practice the core skills of dialectical behaviour therapy,
accesibly,
flexibly,
effectively.
Learn the core skills of dialectical behaviour therapy,
effectively!
Each DBT skills group is unique.
Timeline view allows users to document and chart progress through their unique program of DBT.
...
The skill cards are pulled directly from the DBT Workbook and Skills Training Manual. The source material is further supplemented by audio and video pertaining to each skill.
...
Handouts and worksheets are readily-available from the timeline view. The ease-of-access makes it possible to engage with the skills on-the-fly.
...
Easily add new skills each week. Continue practicing beyond skills group — DBT is meant to be practiced long term!
The Meta
Narra-
tive
We all have an internal voice.
For many folks who experience high emotionality, oftentimes that voice can be critical and demoralizing. It can produce strong negative emotions and a generally negative emotional state.
From the DBT perspective, it is possible to examine our emotions and transform our emotional reactions into mindful actions — in the present moment as well as in the future.
EFFECTIVELYAPP’s meta-narrative feature allows users to integrate the work they do in therapy into an externalized monologue.
The meta-narrative is a live document which combines internal monologue, life story, practical DBT skills & dialectically balanced validation to help address the client’s unique issues on an ongoing basis.
The meta-narrative can be further validated by reviewing the contents of the narrative with a DBT-trained psychotherapist or social worker.
The Meta
Narra-
tive
We all have an internal voice.
For many folks who experience high emotionality, oftentimes that voice can be critical and demoralizing. It can produce strong negative emotions and a generally negative emotional state.
From the DBT perspective, it is possible to examine our emotions and transform our emotional reactions into mindful actions — in the present moment as well as in the future.
EFFECTIVELYAPP’s meta-narrative feature allows users to integrate the work they do in therapy into an externalized monologue.
The meta-narrative aims to address the client’s unique issues from the therapeutic perspectives of DBT. It does so by combining internal monologue, life story, practical DBT skills & dialectically balanced validation.
The meta-narrative can be further validated by reviewing the contents of the narrative with a DBT-trained psychotherapist or social worker.
demystify
mindfulness
Mindfulness is a foundational DBT skill.
Effective mindfulness practice is consistent, recurring, and aims to achieve a cognitively neutral state of presence in the “now”, despite distractions in the mind or one’s environment.
EFFECTIVELYAPP’s high-quality recordings add depth and interest to mindfulness practice so that users can fully immerse into one of DBT’s most fundamental activities; the activity that primes us for the application of the other skills.
You can do this!
Changing behaviour requires ongoing effort.
It requires wisdom to understand when change is needed, whether that’s a pattern of our own behaviour, our emotional reactions to everyday situations, or ways that we interact with those around us.
The goal of EFFECTIVELYAPP is to provide an accessible platform that encourages and reinforces the study and application of DBT (dialectical behaviour therapy) skills on an ongoing basis.
practice the core skills of dialectical behaviour therapy,
accessibly,
flexibly,
effectively.
What is DBT?
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy is a practice-based behavioural therapy divided into four modules:
• Mindfulness & Wisemind
• Distress Tolerance
• Interpersonal Effectiveness
• Emotion Regulation
DBT was originally developed to help individuals who were treatment-resistant to the standard talk therapies and behavioural therapies popular in the 1980’s. Those individuals often displayed the qualities understood today as qualities of borderline personality disorder (BPD), a widely misunderstood and stigmatized disorder.
Dr.Marsha Linehan, the lead author-clinician behind the development of DBT, might describe the therapy as: combining planning and commitment to change with an ongoing process of validation and acceptance of the present reality—observed and described as accurately and factually as possible.
A growing body of evidence suggests that DBT can help support individuals with a variety of experiences & circumstances, in which individuals have become “stuck in the muck” of dysregulated emotion.
DBT can potentially benefit those exhibiting key traits of BPD, Bipolar I & II, PTSD & C-PTSD, generalized depression & anxiety, OCD, ODD & other overlapping circumstances.
“Combining the technology of change with the technology of acceptance” (Linehan)
Market Analysis
“The mental health apps market had a valuation of USD 5.1 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach USD 17.1656 billion by 2030, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.1% during the forecast period from 2023 to 2030, according to SNS Insider.”
Sep 21, 2023
Qualifying The User’s Experience
Gathering data from the comment sections of the Google Play Store & the App Store (Apple). Identifying common experiences, specific suggestions & pain points in the mental health app-scape.
Headspace is arguably the most widely-known mobile self-care app on the market in North America. The product is thoroughly designed, well-branded, widely marketed & functions technically well in the mobile environment. It has even inspired an adjacent Netflix series, joining a small handful of mobile apps which have inspired film or TV media (Angry Birds: The Series!). Which one is better; the app or the movie?
These elements make for a really positive digital experience that crosses media platforms. It’s a beautiful & functional product for practicing meditation as a way to improve sleep & general stress management.
The state of mindfulness practiced in DBT, however, has some very specific purposes. While Headspace’s meditations can get us to “relaxed and mindful”, mindfulness is only one part of the equation when it comes to DBT and what the therapeutic methods have to offer once the individual has achieved a state of mindful presence.
