Authors
Anna Sabina Brabeck, Sophia Chrysanthou, Guido Meyer, Antonia Bendau, Andreas Ströhle
Published in
Der Nervenarzt. Oct 26, 2026. Epub Oct 26, 2026.
Abstract
Animal-assisted interventions are increasingly used in psychiatric care; however, evidence on the use of camelids, which are characterized by a calm and low-intensity interaction behavior, remains scarce.
This study therefore aimed to investigate the short-term effects of a camelid-assisted intervention in individuals with mental disorders.
In an exploratory pilot study using a controlled naturalistic fixed-sequence within-subject design, 68 psychiatric inpatients participated in a group intervention with llamas and alpacas. An outdoor group session without animals served as the control condition. Psychological and physiological outcomes were assessed before and after the intervention.
Compared with the control condition, the camelid-assisted intervention was associated with significantly greater increases in visual analogue scale scores for relaxation and calmness of thought; descriptively, a similar (nonsignificant) pattern was observed for mental well-being, emotional stability, self-confidence and energy. States of anxiety and affective distress decreased slightly in both conditions. Overall, physiological findings for salivary cortisol, salivary alpha-amylase, and heart rate variability were inconsistent.
The findings suggest short-term positive psychological changes in psychiatric patients in association with the camelid-assisted intervention. The stability and generalizability of these changes remain to be examined in larger randomized studies with follow-up assessments.
PMID:
42931907
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 27 Oct 2026.
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