Psychotherapy is the work you do for 50 minutes a week in a therapist's office. But life happens for the other 167 hours. It's during these "between sessions" that the most happens – difficult emotions, triggers, and crises arise. A mobile app can be the ideal bridge to support the therapeutic process.
How Can an App Help in Therapy?
- Monitoring (Diary): Therapists (especially in the CBT-tradition) often ask patients to keep a mood diary. Paper notebooks get lost. In an app, you have accurate charts you can show your therapist: "Look, on Wednesday at 2 PM, I had a crisis." This provides hard data for analysis.
- Homework: If your therapist recommends relaxation or anxiety exposure, the app gives you the tools to do it at home.
- Safety Net: Knowing you have an SOS button in your pocket provides a sense of security, which facilitates work on trauma.
Scientific Sources:
- Torous, J., & Hsin, H. (2018). "Empowering the digital therapeutic relationship: virtual clinics for the future of mental health". npj Digital Medicine.
