Here’s how exercise reduces anxiety and makes you feel more connected
We all know exercise makes your body healthier and helps you live longer. A growing body of research shows exercise is also linked to a wide range of mood-based and social benefits.
People who are physically active are happier and more satisfied with their lives. They have a stronger sense of purpose, feel more gratitude, are more connected to their communities, and are less likely to be lonely or anxious.
Why? A big part has to do with how being active affects the brain. Here are five surprising ways exercise is good for your mind.
The exercise “high” primes you to connect with others
While typically described as a runner’s high, an exercise-induced mood boost is not exclusive to running. Similar good feelings can be found in any sustained physical activity, such as yoga, swimming and dancing.
Scientists long speculated that endorphins are behind the high, but research shows the high is linked to another class of brain chemicals: endocannabinoids(the same chemicals mimicked by cannabis) — what neuroscientists describe as the “don’t worry, be happy” chemical. Endocannabinoids reduce anxiety and induce a state of contentment. These brain chemicals also increase dopamine in the brain’s reward system, which fuels feelings of optimism.
Because endocannabinoids also increase the pleasure we derive from being around others, the exercise high primes us to connect. This makes exercise an excellent way to strengthen relationships. Among married couples, when spouses exercise together, both partners report more closeness later that day, studies show, including feeling loved and supported.
Another study shows that on days when people exercise, they experience more positive interactions with friends and family. As one runner said to me, “My family will sometimes send me out running, as they know that I will come back a much better person.”
Exercise can make your brain more sensitive to joy
Exercise provides a low-dose jolt to the brain’s reward centers — the system that helps you anticipate pleasure, feel motivated and maintain hope. Over time, regular exercise remodels the reward system, leading to higher circulating levels of dopamine and more available dopamine receptors. In this way, exercise can both relieve depression and expand your capacity for joy.
These changes can also repair the neurological havoc wreaked by substance abuse. Substance abuse lowers the level of dopamine in your brain and reduces the availability of dopamine receptors. Exercise can reverse this. In one randomized trial, adults in treatment for methamphetamine abuse participated in an hour of walking, jogging and strength training three times a week. After eight weeks, their brains showed an increase in dopamine receptor availability in the reward system.
Jump-starting the brain’s reward system benefits not just those who struggle with depression or addiction. Adults lose up to 13 percent of the dopamine receptors in the reward system with each passing decade. This loss leads to less enjoyment of everyday pleasures, but physical activity can prevent the decline. Active older adults have reward systems that more closely resemble those of individuals who are decades younger.
Exercise makes you brave
Courage is another side effect of how physical activity changes the brain. Exercise increases connections among areas of the brain that calm anxiety. Regular physical activity can also modify the default state of the nervous system so that it becomes more balanced and less prone to fight, flight or fright.
The latest research even suggests that lactate — a metabolic byproduct of exercise — has positive effects on mental health. After lactate is released by muscles, it travels through the bloodstream to the brain, where it can reduce anxiety and protect against depression.
Sometimes, specific movements allow us to experience ourselves as brave. The mind instinctively makes sense out of physical actions. So much of the language we use to describe courage relies on metaphors of the body: We overcome obstacles and break through barriers. We carry burdens, reach out for help and lift one another up.
When we are faced with adversity or we doubt our own strength, it can help to feel these actions in our bodies. Sometimes we need to climb an actual hill or work together to shoulder a heavy load to know these traits are a part of us.
Moving with others builds trust and belonging
French sociologist Émile Durkheim popularized the term collective effervescence to describe the euphoric self-transcendence individuals feel when they move together in ritual, prayer or work. Group exercise, such as yoga, dance or indoor cycling classes, is one of the most powerful ways to experience this joy.
Moving in the same way, and at the same time, as others triggers a release of endorphins. This is why dancers and rowers who move in sync show an increase in pain tolerance. But endorphins don’t just make us feel good; they help us bond, too. People who share an endorphin rush feel closer to one another afterward. It’s a powerful mechanism for forming friendships, even with people we don’t know.
Many aspects of a group exercise experience amplify the bonding effects of synchronized movement. For example, the more you get your heart rate up, the closer you feel to the people you move with. Adding music enhances the effect. Breathing in unison — as in a yoga or tai chi class — can also increase the feeling of collective joy. If you want to experience a state of belonging and self-transcendence, find a place where you can move, breathe and sweat with others.
Physical accomplishments change how you think about yourself and what you are capable of. One woman I spoke with shared a story about how when she was in her early 20s and severely depressed, she made a plan to take her own life. The day she intended to go through with it, she went to the gym for one last workout. She dead-lifted 185 pounds, a personal best. When she put the bar down, she realized that she didn’t want to die. Instead, she remembers, “I wanted to see how strong I could become.” Five years later, she can dead lift 300 pounds.
