EAP and Depression

Many people come to Fresh Steps because they are suffering from depression. Depression has symptoms to include feelings of sadness, lack of interest in usual activities, poor appetite or overeating, having no energy or feeling fatigued, inability to sleep or sleeping too much, feeling hopeless, having a hard time concentrating or working, among others. See you therapist and talk about your symptoms to find out if a mood disorder describes your symptoms. You may find that medication paired with therapy helpful.

Using EAP to treat depression has one difficult part - getting to the arena to work. If you are depressed so much that you are unable to get to your appointments, you may need to see a psychiatrist for medical assistance. If you are able to make it to see the horses, talk to your therapist about how you feel, and be sure to give yourself time with your new friend, the horse.

Why the long face? Horse faces are very emotive.

If you are an EAP practitioner, be sure to give your clients time to be with their horse, and talk about how the horse feels about them. How does the horse feel today? Is the horse engaged with your today, or is the horse occupied with looking out the door or sniffing items in the arena. What does that mean about the horse, and about you?

Since self-esteem can be low with depressed mood, many comments may reflect this, such as the horse not liking me, horse is disinterested, etc. Take time to guide clients to change this feeling by noting behaviors of the horse that challenge this negative view. For example, what are some other possible feelings the horse may have? We have 8 dodge balls with opposite feelings words on each. Sometimes it is easy to just start with having an individual or family explore the feelings words and take some time to think about what each one means. It may also be helpful to see if clients notice that the words are opposites (for children). 

Feelings Balls: dodge balls with paint marker words added to each side

Having a vocabulary for the feelings one is having is essential to sharing with others. In EAP, people have the chance to show how they feel, and process feelings without talking about them. However, outside the arena, family members hope for verbal communication that will help them better understand their loved one. It is ultimately the goal to have a person feel better, but natural supports to include friends and family are necessary for prolonged healing and connection.

Activities that are a great start are feeling for breathing, where on the horse's body can you feel breathing? Sometimes we bring out the stethoscope, and allow participants to listen to breathing and heart beats. This activity helps 'center' a person, and keep them in the present moment. Adults tend to daydream about what was, or worry about what will be. Keeping them focused on the here and now with their horse will help refocus unhelpful cognition.

When there is a success, big or small, be sure to celebrate this success. This could be as simple as having a treat for the horse, or spending time in green pasture together. Be creative. This is simple, it is using positive reinforcement for the little things, like even showing up for a session despite feeling fatigued! Remember also to use retreat and approach so that clients can build trust and rapport with your therapeutic team as well as with their horse.

Feeling stuck? An introduction to getting un-stuck.

There are times in therapy when clients get stuck. As a client, this can be very frustrating, and can even lead some to seek out a new therapist, or a new type of treatment. Worse, some clients may give up on the process of healing all together, because they start to believe that there is no hope. Clearly, being stuck is something to avoid. 

It seems that it should be easy to keep people interested in treatment when they get to interact with horses, but getting stuck still happens. As a therapist, one may decide it is the clients falt. For example, the client must be doing something wrong such as not sharing, being defensive, or using defense mechanisms, or is just not invested in treatment. This may be true, but may also be an excuse so the therapist does not feel like a failure! If you are a treatment professional, ask yourself if there is something more going on. Remember, "it's never about what it's about", meaning, it is often not what is being talked about, rather, it is something deeper. If you are the person who is stuck, ask the same question! There are three areas that can be reviewed to determine how to get things moving again, and this article will, therefore, be divided into three parts:

1. Pain vs Pressure
2.  Ball vs Chair
3. Approach vs Retreat

The first, Pain versus Pressure, is something I learned about through EAGALA, and the last two, are Parelli Natural Horsemanship concepts that I have found very helpful with myself and my clients.