Alpacas to treat mental disorders in Germany
Patients handle a number of daily tasks, including feeding the animals on this farm, grooming them, combing their fur, dressing their wounds, and cleaning their sheds. Reuters
A German clinic uses alpacas, which are famous for their fur, as a psychological treatment for its patients and as a way to reintegrate psychotic delinquents into society. The Mainkoven clinic in the province of Bavaria has provided a number of its patients, for about 10 years, with an unusual framework for relieving their emotions, which is a farm located in the clinic's property, and it contains a number of alpacas.
Patients who follow this program undertake a number of daily tasks, including feeding the animals on this farm, grooming them, combing their fur, dressing their wounds, and cleaning their sheds.
"I like it so much," says Irwin Miller, a pseudonym for one of the patients. "Working with animals is fun." There is something that one should do every day. ”
With the help of his new "friends", Erwin managed to curb his anger. He says in this regard, «I was in the past emotional, and get angry very quickly, but it improved thanks to the alpacas.
Although it is open to all hospital patients, the program is aimed specifically at delinquents with mental disorders. Alpacas provide an outlet for these patients, who are not allowed, in normal times, to leave the hospital building.