach us to live in the moment with peace and serenity in relation to nature. Spending time with nature and animals away from the rules and expectations of modern society helps us to reconnect with our spiritual self and fills our internal emptiness. Nature provides a sacred space where we can learn to cope and helps us to cope simply by being there.
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