It's been fascinating to watch the birth of apps and chatbots (Headspace, TalkSpace, this) that are attempting to ease anxiety and depression. I look forward to studies in the future showing their affects relative to more traditional psychotherapy, medication, etc.
@kleinkleinklein agreed, that's when things will get even more interesting! I am confident that it will show positive results (though probably worse than traditional therapy and medication)
I do think what we also need to do study people who're not clinically depressed or anxious. A lot of what tools like Headspace and Pocketcoach can contribute to lies prevention, maybe even more so than treatment.
But yea, lots of open questions. I'd love to conduct a study testing the efficacy of Pocketcoach at some point.
Hi PH,
Manuel from Pocketcoach here! Pocketcoach is a Facebook Messenger chatbot that helps people who struggle with anxiety.
In short, daily conversations users learn and practice the skills to cope with uncomfortable feelings, negative thoughts and unhelpful behaviors.
I'm a psychologist who learned to code in order to make Pocketcoach a reality. It's been in beta for about 1,5 years (yea, it really took me quite some time to get ready to launch). Though it's still not perfect, many of the beta users really get a lot out of these daily chats.
Please give it a try, would love to hear your feedback and I'm here to answer any questions!
@kellisimon no clear plans for the near future but would definitely like to offer this for Telegram, Kik and hopefully WhatsApp (if they open their API) at some point. But it takes time and energy which I don't have at the moment..
Any specific social networks that you were thinking of?