The Effects of Equine Therapy on Military Veterans with PTSD

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of an Equine-Assisted Therapy (EAT) group program on the reduction of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms in military veterans. Prior research suggests that longitudinal equine therapy programs result in lowered PTSD scores, however, fail to acknowledge veterans in Suffolk County, Long Island. The researcher conducted a mixed method correlational case study with veterans from a local Veterans Affairs (VA) Center which acted as a control. Beck’s Anxiety Inventory and NIMH Loneliness surveys were disseminated and anecdotal comments were collected in order to achieve an all encompassing approach. Participants included veterans of ages 29-68 from the XYZ equine therapy foundation and from a local VA, with an overwhelming majority of participants being white females. Initial results showed decreased anxiety and loneliness scores, suggesting that equine therapy is associated with a decrease in PTSD symptoms. Therefore, the conclusion can be made that equine therapy is an effective alternative treatment for veterans suffering from PTSD. However, such conclusions are limited to veterans on Long Island, thus, future research should apply this method on a larger, more diverse, sample size to determine effects on a greater population before pushing this therapy out on a wider scale. 
 
 Keywords: Equine-assisted therapy; military veterans; PTSD; anxiety; loneliness