- I just had a 2-minute tune-up, thanks to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), a well-studied psychological science that focuses on reframing your negative thinking to alleviate stress and anxiety. And while it wasn’t quite as fun as a level of Monument Valley, I had to admit, I was surprised that Moodnotes had sucked me in so quickly. I’d been slowly transitioned from jotting down my thoughts to expanding them to clinical self-diagnosis. Of course, easing me into the principles of CBT was entirely by design.
"Journaling is a very simple, familiar activity for most people. We were looking to hide the vegetables in the meal," explains Dr. Edrick Dorian, co-founder of Thriveport, the two-man firm brought in to consult on and provide the psychological content of Moodnotes. "[We figured] if we can disguise healthy content in a relatively enjoyable, possibly delightful, experience, we’d truly be disseminating empirically supported wisdom in ways and to people we’d normally not have access to."
I thought this was a really interesting way to get people to do something good for them that they otherwise wouldn't do. Making it quick and easy to evaluate yourself through the app is a neat idea that I think might help people who otherwise wouldn't be able to be introspective and really figure out what they are thinking and going through. It seems really easy to just brush things off or get stressed and this might be something that could be helpful.