If there is a voice in your head saying, “You’re too old, too awkward, too big, too broken, too weak,” sensations from movement can provide a compelling counterargument. When you move with grace, your brain perceives the elongation of your limbs and the fluidity of your steps, and realizes, “I am graceful.” When you move with power, your brain encodes the explosive contraction of muscles, senses the speed of the action and understands, “I am powerful.” To discover a new part of yourself, choose a movement that reflects the qualities you want to develop.
Any form of exercise can lead to these effects. Move in whatever way feels good or makes you feel good about yourself. And know that you are not just strengthening your heart and your muscles. You are also strengthening your capacity to experience happiness, connection and courage.
Trying a new activity can transform your self-image
Physical accomplishments change how you think about yourself and what you are capable of. One woman I spoke with shared a story about how when she was in her early 20s and severely depressed, she made a plan to take her own life. The day she intended to go through with it, she went to the gym for one last workout. She dead-lifted 185 pounds, a personal best. When she put the bar down, she realized that she didn’t want to die. Instead, she remembers, “I wanted to see how strong I could become.” Five years later, she can dead lift 300 pounds.
If there is a voice in your head saying, “You’re too old, too awkward, too big, too broken, too weak,” sensations from movement can provide a compelling counterargument. When you move with grace, your brain perceives the elongation of your limbs and the fluidity of your steps, and realizes, “I am graceful.” When you move with power, your brain encodes the explosive contraction of muscles, senses the speed of the action and understands, “I am powerful.” To discover a new part of yourself, choose a movement that reflects the qualities you want to develop.
Any form of exercise can lead to these effects. Move in whatever way feels good or makes you feel good about yourself. And know that you are not just strengthening your heart and your muscles. You are also strengthening your capacity to experience happiness, connection and courage.
Change Counseling Welcomes Professional Counselor Kelsey Daniels to Our Team
Kelsey Daniels
Kelsey Daniels is a Licensed Professional Counselor who earned a Masters Degree from the University of New Haven in Community Psychology with a concentration in Forensic Psychology. Her approach to therapy is person-centered and strengths-based. She works to create a non-judgmental environment where people feel safe and heard. She believes that humor and transparency are key to the therapeutic relationship and to helping people learn to heal and grow.
Kelsey is currently accepting new clients at our Willimantic and Mansfield locations. Contact us here to set up an appointment with her today!
Therapy Doesn’t Mean Something’s Wrong With You
Turns Out Monkey Bars And Kickball Might Be Good For The Brain
Recess at Eagle Mountain Elementary School in Fort Worth, Texas, looks much like recess anyplace else. Some kids run and squeal, others swing, while a half-dozen of their peers are bunched up on the slide.
Journey Orebaugh, a 6-year-old in an off-white princess dress, is playing family.
"You just get a bunch of people and just act like who you want to be," she says. Journey likes to play the mom.
But in one sense, recess at Eagle Mountain is different. Journey gets more opportunities to role-play than many of her peers, because recess happens a lot here — four times a day, 15 minutes a pop for kindergartners and first-graders.
That's much more time on the playground than most public school kids get in the U.S. Over the past couple of decades, schools have cut recess time to make room for tests and test prep.
Ask Journey why she and her friends get so much more recess time, and she giggles. "Lucky," she says.
But ask the adults, and they'll tell you it's because Eagle Mountain is part of a project in which the school day is modeled after the Finnish school system, which consistently scores at or near the top in international education rankings. The project's designer is Texas Christian University kinesiologist Debbie Rhea.
"I went over there to find out where they've come in the last 20 to 25 years. Yes, their test scores are good, but they are also healthy in many regards," she says.
The biggest difference Rhea noticed was that students in Finland get much more recess than American kids do. "So, I came back with the idea to bring recess back to the schools. Not just one recess, but multiple recesses."
This year, Eagle Mountain Elementary started tripling recess time, from 20 minutes to an hour. The program also focuses on character development --things like empathy and positive behavior.
Rhea is working with a handful of local schools already. More will join next year in Texas, California and Oklahoma.
I came back with the idea to bring recess back to the schools. Not just one recess, but multiple recesses.
Kinesiologist Debbie Rhea
Teachers at Eagle Mountain say they've seen a huge transformation in their students. They say kids are less distracted, they make more eye contact, and they tattle less.
And then there are the pencils.
"You know why I was sharpening them? Because they were grinding on them, they were breaking them, they were chewing on them. They're not doing that now. They're actually using their pencils for the way that they were designed — to write things!" says teacher Cathy Wells.
Wells and fellow first-grade teacher Donna McBride have six decades of teaching between them and say this year feels different. They were nervous about fitting in all the extra recess and covering the basics, but Wells says that halfway through the school year, her kids are way ahead of schedule.
