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Archery Helps Troubled Young Germans To Relax

TUEBINGEN (dpa) – The feathered wooden arrow flies toward the target, missing the bull’s eye by only a fraction.

Janet allows the bow to sink gradually and sits down on a mat. “Archery helps release the inner tensions, you really notice that,” said the 17-year-old.

She is one of 12 young people and children taking part in therapeutic archery lessons at the department for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University Clinic in Tuebingen, southern Germany.

The facility in the picturesque town is the only one department of its kind in the country offering young patients the chance to shoot arrows as part of a programme of physical therapy.

The idea for the project came from therapist Harald Maier and male nurse Michael Lindner four years ago. Both of them learned archery as part of a course in Chinese medicine and the Far Eastern martial art of Aikido.

The pair realised that archery with its dual influence on the body and psyche could be a valuable component in treating young people and children with mental health problems.

“A key element is experiencing tension and relaxation, encouraging patients to listen to their bodies and enhancing concentration,” said Maier. The sport can also play a part in developing a person’s will to achieve success and self-confidence as well as the ability to cope with failure.

After a number of workshops staged by Maier and Lindner interest in therapeutic archery began to grow outside the campus and social welfare centres in the cities of Ulm, Bad Kreuznach and Berlin have enquired about hosting courses.

“We want to concentrate next time on finding a suitable outdoor location to shoot our arrows – that’s a real experience for young people,” said Meier.

Gunther Klosinski, medical director of the clinic’s department for the pyschiatric care of young people, regards archery as a component in a complex of events.

“Those who take part find they can relax and concentrate more easily, something which reinforces and promotes the whole therapy process.” Archery is seen as a part of a range of phsyical therapy methods which allow experts to get closer to their patients with mental ills.

Archery, along with other sports such a trampolin jumping, is a discipline that has been used for 15 years at the Tuebingen clinic. Table tennis is also popular with patients.

Most of the patients who suffer from psychoses, schizophrenia, depression or eating disorders spend six months or even a year at one of the three wards of the clinic. Maier takes a positive view of the lengthy period of therapy.

“Psychological development takes time. If you don’t have that you get short-term improvement which doesn’t doesn’t come to fruition because it lacks a sound basis.”

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