DBT Coach does a fairly accurate job of depicting the DBT source material. Unfortunately, ongoing technical issues, content-related quality control issues & a quiet tech support team seem to plague this app.
The meditations are read aloud by an A.I. generated voice, which users found unsettling. There are a substantial amount of grammatical errors & awkward sentence structure throughout the app. Some users commented on technical issues with in-app audio & video. Many users felt it was far too expensive for the quality of the experience.
One feature that does stand out positively is the mood correlation feature. This is potentially a really valuable insight. It’s easy for clients to lose track of previously completed work as they move through a program of DBT & continue to accumulate new skills.
The mood correlation feature ties different situations together so that the user can start to make connections about common behaviours that occur during periods of similar strong emotion—a very useful outcome of tracking.
Moodkit is one of several apps that borrow or directly communicate techniques found in CBT, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. CBT similarly hopes to achieve behaviour change in the client, however it lacks some of the rigor of DBT when it comes to acceptance, validation, naming strong emotions, & coping with the distress that emotional pain can cause.
Similar to DBT Coach, Moodkit heavily emphasizes repetition of mood tracking to provide the user with insight, as well as providing them with a series of lessons from which to work on improving or changing mood.
While tracking can be considered an important part of behaviour-change therapies, tracking alone, & in one format, is not an effective way to learn or practice specific DBT skills.
Each skill has a different method behind its tracking, & so the individual practicing DBT should be tracking what the specific skill sheet asks of them during that week of learning. Tracking should be intentional & have a distinct purpose & outcome in the therapeutic approach.
Happify:
Start Living the Life You Deserve!
This was an exciting app to review, because the concept seems like such a caricature of what wellness apps set out to do and be. Happify feels like what Tim and Eric would come up with if tasked with making a mental health app from scratch.
With phrases like “start living the life you deserve”, this app jumps right into the realm of opinion & judgement, the enemies of DBT’s dialectical validation. You specifically DESERVE happiness.
Happify suffers from a fairly common market trend: mental health generalism. Without a specific goal in mind for the therapy other than “be happy”, it puts a lot of trust in things like meditation & self-care to make that happen. The problem is, meditation and self-care don’t make us happy on their own. In fact, sometimes those activities can feel quite mundane. When we’re “stuck in the muck”, they can feel downright torturous.
As they state in the product description, “HAPPINESS ISN’T JUST ONE THING. IT’S EVERYTHING.”
A tad ominous for an app about science-based happiness.
Key Learning
Specificity Over Generalism
The product we’re designing is specifically focused on learning & practicing DBT; it should make that process easier & solve user pain points. We’ll create distance from generalized emotion/mood tracking; we’ll prioritize essential tools for tracking DBT course progress & accessing course materials as a default.
Tracking What's Important
Specific skills call for specific kinds of tracking. Tracking in DBT takes on purpose; it seeks results & specific learning.
Technically
Robust
Business planning should include long term technical support. Highly active tech support should occur during the first year following release. Annual audit occurs to keep app functioning across platforms & operating systems.
Affordability Matters
Price point should reflect market competitors like Headspace, without alienating users with an excessively high subscription fee like DBT Coach. Governments & clinics could purchase mass or group licences to increase access to patients.
User Journey
Age: 29
Occupation: Bartender, Carpenter
Interests: Getting cozy with the cats, sketching plants & people, camping in National & Provincial parks, spelunking/caving, rock climbing
Claire appears to be doing better than she was a few years ago. She doesn’t lash out as much as she once did, but she bottles & suppresses very intense emotion on a regular basis.
At times, she deals with overwhelming feelings of inadequacy & shame. She is described as outgoing & has some close friendships, but she struggles to connect deeply for fear of being hurt or rejected by friends or partners if she is honest about how she feels. She is sometimes described by friends as “hot & cold; either full of energy & joy or inexplicably intense sadness.
Today, Claire knows she is not living optimally. Her accumulated life experiences have shaken her confidence in her own ability to cope, but Claire is ready to try dialectical behaviour therapy. Claire has reached out for support & is scheduled to begin a round of DBT in the group setting, with a team of trained clinicians & peers.
Let’s explore how EFFECTIVELY can support Claire on her sophomore journey through therapy, in the study & application of DBT.
After sign-up, Claire begins the Onboarding process: she watches the DBT Introduction Video. The clear takeaway is the organization of DBT into four modules.
She inputs her start date & program duration. The Calendar View populates with a repeating weekly appointment for the duration of those six months.
She skips the Notification Frequency & Goal Setting for now. She moves on to the Timeline View and Skill Card tutorials.
* Add new skill card, search for skill name, mark handouts & worksheets opened/complete. *
Claire is invited to complete a survey: “Which of these skills sound most helpful?”
Claire takes time to skim the collection of skills, & selects some that stick out to her.
She is asked if she wants to populate the Timeline with the selected skills. She selects “yes”.
The Timeline View is now populated by eight skills that Claire has selected. EFFECTIVELY suggests some core skills to complement the ones chosen by Claire. She agrees to add those suggestions. Claire now has a timeline consisting of twelve DBT skills.
Claire toggles the List Mode, which makes all twelve skills on the timeline visible at a high level. She toggles back to Timeline View
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