"If you want a child to be attentive and stay on task, and also if you want them to encode the information you're giving them in their memory, you've got to give them regular breaks," says Ohio State University pediatrician Bob Murray.
He has compiled research that backs up what teachers at Eagle Mountain are seeing in class. Murray says brain imaging has shown that kids learn better after a break for physical activity and unstructured play.
He and his colleagues wrote up a policy statement for the American Academy of Pediatrics suggesting that kids with regular recess behave better, are physically healthier and exhibit stronger social and emotional development. That's as school districts nationwide have been taking recess out of the school day.
"They want more academic time, they want more time to do the core subjects," Murray says. "They have pretty much carved away anything that got in the way of those minutes for teaching."
Debbie Rhea, the Texas Christian University kinesiologist, sees her program as a shift away from that thinking to giving kids more than just academics.
"We keep thinking as adults that we need to control the way they do things. I wish we'd get out of that. They know how to play, they know how to structure their own play — they need that time to grow responsibly."
When it comes down to it, Rhea says, our kids are better off if we just let them be kids.
Problem vs. Solution Focused
Everyone’s Growth Looks Different
Young Workers Seek Mental Health Accommodations, Employers Try to Keep Up
Managers and younger employees are struggling to adapt as a generation of people with higher rates of reported mental illness enter the workforce.
Many of these new workers are coming to offices from colleges and high schools where they received accommodations, such as extra time to take tests or complete assignments—in some cases from elementary school onward. They are confronting a world of work that operates under different legal standards and less-flexible pressures and deadlines.
Symptoms related to mental illnesses covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act—such as severe anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder—can be ambiguous, unpredictable, highly individualized and often invisible. That makes accommodating these disabilities one of the more difficult areas for employers, according to employment attorneys and disability experts.
“When an employee shows up with their leg in a cast, you know what the accommodations are,” said Jen Rubin, a partner with the management-side law firm Mintz. “When someone comes in and says, ‘I have severe anxiety’ or ‘I have stress,’ it’s much harder.”
Workers are making more requests for accommodations, lawyers say, and more are alleging that they are experiencing discrimination based on mental-health conditions.
The number of charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission citing discrimination related to anxiety disorders climbed to 371 in 2019 compared with 65 in 2006, according to the latest federal figures. The number that cite post-traumatic stress disorder rose to 208 from 35 in that time.
The EEOC has sued employers for allegedly firing workers with mental-health conditions or declining to provide reasonable accommodations. In one case, the agency sued a trucking company that allegedly charged a fee to a driver who needed a service animal in his vehicle to help control his anxiety. The company, Transport America, agreed to pay the driver $22,500 to settle. It didn’t admit liability in the consent decree and declined to comment about the case.
Another case involved a young woman with autism and anxiety who brought a job coach to an interview at a Party City store. The hiring manager allegedly attempted to cut the interview short and made demeaning comments about the applicant. The company agreed to pay $155,000 to settle. It didn’t admit liability and didn’t respond to a request for comment.
“Employers who fall back on fears or stereotypes could end up violating the ADA,” said Sharon Rennert, a senior attorney adviser at the EEOC. A requested accommodation may be unworkable, she added. For example, if call-center employees are expected to answer 10 to 15 calls an hour, and someone says their anxiety prevents them from answering more than five, the employer might argue that the accommodation deviates from standards that apply to all call-center employees.
“In that circumstance, the employer would have legitimate reason to say no,” Ms. Rennert said.
Several management-side lawyers said they advise clients that there is no one-size-fits-all accommodation for mental-health conditions, and that they should work with employees, when possible, to adapt work to meet business goals without engaging in illegal discrimination.
Young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 have the highest prevalence of serious mental illness among all age groups, with a rate of 7.5%, compared with 5.6% for ages 26 to 49, and 2.7% for those over 50, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
Students in the U.S. who receive a so-called 504 designation—which is meant to give people with difficulties such as Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder a chance to handle the stress of schoolwork at their own pace or with accommodation—more than tripled from 2000 to 2016, according to federal data.
But rules that guide educational accommodations, such as who gets extra time for assignments, are different from those governing employment situations, Ms. Rennert said. Employers are required to offer “reasonable accommodations,” but they can also decline requests by arguing they create an undue hardship because of cost, productivity or some other reason.
“Historically, undue hardships focused on money,” said Domenique Camacho Moran, head of the labor and employment practice at law firm Farrell Fritz PC. A person with back problems might ask for a special chair, for instance, and their employer could deny it if the chair cost $7,000. Today, she said, “it’s less about a specific product and much more about a change in the work itself: the way it’s done, when it’s done, where it’s done.”
