Whispering to horses : childhood sexual abuse, depression and the efficacy of equine facilitated therapy

Experience of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is bothprevalent and under-reported in Australia as it is elsewherein the world. The negative psychosocial and behavioural sequelae of such abuse may be severe and can often last for the lifetime of the individual if therapeutic intervention is not successful. Meta-analyses of treatment outcome evaluations suggest that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy based approaches tend to be the most successful in reducing psychological symptoms (such as PTSD, internalising and externalising disorders), however for some clients these approaches may not be appropriate or as efficacious due to variables such as cognitive maturity or ethnicity. The use of animals within therapy situations to help develop an effective therapeutic alliance is not new but methodologically strong evaluations of Animal Assisted Therapies (AAT) generally and Equine Facilitated Therapy (EFT) specifically are needed in order to provide a solid evidence base regarding for whom, and in what situations, these approaches are the most effective. The current study aimed to evaluate and compare the efficacy of an adjunct EFT program run by Phoenix House (a sexual assault referral centre in Queensland, Australia) for the reduction of depressive symptoms across three age cohorts of CSA victims (children, adolescents and adults). Participants included 15 children (aged 8-11 years), 15adolescents (aged 12-17 years) and 14 adults (aged 19-50 years) with 10 of the 44 participants identifying as Indigenous Australians. A quasi-experimental, repeated measures design was used to evaluate changes in depressive symptoms with all participants responding onthe Child Depression Index or Beck Depression Inventory (as appropriate) at three points in time. Comparisons of change scores between Time 1 (intake to service) and Time 2 (post in-clinic counselling) and Time 2 and Time 3 (post-EFT) indicated that regardless of age or ethnicity, EFT proved to result in a greater decrement in depressive scores than that seen between Times 1 and 2. Implications of this and directions for future research are discussed.