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Exploring Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy as an Intervention for Those Who Have Received a Diagnosis of Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder

NCT07261033 · Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 6

Last updated 2026-05-08

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

The purpose of this research is for the multi-disciplinary team at an inpatient psychiatric hospital to investigate more innovative ways to engage service users in order to promote wellbeing and emotional regulation. In particular, there is a focus on engaging patients who do not routinely engage with the Psychology Team. As such, we are aiming to explore the effectiveness of Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP) with the service users on a specialist Personality Disorder ward.

EAP is the deliberate inclusion of an equine (e.g. horse, alpaca) amongst a therapy team to improve patient outcomes. This therapy team includes a mental health professional and certified equine specialist, along with equine(s) and client(s). EAP can offer specific psychotherapeutic treatment goals such as addressing trauma and emotion dysregulation. The presence of an equine removes the need for verbal communication, which allows for non-verbal approaches that support self-development; identifying and discussing the feelings, emotions and behaviours generated through interaction with the horse. The presence of equine also provides a unique opportunity for traumatised individuals to build trust with other sentient beings that value connection, safety, and trust.

These specific psychotherapeutic treatment goals are especially relevant for those with a diagnosis of Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD). Service users with EUPD present with complex mental health difficulties, often with problems with emotional regulation, attachment, and self-harm.

This research will use a qualitative, single arm design in which all participants (inpatients who have received an Emotionally Unstable personality Disorder diagnosis) engage in a novel psychotherapeutic intervention (6 sessions of Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy). Their experiences of this psychotherapeutic intervention will be explored using semi-structured interviews. Researchers and participants will collaborate in using Thematic Analysis to analyse the content of these interviews.

Conditions

  • Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder, Borderline Type

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy

All participants will attend 6 half-day sessions of Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy. This is psychotherapy between the professional(s) and the client(s) which takes place in the presence of an equine (e.g. horse, alpaca). This will be conducted at a specialist clinic by a member of their facilitator team. There will also be hospital staff on-hand to provide support if needed, but hospital staff will not be involved in the therapy directly. The therapy will involve a group session (1 hour and 15 minutes long), and individual sessions (30 minutes per participant).

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Track Clinic, Frome

    collaborator UNKNOWN

  • Cygnet Healthcare

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
NA
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Model
SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
65 Years
Sex
FEMALE
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2026-05-31
Primary Completion
2026-07-31
Completion
2026-09-30

Countries

  • United Kingdom

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT07261033 on ClinicalTrials.gov