Effects of Hippotherapy on Well-Being of Patients With Schizophrenia

Psychosocial interventions are increasingly used in psychiatric patient. One of the modalities of this approach is use of animals, e.g., horses. Investigation of hippotherapy effects in patients with schizophrenia. 25 patients with paranoid schizophrenia, or acute and transient psychotic disorders attended 90 minutes hippotherapy sessions two days a week for a period of three weeks. We evaluated effects of hippotherapy on well-being of patients defined as a state that has five characteristics - excellent mood, the feeling of total relaxation, no sense of fear, a willingness to establish contacts, and willingness to communicate. The participants indicated their current mental condition before and after each hippotherapy session. Hippotherapy increased well-being (F = 7.81, P = 0.007) and the differences between the well-being scores before and after the treatments increased with treatment repetitions (F = 7.81, P = 0.007). The effect hippotherapy was statistically significant for all well-being characteristics except for tension in the first treatment and contact in the second treatment. These results indicate that hippotherapy is a useful psychotherapeutic strategy for patients with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders.