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Ground-based adaptive horsemanship lessons for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder: a randomized controlled
Ellen M Rankins1, Andrea Quinn2, Kenneth H McKeever1
1Equine Science Center, Department of Animal Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, United States.
Frontiers in Psychiatry
|June 12, 2024
Summary
Equine-assisted services (EAS) showed a trend toward reducing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in veterans. While physiological measures did not significantly change, human-animal interaction scores improved over the 8-week adaptive horsemanship program.
Area of Science:
- Psychiatry and Psychology
- Veterinary Medicine
- Human-Animal Interaction
Background:
- Equine-assisted services (EAS) are explored as a therapeutic approach for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
- Existing research suggests potential symptom reduction, but underlying mechanisms and physiological impacts require further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effects of adaptive horsemanship (AH) on PTSD symptoms, hormone levels, and social motor synchrony in veterans.
- To determine if physiological changes occur during veteran-horse interactions.
- To examine how the veteran-horse interaction evolves over an 8-week period.
Main Methods:
- A pilot study randomized veterans with PTSD into adaptive horsemanship (AH) or control (CON) groups for 8 weeks.
- PTSD symptoms were assessed using the PTSD Checklist (PCL-5) and Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) at multiple time points.
- Physiological measures included social motor synchrony tests, blood draws for hormone analysis (cortisol, epinephrine, norepinephrine, oxytocin), and the Human-Animal Interaction Scale (HAIS).
Main Results:
- Global BSI scores significantly differed between the AH and CON groups (p=0.0266), with AH showing improvement.
- PCL-5 scores showed a trend toward differing between groups (p=0.0989).
- No significant differences were found in social motor synchrony or most hormone concentrations; however, epinephrine levels tended to decrease, and HAIS scores increased over the sessions.
Conclusions:
- Adaptive horsemanship may offer benefits for reducing PTSD symptoms in veterans, aligning with existing literature on EAS.
- While physiological changes were not significant in this pilot, the human-animal interaction component showed positive trends.
- Recruitment challenges were noted, highlighting the need for further research with larger sample sizes to confirm these preliminary findings.
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