- Title: App turns your phone into mental health coach
- Date: 12th May 2016
- Summary: ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) MINDSET CO-FOUNDER RAVE CHACKO USING APP WEARABLE HEART RATE MONITOR SOUNDBITE (English) RAVI CHACKO, CO-FOUNDER, MINDSET, SAYING: "We take the signal that comes out of these monitors and we built algorithms that process the information to bring the stress measurement out of it."
- Embargoed: 27th May 2016 18:56
- Keywords: stress mental health app mobile smartphone wearable heart rate Washington University
- Location: ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, UNITED STATES
- City: ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Science
- Reuters ID: LVA0034HIA7VF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A new app promises to measure and help alleviate stress by turning your phone into mental health coach, according to its developers.
Unlike technologies like Fitbit that warn of physical stress, 'Mindset' gauges the psychological kind by continuously monitoring heart rate recorded by a wearable device.
"We take the signal that comes out of these monitors and we built algorithms that process the information to bring the stress measurement out of it," said Ravi Chacko, co-founder of Mindset and a 5th year MD/PHD student at Washington University in St. Louis.
When an increased heart rate registers, the app notifies you and asks how you're feeling.
"It's a combination of bringing that awareness to where you are but also right at that same moment giving you the tools to make things better," added Chacko.
The app is designed to gauge your psychological state and offer mental health exercises that range from cognitive behavioral therapies to journaling and meditation.
"I went in desiring a way to deal with what I knew was very real in my life and it gave me that," said Carol Daniel, 54, after participating in a trial to test the efficacy of technology.
Daniel, a news anchor based in St. Louis, mother, wife, and a daughter to an ailing parent knows stress, especially over the past two years in the midst of reporting on the unrest in nearby Ferguson, Missouri, that gave rise in part to the 'Black Lives Matter' movement across the United States, she said.
"I would say that anything that helps the individual see their stress is definitely a step in the right direction as opposed to burying it and trying to ignore it. So this is recognition of stress and recognition that you can do something about it," she added.
While the app isn't a replacement for mental health care, Chacko points out the programming of the exercises was overseen and approved by a board of psychiatrists and psychotherapists, faculty members at Washington University.
The company is just one of many startups in the burgeoning field of wellness apps that aim to utilize the computing power of smartphones to process biometrics information.
Currently, the app is available on Android and is in beta testing for iOS. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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