Companies are seeing more requests to work from home, have flexible schedules or take unpaid leaves of absence, she said. Sometimes employees choose not to disclose their conditions, or not to ask for accommodations, for fear of being stigmatized or penalized, which can create problems if their work begins to suffer, she said.
“You can end up in a scenario where someone is about to get fired and it turns out there was a really simple fix and it never came up,” Ms. Moran said. “The employee never raised concerns and suddenly it’s the eleventh hour.”
Even when employees receive accommodations, “new supervisor syndrome” can create instability, said Brian East, senior attorney with Disability Rights Texas. If a manager leaves, for instance, their replacement may bristle when they learn of an accommodation, such as a person’s need to have directions written in an email rather than shouted across a room.
“The supervisor doesn’t like it, thinks it’s a hassle and instead of trying to work with the person, they ratchet up the pressure in the hopes that the person will leave,” he said.
Attorneys and advocates stress that designing workplace accommodations requires an interactive process between employee and employer.
“If it’s a five-person office and the one person who does finance asks for a two-month leave—maybe they can’t afford to let the person do that,” said Ms. Rubin. “The employer can say, ‘How about you take a week off?’
“It becomes a negotiation,” she said. “That’s what the law is trying to promote.”
Complements for Kids Not Based on Appearance
Antidepressant Microbes In Soil: How Soil Makes Your Brain Happy
Soil microbes have been found to have similar effects on the brain as prozac, without the negative side effects and potential for chemical dependency and withdrawal.
It turns out getting in the garden and getting dirty is a natural antidepressant due to unique microbes in healthy organic soil. Working and playing in soil can actually make you happier and healthier.
What gardeners and farmers have talked about for millennia is now verifiable by science. Feeling like your garden or farm is your happy place is no coincidence!
The soil microbe mycobacterium vaccae has been found to mirror the effect on neurons in the brain that drugs like Prozac can provide, but without side effects.
The way it works is the “happy” microbes in soil cause cytokine levels to rise, which leads to the production of more serotonin.
This bacterium is found in healthy soil and when humans are exposed to it, the microbe stimulates serotonin production. Serotonin makes us feel relaxed and happier.
Conversely, lack of serotonin has been linked to depression, anxiety, OCD, and bipolar disorders.
Some studies on cancer patients have demonstrated better quality of life and less stress when patients were given mycobacterium vaccae.
Scientists also tested the microbe via injection and ingestion on rats and compared results to a control group. They found that cognitive ability, lower stress, and better concentration were notable benefits that lasted 3 weeks time.
Mycobacterium antidepressant microbes in soil are also being investigated for improving cognitive function, Crohn’s disease, and even rheumatoid arthritis.
Farmers and gardeners come in contact with this bacterium by having topical contact with it, inhaling it, and getting it into their bloodstreams when they have small cuts or other pathways for infection.
So while the physical act of gardening may reduce stress and lift moods in and of itself, it is fascinating to know there is some science to add to the happy gardener sentiment.
With no adverse health effects caused by mycobacterium vaccae and so much to gain, you might as well grow something. As a bonus you’ll produce fresh, local food, or at least something pretty to smell and look at if flowers and ornamentals are your thing. Bees and other pollinators will appreciate it too!
Advice From A Tree
Change Counseling Welcomes Professional Counselor Amanda Nowak to Our Team
Amanda Nowak
Amanda Nowak is a Licensed Professional Counselor who earned a Masters of Counseling Psychology degree from Assumption College with a concentration in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. She brings humanistic qualities to the therapy experience through the promotion of mutual trust and understanding to collaboratively identity goals and objectives. Her clinical training and experience aid in cultivating an empowering opportunity for clients to enhance growth and move forward in strengthening their personal needs. She strives to provide a safe and genuine environment for all individuals and is privileged to take part in their healing process.
Amanda is currently accepting new clients at our Putnam location. Contact us here to set up an appointment with her today!
Intro to the Five Love Languages
Looking to improve your self-love or relationships with your loved ones? Taking the Love Languages Quiz can help you to connect with yourself and others on a deeper, more meaningful level. Check it out here.
Take a Step Back and Breathe
Using Equine Therapy as Mental Health Treatment
What Horses Bring to the Therapeutic Process
Animals can offer an extraordinary amount of emotional support. Beyond the pet-owner relationship that many of us have lovingly experienced, animals are sometimes used in therapeutic settings to help clients proceed through challenging emotional experiences.
Equine-assisted psychotherapy allows for horses to be incorporated into the therapeutic process. With matured horses weighing anywhere in the range of 900 to 2,000 pounds or more, it might feel a bit intimidating to have such a large, majestic creature sitting in your therapy sessions. However, equine-assisted therapy is growing in popularity due to its experiential approach and some burgeoning evidence of its effectiveness.
There are a variety of terms used to describe or reference equine-assisted psychotherapy, such as:
Equine-assisted mental healthEquine-assisted counseling
Equine facilitated psychotherapy
Equine-assisted therapy
The last term, equine-assisted therapy, can also often refer to other forms of therapy where horses are used, such as with occupational therapy.
Who It's For
Equine-assisted psychotherapy (EAP) can be used with a variety of populations and in a variety of therapeutic settings. In fact, horses can be used in counseling with individuals of all ages, even with families and groups. Equine-assisted psychotherapy is often not the sole form of treatment, but rather a complementary therapeutic service to be used in partnership with more traditional treatment. Offering a much different experience than traditional talk therapy, EAP brings people outdoors and offers an opportunity to use all senses while learning and processing through emotional challenges.
Children and Teens
Equine facilitated psychotherapy may be just as effective with children and teens as it is with adult clients. As with adults, children can experience challenges such as trauma, anxiety, depression, PTSD, and more. Equine therapy offers them a therapeutic environment that can feel less threatening and more inviting than a traditional talk therapy office. The majority of children participating in EAP are between the ages of 6 to 18 years old. They often find it difficult to open up and process painful emotions and experiences. Equine-assisted psychotherapy allows youth, and people of all ages, to work on issues such as:
Emotional awareness
Assertiveness
Social skills
Confidence
Trust in self
Trust in others
Empathy
Problem-solving skills
Developing and maintaining relationships
Benefits
Although a variety of animals can be used in the psychotherapeutic process, horses offer unique traits that have come to make them a top choice for animal-assisted therapies. According to anxiety expert Dr. Robin Zasio, horses bring the following unique elements to the therapy process.
Non-Judgmental and Unbiased
As much as humans, especially therapists, do our best to offer a safe space for clients to explore deep emotional hurts and painful experiences, it can be uncomfortable for clients to openly share their thoughts.Building therapeutic rapport can take time, working toward building trust and practicing vulnerability in session. Having the horse present may offer a sense of peace, as they only will react to the client's behavior and emotions with no threat of bias or any judgment of their emotional experience.
Feedback and Mirroring
Horses are keen observers, vigilant and sensitive to movement and emotion. They often mirror a client's behavior or emotions, conveying understanding and connection that allows the client to feel safe.This also allows for clients to maintain a sense of self-awareness, using the horse's behavior and interactions for feedback and opportunities to check in and process what is happening in the moment.
Managing Vulnerability
As clients might find themselves vulnerable when trying to open up about emotional challenges, past experiences, or life transitions, the horse can offer a reference point to use for processing.If something feels too painful to speak of, it can feel a bit easier for clients to process using the horse as an example, or to align their experience with the horse's experiences in the moment. Externalizing the content in this way can make things easier to approach and process through.
Conditions
Equine therapy has some evidence supporting its effectiveness in helping to manage several conditions.
Anxiety
Anxiety affects more than 17 million Americans. Although a level of anxiety can be felt by many of us at points in our lives, especially around experiences involving change and uncertainty, there are times when people experience anxiety that meets clinical diagnostic criteria. Anxiety-related conditions include:
Many people who struggle with anxiety find themselves stuck in worry about their past and fearful about their future. As Dr. Zasio points out, working with a horse during the therapeutic process can create an opportunity for clients to "... stay present and focused on the task at hand."
Since horses are vigilant and sensitive to behavior and emotions, they can sense danger and respond with a heightened awareness, which typically leads to a change in their behavior and possible attempts to get away. Clients who struggle with anxiety can relate to this developed ability to sense danger cues and respond in a heightened way.
Processing challenges through the behavior of the horse can be easier for clients than speaking directly about their own personal experiences with anxiety.
Another benefit to using equine-assisted psychotherapy in the treatment of anxiety is to help clients practice vulnerability in a safe environment. As clients learn to interact with the horse and try new things, they are being asked to step out of their comfort zone with the help and support of the therapist and the horse. Clients can then process their experience, such as the fears and challenges, as well as any insights, discoveries or victories in those moments during therapy.
PTSD
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can feel debilitating, marked by increased arousal and reactivity, intrusive memories and nightmares, and avoidance symptoms after a traumatic event. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (AADA), it is estimated that 7.7 million people aged 18 or older struggle with PTSD. Children, teens, and adults can struggle with PTSD.
Although people can experience a variety of traumatic events that could influence the development of PTSD, those who have experienced sexual assault, as well as veterans who have experienced combat, are populations who tend to have higher rates of the development of PTSD.
The use of equine-assisted psychotherapy in the treatment of PTSD for veterans is growing. Tess Hassett, a riding instructor at the Northern Virginia Therapeutic Riding Program, has a background in clinical psychology and is working with veterans using EAP.
