Monday, October 20, 2014

Amazing Apps: Lantern

Lantern is the world's first online and mobile tool to helps you reduce anxiety and feel stronger at home, at work, and in everyday life. When it comes to seeking help for anxiety, the most common solutions are reading a self-help book or having personal sessions with a therapist. But now there's a  third way -- something in between doing it on your own or paying top dollar for regular therapy or life coaching sessions.

Lantern is an online and mobile tool that evaluates your mind health in minutes, tells you where you need to improve, and matches you up with a trained professional to guide you through personalized daily exercises that you can access on your smartphone.

Scientifically designed in Silicon Valley by researchers from Stanford, Penn State, and Washington University in St. Louis, Lantern works like this:
STEP #1:  SCORE YOURSELF
In just a few minutes, answer a series of real-world but scientifically-backed questions and Lantern will assess your overall anxiety level and other important dimensions of mind health.
STEP #2:  GET A DAILY TAILORED TUNE UP
Participate in quick daily activities that reduce anxiety such as interactive exercises, reading, and mood and behavior tracking -- all guided by your 1:1 Lantern coach and delivered through your smartphone.
STEP #3:  GROW STRONGER
Track your progress over time and watch yourself reduce anxiety and adopt new, healthier habits.


I had a chance to interview Lantern CEO Alejandro Foung to learn more.

A) What was the inspiration behind creating Lantern?

Although 1 in 4 US adults have a diagnosable mental health issue, only 10% are getting the help they need.  In order to solve this problem you have to address the stigma, access, and cost issues that present the biggest barriers to individuals when addressing their challenges in their emotional well-being.  That is way we created Lantern.  

With Lantern we've enabled access to evidence-based mental health services for a fraction of the cost.  We also wanted to easily deliver our programs and services in a way appropriate for our current busy lives in 2014.   We've done this by creating short daily practice sessions (~10 mins per day) which are personalized programs by your 1:1 coach.  Both your program and your coach are delivered to you each day through an app on your phone.  

We've built our programs on the strong academic research that supports the use of online programs as a way to prevent  and reduce symptoms of problems like anxiety, depression, stress, and eating disorders. 
B) What advantages does Lantern have over other methods to reduce anxiety?
1. It's proven: We use the globally validated model of cognitive behavioral therapy to help a user become his or her best self

2. It's easier to get started and stick with it: We start with a quick online assessment.  Your answers allow us to create your personalized program,  which is designed to help you achieve greater mind health across five key dimensions.  Lastly, we connect you with a 1:1 professional who supports, gives feedback, and answers any questions you might have. 

3. It's the cheapest option:  Starting at $25/month, Lantern is the most affordable way to get professional help to support your emotional well-being.
C) What are other ways technology can be used to support mental health?

1. Technology can be used to improve identification (especially early) of mental health problems so you can intervene before things get too bad -- or get the validation that you need that you need and should get help. 
2. Technology offers a multitude of ways of tracking mental health symptoms which both aids interventions (because most therapies include self-monitoring of symptoms) but in aggregate, this "big" data can help estimate the real-world rates of disease and also help improve understanding of mental health problems -- and interventions. 
3. Help reduce relapse and support maintenance of wellness (ie., after therapy use a program like Lantern as a "booster" shot and way to continue cultivating emotional well-being and resilience). 
4. Reduce geographic or physical barriers to accessing face-to-face counseling (ie, videoconferencing, phone, text based communication with therapists).

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