Not a Claim of a Cure but of an Amelioration of Symptoms and an Improvement of quality of Life Concerning the Treatment of Chronically Schizophrenic Patients

Following a description of schizophrenia and its effects on the lives of individuals, specific therapeutic approaches to therapeutic riding treatments are outlined. The results of a controlled clinical study (conducted in 1988/89 at the Reginal Hospital in Haar near Munich) indicate that psychopathology and negative symptoms can be influenced. The different results produced by time-limited therapy courses versus long-term treatment become evident. Three case studies with differing outcomes are described. Therapeutic riding as therapy for chronically schizophrenic psychosis offers the possibility of treating therapy-resistant and "unreachable" patients with the help of the horse and thus achieving an amelioration of symptoms and an improvement of the quality of life.