Quirky News
Psychiatric soft toys hit the shops
A German toymaker has unveiled a controversial new range of animals which all have psychiatric illnesses.
The toys - suffering from everything from bipolar disorder to acute depression - come with their own medical history, a referral letter and a treatment plan.
"It started as a bit of a joke with my girlfriend who has lots of soft toys and then we thought there could be something in the idea," Martin Kittsteiner told CEN.
"Children and grown-ups like their vulnerability and find something in them that gives them a great sense of comfort in helping to heal them."
'Patients' from the Paraplush toy company include Dub the turtle with severe depression, Sly the snake who suffers from terrifying hallucinations, Dolly the sheep with a multiple personality disorder and a crocodile with an irrational fear of water.
Update:
Hello, regular commenting on Orange News and Sport pages closes on Thursday 30 May 2013. We will continue to provide a commenting facility on major news and sport events on orangeworld.co.uk. Contact http://orangeworld.co.uk/p/helpandcosts/feedback if you have any further questions. Thanks.
what do you think?
Jo Brierley
I cannot even begin to express how I feel about this I am too gobsmacked at the insensitivity and stupidity.
movvi
The turtle really looks as depressed as hell and though they don't say what's up with the blue hippo, his manic eyes suggest he may be about to rip someone's face off!
Nigel Rogers
no harm intended to anyone, just toys like the Mr men who have fun names
movvi
Indeed! It's not as if the turtle is called "Suicide Sid" just like Mr Greedy wasn't named "Fat B'stard"!
Val Bonney
Probably likely to get very mixed reviews ... personally, I don't have a problem with it and I've suffered from severe depression for years. It's just another form of awareness-raising, really, plus it might help the upcoming generation to understand mental illness a bit better, which can only be a good thing.
movvi
A voice of reason. I hope it never creeps up on you again x
J R
This news item is at least 3 yrs old - I remember reading about it - here !
Angela Boisvert
11:19pm on 26/8/2012
This comment has been removed for violations of our Terms and Conditions.