Petanque for people with mental disorders

Since July 2017, BARwinOK Adaptation Resource Center has been caring for people with Bipolar affective disorder (BAD) and people with other mental disorders. According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, from 2 to 4% of the world's population suffers from bipolar disorder. Its outdated name is manic-depressive psychosis (MDP). Therefore, up to 50,000 such patients live in Kyiv alone. In general, these are normal people, but periodically they experience stages of mania (uncontrollable uplifting), which are replaced by depressions of varying depth. It is clear that these mood swings often harm both the personal and social relationships of these people, many of whom (as well as their family members and friends) are not even aware that they have a mental illness.

With effective psycho-social support, which is exactly what ARC "BARwinOK" does, our wards can stay in balance for as long as possible. Therefore, it is very important that people with mental disorders are widely involved in socializing activities. As part of the Buddy Days, such activities of the ARC "BARwinOK" are held weekly. Games, especially outdoors, promote a healthy PMD lifestyle. One of the games that allows you to socialize, to act in a team, and to show individual abilities, and, in addition, reasonably loads physically, is petanque. Those who had a rest in warm places could see the players in bocce, who were quite recklessly throwing metal balls at a specialized site.

Petanque (fr.Pétanque) – one of the varieties of bowles, the purpose of which is, standing inside a circle (with both feet touching the ground), throw hollow metal balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball (cochonnet, piglet, bouchon, le petit – cochonnet, piglet , piglet, jack, bushon, cork, small). This game is usually played on hard ground or gravel, but can be played on grass, sand, etc. The game is similar to bocce and bowls.

Features of petanque:

1. Petanque requires a balanced and thoughtful decision. Before the throw, it is necessary to extinguish a strong emotional stress.

2. Petanque is a contactless game, unlike boxing, football, hockey, etc. Therefore, this game does not cause aggression towards opponents. The result depends entirely on yourself.

3. Petanque is a sport in which there are no restrictions on the physical and psychological state. It is equally accessible to everyone.

4. Petanque, one of the few sports in which it is possible to communicate with an opponent during the game. This, in turn, fosters respect and socializes (unifies) the players.

5. Before throwing petanque, it is necessary to conduct absolute concentration, which is often compared to meditation.

6. Petanque is a sport that allows you to find new acquaintances and try to build new relationships.

7. Fosters a sense of team responsibility, spirit and cohesion.

8. Single people have a unique opportunity, without moral and emotional impact, to join the team, collective, socially active groups.

Therefore, we appeal to you, dear sirs. The wards of ARC "BARwinOK" need your support and attention. The donations collected will go towards the creation of a specialized playground for playing petanque and the purchase of equipment for the game. The site will be deployed on the territory of the Psycho-Neurological Dispensary No. 5 in Kiev, where people with mental disorders, in the process of an exciting game, will have the opportunity to physically develop, socialize, act in a team, show individual abilities and remain in mental balance for as long as possible.