Describing her work with veterans, Hassett noted, "A lot of them have said that after what they've been through with their PTSD and depression, they never thought they'd be able to bond with someone again and feel that personal connection. But with their horse, they're feeling that connection. They're able to take that into the rest of their lives and into their relationships."
Addiction Treatment
It is known that drug and alcohol addiction continues to rise and be problematic in the United States. The Center for Disease Control estimated that over 72,000 people died from a drug overdose in 2017. Many of those were due to the opioid epidemic, with approximately 50,000 deaths occurring as a result of opioid use. The need for effective therapies to help treat addiction is at an all-time high.
Equine-assisted psychotherapy offers a unique approach to working with addiction and those with co-occurring conditions. A co-occurring condition, what used to be referred to as a dual diagnosis, describes someone who struggles with addiction in addition to having another mental health condition. This is quite common for those with substance abuse and addiction challenges, as the additional concerns can include a variety of things, such as anxiety, depression, OCD, or PTSD.
The ultimate goal of addiction treatment is to help clients live sober, healthy and productive lives. Many times in addiction treatment, clients are also working hard to heal hurts within relationship dynamics, such as within a family or with their partner. Learning to trust, practice vulnerability and communicate effectively can be a challenge during this treatment process.
EAP can help clients learn how to develop a sense of trust through their interactions with the horse, gaining a sense of safety, building relationship, encouraging clients to be vulnerable as they learn new things and experience interactions with their horse.
ADHD
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), is an additional area where equine-assisted psychotherapy can be helpful. Some report EAP is appealing to adults and youth with ADHD because it offers them an active, fun, hands-on experience.
During equine-assisted therapy, the client is typically with a trained therapist, an equine specialist, and the horse. There is no riding necessarily involved with equine-assisted psychotherapy. Rather, the focus is on presence, attention, mindfulness, boundaries, social cues, and more.
Kay Trotter, PhD, a licensed professional counselor, author, and founder of Equine Partners in Counseling (EPIC) Enterprises, was one of the first to dedicate research to the effectiveness of equine-assisted psychotherapy.
Trotter found that introducing horses to the therapeutic process showed significantly increased positive behaviors while reducing negative behaviors.
Her study was one of the first published on the effectiveness of EAP, published in the Journal for Creativity in Mental Health.
It has been shown that clients can experience a variety of benefit from equine-assisted psychotherapy, such as:
Reduced aggression
Improved focus
Improved adjustment to routines and guidelines
Increase in self-esteem
Increase in self-respect
Friendships feeling less stressful
For clients struggling with ADHD, the sense of accomplishment in an equine-assisted psychotherapy session can be of great benefit. As a licensed clinical social worker, Kit Muellner describes that "... clients feel that they've achieved something on their own, rather than being told to do something by a parent or teacher. A 1,500-pound animal responds the way you want him to because you were able to focus. So you've accomplished something you wanted to do, versus something that somebody else wanted you to do."
This sense of accomplishment can feel significant for anyone, especially someone who struggles with ADHD. In those moments, they are getting instant feedback from their horse and learning how to develop trust, communicate effectively, and how to work toward meeting a personal goal or milestone.
Boundaries Are Essential
Tips for Self-Help are Here!
How The Loss Of U.S. Psychiatric Hospitals Led To A Mental Health Crisis
A severe shortage of inpatient care for people with mental illness is amounting to a public health crisis, as the number of individuals struggling with a range of psychiatric problems continues to rise.
The revelation that the gunman in the Sutherland Springs, Texas, church shooting escaped from a psychiatric hospital in 2012 is renewing concerns about the state of mental health care in this country. A study published in the journal Psychiatric Services estimates 3.4 percent of Americans — more than 8 million people — suffer from serious psychological problems.
The disappearance of long-term-care facilities and psychiatric beds has escalated over the past decade, sparked by a trend toward deinstitutionalization of psychiatric patients in the 1950s and '60s, says Dominic Sisti, director of the Scattergood Program for Applied Ethics of Behavioral Health Care at the University of Pennsylvania.
"State hospitals began to realize that individuals who were there probably could do well in the community," he tells Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson. "It was well-intended, but what I believe happened over the past 50 years is that there's been such an evaporation of psychiatric therapeutic spaces that now we lack a sufficient number of psychiatric beds."
A concerted effort to grow community-based care options that were less restrictive grew out of the civil rights movement and a series of scandals due to the lack of oversight in psychiatric care, Sisti says. While those efforts have been successful for many, a significant group of people who require structured inpatient care can't get it, often because of funding issues.
A 2012 report by the Treatment Advocacy Center, a nonprofit organization that works to remove treatment barriers for people with mental illness, found the number of psychiatric beds decreased by 14 percent from 2005 to 2010. That year, there were 50,509 state psychiatric beds, meaning there were only 14 beds available per 100,000 people.
