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Psychologists have been using animals in therapy for a long time.
心理学家长期以来在治疗中使用动物。
Because, well, for many people, few things are better than cuddling up with an adorable dog or cat.
因为，对很多人来说，没有什么比拥抱一只可爱的狗或猫更好的了。
But these animals aren't the only option.
但这些动物并不是唯一的选择。
In fact, there's a whole separate kind of animal-assisted therapy that stars a less-common companion horses.
事实上，有一种完全独立的动物辅助疗法，使用的是一种不太常见的同伴马。
Although research is ongoing, early evidence has shown
尽管研究仍在进行中，但早期证据表明
that equine therapy seems to help with everything from cerebral palsy to autism.
马疗法似乎对从脑瘫到自闭症的所有疾病都有帮助。
And these treatments aren't just like dog-based therapy, but with bigger animals.
这些治疗方法不仅是基于使用狗进行治疗，更是针对更大的动物。
Instead, equine therapy seems to be special because horses exist in a class all their own.
相反，马疗法似乎很特别，因为马本身属于一类。
Equine therapy is also called hippotherapy —
马疗法也称为河马疗法，
which makes sense if you know that "hippopotamus" translates to "river horse."
因为“hippopotamus”的意思就是“河马”。
And although most studies on it have involved children, it seems to be a good fit for adults, too.
尽管大多数关于它的研究都涉及儿童，但它似乎也很适合成年人。
Regardless, what this therapy entails can vary quite a bit.
不管怎样，这种疗法所包含的内容可能会有很大的不同。
Sometimes, people are taught about horses and their training,
有时，人们会了解有关马及其训练的知识，
but more often, it involves actually caring for animals and learning riding skills.
但更多时候，这实际上涉及照顾动物和学习骑马技巧。
Some language-learning therapies even involve both.
有些语言学习疗法甚至两者兼而有之。
Like, you might take a spelling quiz while riding a horse as it steps over bars on the ground,
比如，你可以在骑马中，当马跨过地面上的栏杆时，做拼写测验。
saying a letter for each step —and the trainer will stop the horse if you miss.
每走一步都说一个字母，如果你错过某个字母，驯马师会让马停下。
Or you might retell a story by visiting spots in an arena that represent turning points in the plot.
或者你可以通过参观竞技场中代表情节转折点的地点来复述故事。
Often, the therapy is tailored to exactly what it's trying to target.
通常情况下，这种疗法是根据它的目标量身定做的。
Take autism, for example.
以自闭症为例。
One randomized trial followed 15 kids who spent time in an equine therapy group,
一项随机试验追踪15名参与马治疗小组的孩子，
and they learned things like grooming and riding.
他们学到诸如理毛和骑马之类的知识。
And in the end, they showed improvements in typical social functioning and motor abilities
最后，他们发现在典型的社会功能和运动能力方面，
compared to 13 kids in a control group that didn't get therapy.
与没有接受治疗的对照组的13个孩子相比有所改善。
Another, similar study tried equine therapy with 19 kids and compared them to a control group of 15 who were on a waitlist.
另一项类似的研究尝试用马疗法治疗19名儿童，并将他们与15名候补名单上的对照组进行比较。
In this case, the therapy involved training on how to mount a horse, riding skills, and games like Simon Says.
在这种情况下，治疗包括如何骑马、骑马技巧和得令游戏。
That's the one where someone gives commands, but you're only supposed to do them if they say "Simon says…" first.
在这个游戏中，有人发出命令，但是必须在发指令开始时说“西蒙说......”，参加者才能照做。
And in the study, the kids improved their sensory processing,
在这项研究中，孩子们改善了感官处理能力，
were less distractible, and picked up on more social cues.
减少了分心的情况，并且学会了更多的社交暗示。
But what's a horse doing to help with this?
但是马能帮上忙吗？
Well, one feature of autism is that you have a hard time focusing your attention on different sensory inputs
孤独症的一个特点是当刺激来自不同的方向时，
when stimulation is coming from different directions.
你很难把注意力集中在不同的感觉输入上。
But riding a horse is something that can occupy a lot of senses — and focuses them on one coherent experience.
但是骑马是一件能占据很多感官的事情，它能让人把注意力集中在一个连贯的体验上。
It combines things like vestibular sense, which is your sense of your head's orientation,
它结合了你对头部方向感觉的前庭感觉，
and proprioception, your sense of where your body is and where it's moving, along with other touch-based sensations.
对身体所在位置和运动位置感觉的本体感觉，以及其他基于触觉的感觉。
And that gives someone practice regulating sensory input.
这会让人练习调节感觉输入。
Horses also respond to commands, so kids who have trouble with verbal communication can learn with immediate feedback.
