“Combing” through ADHD Symptoms Utilizing Mindful Grooming
Carlene Taylor
Routledge eBooks October 10, 2018 DOI: 10.4324/9781315164144-9 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Case study Case report Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | A client with ADHD and multiple prior psychiatric diagnoses, referred to as Jane |
| Intervention | Mindfulness meditation |
| Citations | 1 |
| Key findings | Proposes that combining mindfulness meditation with therapeutic horse grooming lets clients with ADHD practice symptom management and task completion within the therapeutic moment. The chapter illustrates this with a client who had extensive psychiatric treatment and multiple diagnoses, and notes ethical considerations around clearing her for longer-term equine-facilitated psychotherapy. |
Abstract
Clients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often experience great social difficulties, emotional dysregulation and difficulty succeeding in academic and work settings. ADHD is often present with co-morbid conditions of depression and anxiety. There appears to be reasonable evidence to suggest inclusion of mindfulness practices can be beneficial to the client struggling with symptoms of ADHD. This chapter presents an integrative technique that combines a traditional Cognitive-Behavioral technique—mindfulness meditation—with the therapeutic horsemanship activity of grooming, allowing the client to experience symptom management and task completion in the therapeutic moment. The client stated Jane has received psychiatric treatment from many different providers and received many different diagnoses in the past including multiple mood disorders, personality disorders, and has been medicated with a variety of mood stabilizers, antidepressants, antianxiolytics, and antipsychotics. Ethical considerations had to be addressed when the client was cleared for longer-term equine-facilitated psychotherapy sessions that would ultimately facilitate a deeper therapeutic relationship with the equines.