Equine-Facilitated Counselling and Women With Eating Disorders: Articulating Bodily Experience

Disordered eating is on the rise and our current conceptualization and treatment of such problems neglects a corporeal-relational understanding in favour of a more cognitive approach. In this hermeneutic phenomenological study, I explore the experiences of fourteen women with eating disorders who took part in an Equine-Facilitated Counselling group. The participants engaged in group and individual interviews that helped to articulate a language for understanding their bodily-relational experiences. Through dialogic movement and communication with their horses, the participants were able to attune in different ways to themselves and their worlds, thus interrupting some of the habitual practices of disordered eating. These changes in attunement occurred during moments of communion with their horses, but also had an influence afterwards, in a variety of ways that led to the creation of preferred ways of being and relating for a number of the participants. These changes and the moments that made a difference are explored through stories pertaining to five of the women and their horses. Implications for counselling theory, practice, and possible future research are discussed.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Applied Psychology

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Graduate Studies

Year dc:date.issued

2013

Author dc:creator

• Sharpe, Hillary

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Strong, Tom

• Education--Guidance and Counseling

Statement dc:rights

• University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.

Language dc:language.iso

eng

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/25931

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ucalgary.scholaris.ca:11023/778