2023-06-14 15:05:00
DISPATCH — Boa, iguanas, caimans… In Sao Paulo, Brazil, the therapy center “Walking Equotherapy Clinic” accompanies its patients with the help of reptiles, among other animals. A way to adapt to everyone’s sensitivities, to help relax and improve motor skills.
As reported by theAFP, the center receives mainly young people with autism, people with disabilities, but also patients suffering from depression or anxiety attacks. While these animals often inspire awe, unlike the horses standing next to them, the patients here disregard prejudice. The therapists explain that with the reptiles, they obtain “better results, and more quickly, […] because the patients feel good and want to learn”. It is their impassivity that allows autistic children in particular to experience no emotional embarrassment.
So, sometimes it will be the caress of the boa which will stimulate forgotten bodily reflexes, sometimes the “song of the caiman” which will exercise the auditory memory, or even the phlegm of the iguana which will give the patient time to observe and learn . Anyway, if this type of therapy has not received scientific validation, the therapists point out that “medicine has shown that when a person is in contact with an animal, his body releases neurotransmitters […] which give a feeling of well-being.
They specify that no animal is poisonous and that they are systematically accompanied by biologists to monitor them. Result: Gabriel Pinheiro’s mother is satisfied: “He is very happy to come here”.
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