Photos: Animals become healing companions in Mexico hospital

Mexico City: Nine-year-old Alessia Ramos gently pets a hamster at a Mexican hospital where animals ranging from Australian parakeets to a Siberian Husky are being used to provide mental health therapy.

"It helps me to relieve my anxiety, to control my emotions, to relax and be more focused," said Ramos, who has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.

Australian parakeets called "Alz" (L) and "Heimer" at the ISSSTE's National Center for Mental Health and Palliative Care in Mexico City.

Eight dogs are also among the furry therapists at the National Center for Mental Health and Palliative Care in Mexico City. Harley, a five-year-old Pug, lost his eye in an accident but made a quick recovery, said doctor Lucia Ledesma, head of mental health services at the Institute for Social Security and Services for State Workers, the agency of which the hospital is a part. "We follow that example of resilience in the face of adversity. He's a dog that does everything, without impediments," she said.

The facility is the only public hospital in Mexico using animals to treat mental illnesses, though such therapy is also practiced in other countries. "Contact with animals generates powerful neuropsychological changes that contribute to lowering states of stress and anxiety, as well as benefiting other cognitive processes," Ledesma said. Harley became famous in Mexico when he entered Covid-19 wards wearing a protective suit, booties and glasses to boost the morale of medical personnel working long hours away from their families.

"It was the only animal-assisted intervention in the world within a Covid area," Ledesma said. "There were dogs in hospitals in other countries, but they never entered the Covid zone. We've received international recognition."

There is now a "Harley and his friends" self-care and mental health program and even a comic distributed in public schools. It seeks to promote mental health, prevent or detect complications and intervene in already diagnosed problems, Ledesma said.

The most important attribute for a therapy dog is a calm temperament and willingness to interact with humans, she explained.

'Todd', a Siberian Husky dog, interacts with Oscar Orozco, an emergency physician, during a therapy session at the ISSSTE's National Center for Mental Health and Palliative Care in Mexico City.