Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Oct;47(4):925-944.
doi: 10.1111/jmft.12485. Epub 2021 Jan 29.

Equine-assisted psychotherapy with traumatized couples-Improvement of relationship quality and psychological symptoms

Gerd Willmund  1 , Peter Zimmermann  1 , Christina Alliger-Horn  1 , Alexander Varn  1 , Christian Fischer  2 , Ilka Parent  3 , Andreas Sobottka  4 , Robert Bering  4 , Carolyn Rose  1 , Andreas Ströhle  5 , Kai Köhler  1
Affiliations

Equine-assisted psychotherapy with traumatized couples-Improvement of relationship quality and psychological symptoms

Gerd Willmund et al. J Marital Fam Ther. 2021 Oct.

Abstract

Many traumatised individuals suffering from deployment related PTSD report severe problems in their relationships. Up until now, the therapeutic interventions used by the German Armed Forces have rarely targeted these problems through the integration of partners. For this reason, a Program designed specifically for couples was developed. In this prospective study equine-assisted psychotherapy was applied to soldiers and their spouses. The study population consisted of n = 36 couples, divided in n = 20 therapy group with a inpatient equine-assisted intervention and a 16-couples control group. After the intervention, numerous significant improvements occurred in the therapy group in the areas of current, somatic and communication problems, depressive symptoms and partnership quality but not in the control group. PTSD was reduced significantly on the sub-scale associated with negative thoughts. These results show that the intervention is an effective way to improve partnership quality and reduce the stressors that the partners of afflicted service members face.

Keywords: couples < populations; intervention/technique < clinical; outcome < research.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Alliger-Horn, C., Zimmermann, P., & Mitte, K. (2014). Predictors of the course of cognitive behavioral group treatment of German Bundeswehr soldiers after military interventions. Verhaltenstherapie, 24(4), 2. https://doi.org/10.1159/000369303.
    1. Brewin, C. R., Andrews, B., & Valentine, J. D. (2000). Meta-analysis of risk factors for posttraumatic stress disorder in trauma-exposed adults. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 68(5), 748-766. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.68.5.748.
    1. Carlson, K. D., & Schmidt, F. L. (1999). Impact of experimental design on effect size: Findings from the research literature on training. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84(6), 851-862. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.84.6.851.
    1. Chalmers, D., Dell, C., Dixon, J., Dowling, T., & Hanrahan, C. (2020). Recognizing animals as an important part of helping. Critical Social Work, 21(1), 2-29. https://doi.org/10.22329/csw.v21i1.6224.
    1. Cole, K. M., Gawlinski, A., Steers, N., & Kotlerman, J. (2007). Animal-assisted therapy in patients hospitalized with heart failure. American Journal of Critical Care: an Official Publication, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, 16(6), 575-585; quiz 586; discussion 587-588.

LinkOut - more resources