Abstract
There is silence in the scientific literature about synchronicities occurring during equine-assisted psychotherapy sessions. Consequently, a study was undertaken to analyse synchronicities manifesting during the said therapeutic modality. The study aimed to determine the phenomenological structure of a synchronicity experience during an equine-assisted psychotherapy session. The following research question guided the study: What are the core phenomenological constituents of equine-assisted psychotherapy synchronicities, applying a descriptive-phenomenological analysis?
The classical Jungian definition of synchronicity was exploited for this study. Synchronicities are the experience of two non-causal events that co-occur in space and have meaning for the person experiencing them. Jung (1875–1961) explains space-time in terms of the psychoid archetypal process, where matter (body) and energy (psyche) unite. Two (or more) non-causal events that coincide thus unite in space and time. The union of space and time is conceptualised as space-time. Space-time is attributed to the process of the psychoid archetype. Synchronicity thus originates in the psychoid archetype where space and time unite. Space and time are on a continuum. When space and time unite, a synchronicity can manifest. However, when psychic content enters the consciousness, synchronistic phenomena dematerialise. Time and space then take on their everyday role. In other words, synchronicity is a spontaneous product of the collective unconscious where space and time become one. In the everyday role of time and space, synchronism can occur. However, synchronism should not be confused with synchronicity. Synchronicities occur in everyday life and can also occur in different forms of psychotherapeutic modalities.
The framework for synchronicities of this study is equine-assisted psychotherapy. Equine-assisted psychotherapy is a specific form of equine therapy where the therapeutic team consists of horses, an equine specialist and a registered therapist. The client performs certain activities with the horses, which the therapist and the equine specialist suggest. The therapist therapeutically processes the experience of the equine-based activity with the client afterwards. Synchronicities may manifest during equine-assisted psychotherapy sessions.
A qualitative approach to the research design was followed to study the mentioned phenomenon. Descriptive phenomenology served as the qualitative research design. Giorgi’s (2009) interpretation of descriptive phenomenology (Duquesne School) was used. The researcher constantly returns to the description of a lived experience when analysing the information within the framework of descriptive phenomenology. The return to the description of the phenomenon contrasts with interpretive phenomenology, where the researcher moves further from the direct description of the lived experience due to the series of interpretations made. Phenomenology does not focus on the lived experience of man as such. Phenomenology’s dictum is Ding an sich (fidelity to the phenomenon). Therefore, a phenomenological study intends to answer the question: What is the nature of the phenomenon experienced? Thus, the analysis of a lived experience aims to understand the phenomenon’s nature and essence (Wesen in German; Eidos in Greek). Phenomenology is also the study of how things are and become. To conclude, phenomenology aims not to understand man as an individual and his lived experiences, but to determine the “whatness” (Washeit) of the phenomenon, in other words, the Ding an sich. The cornerstone of this phenomenological investigation was to analyse and determine the constituents of synchronicities that occur during an equine-assisted psychotherapy session through the lived experiences of persons who experienced it.
The criteria for participation in this study were the following: a person must have experienced a synchronicity during an equine-assisted psychotherapy session; the person had to be older than 18 years; the person should not have been psychotic. Gender and race did not serve as inclusion or exclusion criteria. Phenomenological interviews were conducted with four participants and documents from two participants were obtained. The information obtained was analysed using the descriptive phenomenological steps to determine the essence of synchronicity during equine-assisted psychotherapy. Therefore, the focus was on the structure of the phenomenon (synchronicities) and not the lived experiences of the research participants regarding the synchronicities. In phenomenological investigations, the unit of analysis is not the research participant as a person and his lived experience. The unit of analysis is the phenomenon.
In this study, the research participants’ lived experiences simply give access to the manifestation and appearance of a synchronicity. The following steps were followed to analyse the information: read for the meaning of the whole; determine the units of meaning; transform the participant’s natural attitude expressions into phenomenological and psychologically sensitive expressions; determine the essential structure of the phenomenon. Based on the phenomenological analysis, it has been found that the core phenomenological components of a synchronicity during equine-assisted psychotherapy include the following: horses are directly involved; the horse’s behaviour is atypical; the horse’s actions are in tandem with the client’s behaviour or inner subjective experiences; two non-causal events occur simultaneously and spontaneously. Thus, the horse and the client’s space-time unite on a collective unconscious level due to the constellation of the psychoid archetype. The difference in space and time, and between matter and psyche, disappears. Therefore, the implication is that the client experiences equine-assisted psychotherapy synchronicity as a numinous moment because the supernatural is experienced.
Based on the study, the following recommendations are made by authors of books and scientific articles on equine-assisted psychotherapy, who may pay attention to the description and therapeutic processing of synchronicities that may occur during equine-assisted psychotherapy sessions. During training, professional therapists and equine specialists can be made aware of the possible occurrence of synchronicities during equine-assisted psychotherapy. Greater awareness of this phenomenon can result in the therapeutic team recognising synchronicities more efficiently and thus processing them therapeutically with the client if appropriate. If the therapeutic team is trained to recognise and deal with synchronicities, if indicated, it can be dealt with in more depth with the client during the equine-assisted psychotherapy session. This experience can contribute to the psychological growth of the client. More quantitative and qualitative research can be done on equine-assisted psychotherapy synchronicities. If this phenomenon has been explored and described well, emphasis can be placed on its explanation. Therefore, an explanatory research question should be asked and answered more deeply. The following can serve as an explanatory research question: Why is synchronicity as it is within the framework of equine-assisted psychotherapy? This research question, therefore, indicates the ontology of synchronicity during an equine-assisted psychotherapy session.
Keywords: descriptive phenomenology; equine-assisted psychotherapy; Carl Gustav Jung; Jungian; meaningful coincidence; synchronicity
- This article’s featured image was created by Kirsten LaChance and obtained from Unsplash.