Emerging research suggests that Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy (EFP) may be beneficial for traumatized youth. In addition, complex trauma (i.e., multiple and/or prolonged developmentally adverse traumatic events which are typically interpersonal in nature) treatment research is still growing and there is a need for the development and examination of novel treatments for youth with complex trauma histories. The current article describes a promising EFP model for this population called Equine Facilitated Therapy for Complex Trauma (EFT-CT). EFT-CT embeds EFP practices within Attachment, Regulation and Competency (ARC), an extant evidence-based complex trauma treatment framework for children and adolescents. The authors provide three case studies using both observational data provided by clinicians, as well as longitudinal measures of psychosocial functioning, to illustrate the potential promise of EFT-CT. The article concludes with a discussion about implications for EFP treatment and research.

Risk for traumatic sequelae is conveyed directly by risk factors (i.e., exposure to trauma), and via the disruption of developmental competencies. Exposure to caregiver trauma is an especially salient risk factor, as its early and pervasive nature is likely to undermine multiple facets of development, most notably the emergence of cognitive controls (i.e., executive function [EF]). Deficits in EF have been observed among youth exposed to multiple types of trauma and are associated with a range of functional impairments, posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), and behavioral disorders; they represent a mechanism by which the negative impact of caregiver trauma is conveyed. This study included 672 youth in residential placement, and examined the associations between both caregiver and noncaregiver trauma, measured by the Trauma History Profile (THP); executive dysfunction, measured by the Behavioral Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF); PTSS, measured by the UCLA Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Reaction Index (PTSD-RI); and externalizing and internalizing problems, measured by the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). A structural equation model demonstrated direct associations between caregiver trauma and PTSS, β = .15; noncaregiver trauma and externalizing problems, β = .14; gender and PTSS, β = .26, externalizing problems, β = .12, and internalizing problems, β = .26; and age and externalizing problems, β = -.11. We observed indirect effects via deficits in EF between caregiver trauma and PTSS, β = .04 and externalizing problems, β = .19. Results indicate for screening for executive dysfunction among trauma-impacted youth is needed, as it represents a critical therapeutic target.

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Objective: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pervasive and common form of violence against women. IPV is multifaceted, with physical, sexual, and/or psychological means of perpetration, and has detrimental effects on women’s mental health. IPV generally affects women; however, how IPV differentially affects different groups of women is less clear. Women who are socioeconomically vulnerable are often considered at risk for IPV, although women in college are also often the topic of IPV research due both to high rates of IPV and to ease of study recruitment. There is increasing research on the effects of IPV in a third group of women, those recruited through online platforms (i.e., crowdsourcing). How IPV differs across these three samples has yet to be examined. Method: In this study, we examined differences in IPV exposure across three samples of women, at risk (n = 144), college (n = 654), and crowdsourced (n = 168), using a Bayesian approach to general linear modeling. Results: Results indicated that the majority of women in each sample experienced some IPV. Results further suggested that women in the crowdsourced sample had the highest exposure to IPV in general and to physical IPV, sexual IPV, and IPV-related injury in particular, whereas women in the at-risk sample had the highest rates of psychological IPV. Conclusion: These findings highlight the importance of sampling in studies of IPV and thus have ramifications for future research.