"Many times individuals who really do require intensive psychiatric care find themselves homeless or more and more in prison," Sisti says. "Much of our mental health care now for individuals with serious mental illness has been shifted to correctional facilities."
The percentage of people with serious mental illness in prisons rose from .7 percent in 1880 to 21 percent in 2005, according to the Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights.
Many of the private mental health hospitals still in operation do not accept insurance and can cost upwards of $30,000 per month, Sisti says. For many low-income patients, Medicaid is the only path to mental health care, but a provision in the law prevents the federal government from paying for long-term care in an institution.
As a result, many people who experience a serious mental health crisis end up in the emergency room. According to data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, between 2001 and 2011, 6 percent of all emergency department patients had a psychiatric condition. Nearly 11 percent of those patients require transfer to another facility, but there are often no beds available.
"We are the wrong site for these patients," Dr. Thomas Chun, an associate professor of emergency medicine and pediatrics at Brown University, told NPR last year. "Our crazy, chaotic environment is not a good place for them."
Most hospitals are unable to take care of people for more than 72 hours, Sisti explains, so patients are sent back out into the world without adequate access to treatment.
In order to bridge the gap between hospital stays and expensive community-based care options, Sisti argues for "a continuum of care that ranges from outpatient care and transitional-type housing situations to inpatient care."
While President Trump and others have claimed a connection exists between mental illness and the rise in gun violence, most mental health professionals vehemently disagree.
"There is no real connection between an individual with a mental health diagnosis and mass shootings. That connection according to all experts doesn't exist," says Bethany Lilly of the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law.
Sisti says the stigma around mental health is "systematized" in our health care system, more so than in the public view.
Health care providers are "rather leery about these individuals because these people are, often at least according to the stereotype, high-cost patients who maybe are difficult to treat or noncompliant," he says. "I think the stigma that we should be really focused on and worried about actually emerges out of our health care system more than from the public."
Source: https://www.npr.org/2017/11/30/567477160/how-the-loss-of-u-s-psychiatric-hospitals-led-to-a-mental-health-crisis?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=202901
It’s Okay To Cry
How Strengthening Relationships with Boys Can Help Them Learn
Years ago, when Michael Reichert’s oldest son was born, he and his wife made a commitment to shield him from the “toxic pressures and cultural norms that we believed would try to steal our son’s humanity from him.”
But it turns out that parents can’t build a wall around their children, says Reichert, a clinical psychologist and author of "How to Raise a Boy: The Power of Connection to Build Good Men." What parents and teachers can do is strengthen boys’ resilience to be themselves.
Reichert is hopeful that a new space is opening up in how we think about boys and boyhood. For generations, he says, “we have rationalized a wide range of losses and casualties” by repeating intractable myths: “Oh, that’s just the nature of boys, or boys just don’t do as well in classrooms, or boys don’t do well with emotional intimacy.”
These persistent stereotypes have influenced how we interacted with boys from infancy, says Reichert, and infiltrated our classrooms and playing fields. For example, he points to a long-term study of boys between ages 4 and 6. Researchers found that boys dramatically changed how they related to others during these years as they “absorbed norms for how they were supposed to act as boys.” They traveled from “presence to pretense,” says Reichert—from being emotionally honest in relationships with peers to using posturing and bravado as they adhered to group norms about how boys “should” behave. In molding their behavior to this standard, “it cost them their authenticity, exuberance, and confidence.”
Boys Are Relational Learners
There are troubling statistics about boys in K-12 schools. They are more likely to drop out of school than their female peers, and according to data from the Department of Education, boys account for approximately 70% of all suspensions and expulsions, a rate that is disproportionately higher for boys of color.
To support boys in our classrooms, Reichert points to one robust, consistent finding from his 30 years of research: boys are relational learners. They learn best in the context of strong, supportive relationships.
In one study, Reichert and his team gathered data from 2,500 teachers and students in six different countries. He asked the boys and their teachers one simple question: “What’s worked?” For teachers, what has worked to help you reach boys? For boys, what have teachers done that has worked to support your learning and engagement? When the researchers coded the data, a couple of themes emerged.
First, effective teachers used strategies to capture boys’ attention and then carried that energy into the lesson. The strongest teachers entered into a relationship with the class, using feedback from students to refine the lesson until it worked.
But another dominant theme came from the boys themselves. “In the survey, we said, ‘Please don’t mention names or provide identifying information,' ” says Reichert, but the boys ignored those instructions and described teachers’ personalities in detail. They cared about the relationships they had with teachers.
“We, the adults who design the structures and pedagogy they experience —we were missing something. The boys, however, were very, very clear about it: They are relational learners. This is first base.”