马也会对命令做出反应，所以那些言语交流有困难的孩子可以通过即时反馈来学习。
Horses might provide similar benefits to kids with ADHD, too —
马也可能给多动症患儿带来类似的好处，
although the research there is especially limited, so it's hard to say anything for sure.
不过这样的研究很有限，因此难以给出定论。
Meanwhile, equine therapy for cerebral palsy looks a bit different.
同时，马疗法对脑瘫的治疗看起来有点不同。
Cerebral palsy develops when some kind of injury happens before the brain fully develops,
大脑完全发育之前发生某种伤害时，就会出现脑瘫，
usually leading to cognitive or motor impairments.
通常会导致认知或运动障碍。
A lot of the time, it affects one side of the body more than the other,
很多时候，它对身体一侧的影响比另一侧更大，
which means there's a bigger risk of more severe problems as kids' bones grow and they learn to walk.
这意味着随着孩子骨骼生长和学会走路，出现更严重问题的风险更大。
And again, hippotherapy has measurable benefits here.
同样，河马疗法在这方面有明显的好处。
When patients have had horses as part of their therapy, they've been shown to improve their posture,
病人把马作为治疗的一部分时，已经证明治疗能改善他们的姿势，
and also show more symmetry in their muscle responsiveness.
而且肌肉反应也更加对称。
But in this case, it's about the physical experience, not necessarily the sensory one.
但在这种情况下，是关于身体体验，不一定是感官体验。
When you ride a horse, it's a bit of a workout for your ability to balance.
骑马时，是对平衡能力进行锻炼。
So patients need to be making constant adjustments to their posture in response to the horse's motion.
因此，患者需要根据马的运动不断调整姿势。
Finally, some treatments aren't about the sensory or the physical benefits. They're about the emotional ones.
最后，有些治疗不是关于感官或生理上受益，而是在情感方面受益。
Like, for patients with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD,
例如，对于创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）的患者，
equine therapies have been shown to reduce trauma symptoms and anxiety.
马疗法经证明可以减少创伤症状和焦虑。
Here, it's possible that the level of benefits is about the same as with office-based therapy.
其所带来的好处可能与办公室治疗差不多。
But some therapists argue horses are especially helpful.
但某些治疗师认为马特别有用。
Mostly, horses are hypervigilant to their environment,
大多数情况下，马对环境的反应非常敏感，
which might be something a patient with PTSD can relate to.
这可能是创伤后应激障碍患者能与之相关的因素。
And seeing that giant animal respond to your commands can help people recover a sense of control, too.
看到巨大的动物对你的命令做出反应，也能帮助人们恢复控制感。
Equine therapy can even help people boost self-esteem or cope with social stress.
马疗法甚至能帮助人们提高自尊或应对社会压力。
But although there are all kinds of horse-based therapies out there,
但是，尽管有各种各样的马疗法，
equine therapy doesn't seem ideal for everything.
但它似乎并不适合所有人。
If your concern is your mood or subjective well-being,
如果你关心的是你的情绪或主观幸福感，
it looks like dogs — or another more typical therapy animal — might come out on top.
狗或其他更典型的治疗动物可能会大有所为。
But equine therapy seems to work best if you're treating someone with more medical symptoms.
但如果你治疗的是有更多医学症状的人，马疗法似乎效果最好。
Unfortunately, though, this type of therapy isn't that widely available.
遗憾的是，这种疗法并没有广泛运用。
Keeping horses is expensive, so depending on where you live, it might be hard to come by.
养马很贵，要看你的住所，所以可能很难办到。
And some researchers have pointed out that this research is pretty limited, too.
一些研究人员指出，这项研究相当有限。
It suffers from things like small sample sizes and sometimes-missing control groups —
它也存在样本量小，有时缺少对照组的问题，
meaning people who got therapy weren't compared to a group that didn't.
这意味着接受治疗的人与没有接受这种治疗的人群相比，并没有可比性。
So while it might be a helpful option when it's available, we'll need more research to really know what's going on.
因此，虽然它可能是一个有用的选择，我们还是需要做更多的研究来真正了解情况。
But so far, things seem encouraging.
但到目前为止，情况似乎令人鼓舞。
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Psych!
感谢收看本期《心理科学秀》！
If you want to learn more about conventional animal-assisted therapy and why it works,
如果你想了解更多关于传统动物辅助治疗的知识，以及其有效的原因，
we've got an episode about that, too.
我们也有一个关于这方面的节目。
Turns out, it's not just helpful because dogs are really cute!
事实证明，这样做很有用，因为狗真的非常可爱！
