Therapy

 The other day I ran into a friend who is also in recovery.  We started talking about the ever-elusive idea of a life in balance.  We recognized our tendencies to go toward one extreme or the other, to see people and events as either all good or all bad.  This phenomenon is sometimes referred to as black and white thinking and many people who are in recovery struggle with it.  In a way, this cognitive style can be useful.  It may provide us with a sense of c

            What is recovery anyway?  What’s the difference between sobriety and recovery?  Both concepts may seem equally undesirable during the first phases of   help-seeking for addiction, alcoholism or other behaviors that no longer serve us.

The spring season brings up many images of renewal.  Flowers are blooming, babies are born; the world wakes from its winter sleep.  This idea of rebirth can be easily applied to the inner work we do when we embark on the path of recovery.  We leave the old way (soil, womb, sleep) for a new one (above ground, alive in the world and awake).  I have a professor, Dr. Michael Wapner, who talks about change and how scary and threatening it is for most of us.  Dr. Wapner likens our journey of change to that of a hermit crab. 

Increasingly horses are becoming trauma healers through the fast growing profession of equine assisted therapy. Trauma responses are the human mind’s attempt to cope with the unimaginable. In some survivors, trauma can produce post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with symptoms ranging from depression, anxiety, and drug and alcohol abuse to rage, dissociation and thoughts of suicide. These occur because the stress accompanying traumatic events demands coping strategies of the individual that far exceed their capabilities. Equine assisted therapy offers hope and encouragement for trauma survivors.