Healing Relationship Breakdowns
If relationships are central to engaging boys in academics, then teachers need tools for healing inevitable “relational breakdowns.”
“Every teacher in every classroom has some students who they have a hard time working with,” says Reichert. And in any relationship, there is a natural cycle of connection, disconnection, and then reconnection. But this process does not always go smoothly. After teachers have tried multiple strategies for reaching a student, they can enter “defensive, self-protective mode,” says Reichert, thinking, “I’ve done everything I can, so the next step is his” or “That boy’s learning issues or behavior or family issues are just too much.”
Reichert’s research found that, for boys, these relational breakdowns with teachers were highly consequential, causing them to construct self-concepts around failure and to turn off from certain subjects or school altogether.
“Here’s the rub,” says Reichert. “In our research, we have heard about every kind of problem, and we have also heard from boys who were being reached and transformed” despite those problems. “Every boy, theoretically, can be reached by a teacher or a coach,” he says, and adults need to hold out hope that “if they find the right relational approach, they will be able to reach the boy they are having a hard time with.”
Reichert contends that the job of being a relationship manager “follows the professional,” and that as professionals, teachers need to take the lead in “instigating repair for relationships that have been damaged.”
Why? In his research, he found that even high-achieving boys struggle with approaching teachers when a relationship has soured. “I put together a focus group of boys at one school– top students. When I asked, ‘Do you have breakdowns in relationships with teachers?’ they were immediately able to tell stories. What did you do to fix it? Nothing, they said.”
When he probed them to explain why, the boys described a power asymmetry with adults. They did not perceive that it was within their role to initiate restorative conversations.
Of course, this also speaks to the need to coach boys with concrete strategies they can use when they are in a conflict with a teacher, says Reichert, and parents can help with this. “We need parents to sign up to the idea that the relationship between the teacher and the student is primary. Our job is not to swoop in and solve the problem but to empower the boy to go back to the teacher and work it out.”
Creating a System of Support
If schools want to reach boys, strengthen their emotional resilience, and help them stay engaged in school, school leaders need to focus on “relational learning” from the top down. Take a look at mission statements, professional development, schedules, and class sizes. Do these basic structures support transformative relationships between teachers and students?
Teachers and coaches also benefit from peer networks that can help them “reset their own thinking about a relationship that has gone south.” Reichert suggests structuring small groups where teachers can safely present a case about a boy they have been struggling with -- describing what’s happening, what’s been done, and how they feel. “It breaks teachers’ hearts when they can’t make it work with a student,” says Reichert. These peer networks normalize the struggle and provide an opportunity to receive emotional support and practical, strategic feedback.
Parenting Emotionally Resilient Boys
The most basic way to support boys’ emotional and character development is also the simplest: listen to them. “Listening is the most important tool parents have for building boys’ resilience,” says Reichert. “I haven’t found a boy who doesn’t have a story he wants to tell. Boys are simply not getting the opportunity to be listened to deeply.”
Both boys and girls have rich emotional lives, but the expression of these feelings may differ because of cultural expectations. “We tell girls not to show anger, to be nice,” says Reichert. “And we tell boys not to show vulnerability or fear, to suck it up or man up.”
When parents open up space for boys to talk, they can nurture a healthier range of emotional expression. “Establish with your son that you are interested in him,” says Reichert. “Yesterday, for what duration did you listen to your son? Not correcting him, listening. Often we are simply not very good at it because no one listened to us much.”
Reichert advocates scheduling a block of time each week—even 30 minutes—where the only task is to “accompany your son on anything he wants to do with you.” That might be playing video games or listening to music. Consistency is the key, because “a boy can come to count on there being a space where he can have a parent's full attention.”
When boys are cut off from their ability to process intense emotions, they are going to act it out in some way—whether that’s teasing siblings or resisting homework. This is almost always a cry for an intervention, says Reichert. He recommends calmly employing the listen-limit-listen strategy. First, listen to your child’s complaints or frustrations—the emotions that are on the surface. Then, limit the harmful behavior (“I’m not going to let you treat your sister this way. I’m not going to let you lie to me about your homework. You are better than that.”). When parents set limits, “more emotions will flare into the open,” says Reichert, and right beneath the surface will be another layer—such as a teacher who is giving him a hard time or a peer conflict—that “you would never have found out if you didn’t give him space to peel back the layers and help him be himself.”
Ultimately, what boys really need to thrive is a strong connection to at least one stable, loving adult, says Reichert. “Here’s what we are trying to accomplish: every boy known and loved, every boy having the sense that someone has ‘got him’—that someone who knows who he his and what he’s facing and really cares.” They need a relational anchor, and parents, teachers and coaches can all be “that someone” in the life of a boy.