Equine Assisted Psychology-An Alternative Treatment for Mental Health

以馬為引導過程之媒介的心理輔導

何姍姍(Shan-Shan Ho) ； 謝智謀(Chih-Mou Hsieh)

《體驗教育學報》 8期 (2014/12) Pp. 76-88

摘要

體驗式學習是個人從特定目標所設計的活動情境中，直接從活動中獲得經驗，並在經驗後把學習到的知識與技巧整合與歸納，應用到未來的生活。「以馬為引導過程之媒介的心理輔導」（Equine Assisted Psychology，簡稱EAP）是將活動情境中的引導媒介換成是馬，一同來進行個案與心理師合作的治療過程，在治療過程中藉由各種情境，包括個案與馬的互動與馬的反應，來覺察個案生命議題中的認知、行為與情意。心理師的角色則是藉由引導的技術，協助個案整合自身在活動過程中所獲得的經驗。「以馬為引導過程之媒介的心理輔導」不涉及任何馬術與騎馬的過程，它主要是以個案與馬的互動讓個案覺察到自己的認知、行為與情意會在活動中與馬的反應互相投射，藉由這樣的方式產生隱喻，針對個案的問題尋求解決方式。這種獨特的引導方式和以高低空繩索為媒介的冒險治療相似，也可以達到像傳統輔導治療一樣處理個人情緒問題與增進心理成長的功效。目前這樣的技術在歐美國家已盛行多年，有數以百計的課程、引導師以及不同組織的會員資格與證書，但因許多組織都是自行訂定規範，缺乏統籌的單位，導致這塊領域在認證的標準、引導的方式與專業的術語都良莠不齊。未來EAP的發展需要專業組織來訂定標準規範，以協助在這塊領域中的研究學者與實務工作者建立應具備的知識與技術。

關鍵字

馬之協助治療 ； 馬之引導 ； 經驗教育

並列摘要

Experiential Learning is about people's engaging in certain activities with purposes. It is a process of obtaining meaning from direct experience. Equine Assisted Psychology (EAP) is based on Experiential Learning in which horses are used to help the participants to integrate information they have perceived during the process by incorporating with the therapist and the horse. It does not involve horseback riding and is focused on metaphors and creating personal perspective to address treatment or learning goal. As effective as rope courses and other adventure therapies, this unique approach is designed to help participants deal with their life issues such as emotional growth or personal development and may achieve similar effects as traditional counseling practices. However, there are hundreds of equine programs and thousands of equine specialists and therapists with memberships or certificates. Those organizations are self-guiding and lack unified standards of efficacy, treatment, applications and terminology. Future development of EAP needs standards as a solid foundation to help practitioners or researchers to establish a knowledgeable concept for their demands.

並列關鍵字

Equine Assisted ； Equine Facilitated ； Experiential Education

參考文獻

Blair Mckissock (2012). Horse ethics and the shift the mindset. Retrieved July 17, 2014 from http://www.examiner.com/topic/equine-assisted

EFMHA- Equine Facilitated Mental Health Association (2013). Retrieved July 15, 2014 from http://horsesensebusiness.com/efmha/.

EAGALA- Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (2011). EAGALA information. Retrieved July 18, 2014 from http://www.eagala.org/generalinfo

FEEL-Facilitated Equine Experiential Learning (2013). Retrieved July 18, 2014 from http://www.equineexperiential.com/.

Mareshah Haynes (2012). Warrior wellness Equine-Assistance important part of healing process. Air Force News Service. Retrieved July 24, 2014 from http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123304102