The Agency's Posts

David Letterman Retiring After 33 Years As Late Night Host: David Letterman is retiring in 2015 after 33 years as a late night host. Letterman announced....
Read More>

'Dom Hemingway' Review: Jude Law Shines: A temperamental, egotistical, British ex-con with a soft side for the daughter he left behind,....
Read More>

TV review: SURVIVING JACK: There is something both touching and irritating about Justin Halpern's dogged determination to....
Read More>

Sneak peek: The Rock becomes Hercules: "I was born to play this role," says the 6-foot-5 action star Sometimes special....
Read More>

Darren Aronofsky Calls 'Noah' The 'Least Biblical Film Ever Made': "Noah" director Darren Aronofsky and the movie's distributor, Paramount Pictures,....
Read More>

Pharrell Williams: 'My music is so much bigger than me, and what I am': Pharrell Williams wrote three of 2013's biggest tunes, and has made music with everyone from Daft....
Read More>

Iceland on film: a road trip around the 'Hollywood of the north': Another Day. Photograph: Snap Stills/Rex. Click on the magnifying glass to see Iceland's....
Read More>

Alec Baldwin and the fine art of becoming unfamous: The actor has become the latest celebrity to retire less than gracefully, joining Shia LaBeouf....
Read More>

Oscars Review: How Did Ellen DeGeneres Do As Host?: NEW YORK (AP) — With only a week to catch our breath after the lengthy cavalcade of....
Read More>

Oscars 2014: Gravity dominates, but 12 Years a Slave wins best film: Alfonso Cuarón's space thriller takes seven awards, but loses out to 12 Years a Slave....
Read More>

Seth Meyers and 'Late Night' premiere: Highest ratings in nine years: This "Late Night" thing might work out OK for Seth Meyers. The former "Weekend....
Read More>
Putting the app in therapy
Posted on: 03/25/12
Share/Save/Bookmark

Smartphone applications offer to help lift your mood.


Your smartphone: It's not just for texting, tweeting, waging war against little green pigs and — oh, right — calling people. It's also for making yourself a happier, less stressed-out, more self-aware person.

Really, there's an app for that. Any number of apps.

They come with names like Mood Swing and CBTReferee and BrainFreqz, and at their best, they offer users "'treatment' in the palm of their hand," says Dr. John Luo, an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at UCLA. Many are free, many more cost 99 cents and none will set you back more than, say, a minute or two on a therapist's couch would.

Apps may help, but couch those expectations

In short, it's a "don't worry — be app-y" world we live in now. Here's a sampling of what you can find at Apple's App Store, Microsoft's Windows Phone Marketplace and other sites, or by using the Amazon Mobile App to comparison shop.

Mood-minder apps: These require that periodically, usually at least daily, you record your mood and whatever is going on in your life that may be affecting that mood. The app organizes the information and presents it in charts, graphs and calendars to give you a handle on when, where and with whom your moods slide up and down.

The Moody Me website suggests you'll "Have more happy days!" if you use it. With this app, you can create a gallery with pictures of what makes you happy and play a slideshow "for an instant lift."

The MoodPanda website maintains: "Over time, you can become more aware of your feelings, and the things that cause them. ... Just the simple act of showing people what has made them, and others, happier in the past is a sure fire way to make them happier in the future."

Examples: Moody Me (Apple App Store, free), MoodPanda (Apple App Store, free), Mood Swing (Apple App Store, free, or Windows Phone Marketplace, ad-supported version free, ad-free version, 99 cents).

Therapy Apps: These also keep tabs on your moods but go a step further by providing the sorts of mood-improving strategies that patients often learn in therapy, most often via cognitive and behavioral strategies.

MoodKit, for instance, provides three other "tools" in addition to a mood tracker: five categories of mood-improvement activities (productivity, social, enjoyment, physical, healthy habits), a thought checker (to weed out negative thoughts) and a journal.

The iCouch CBT app ("CBT" stands for cognitive behavioral therapy) guides you through a step-by-step process of changing a negative, distorted thought to a better, not-distorted one. For a fee, you can send the whole shebang to iCouch and a licensed psychologist will evaluate how you're using the app and make suggestions.

Live Happy provides eight activities intended to increase happiness, including savoring the moment, remembering happy days and keeping an acts-of-kindness journal. For savoring the moment, for instance, you take a picture of something special and write a short account of why you appreciate and value it.

Examples: MoodKit (Apple App Store, $4.99); iCouch CBT (Apple App Store, $1.99; psychologist evaluation, $7.99); Live Happy (Apple App Store, 99 cents).

Other approaches: Some mood apps seem pretty far off the wall. Consider BrainFreqz (don't worry —"Freqz" refers to frequencies, not to any freaking out that app users might do). This app employs audio techniques intended to bring your brain wave frequencies into alignment with the frequencies of electromagnetic impulses traveling between the Earth's surface and the ionosphere — a condition the BrainFreqz website calls "natural" and "very therapeutic."

And should you ever have trouble deciding exactly what mood you're in, there are apps for that too, such as Mood Scanner and Mood Finger Scan. These generally arrive at a verdict after scanning a convenient body part — finger or thumb — but their purveyors refrain from claiming that the verdict so rendered bears any relation to reality.

Examples: Mood Scanner (Android Market, free); Mood Finger Scan (Apple App Store, free).

By Karen Ravn, Special to the Los Angeles Times

health@latimes.com


COMMENTS
Be the first to post a comment!


Post A Comment:




  • It's 2020! Start booking roles in commercials, fashion, films, theater and more with The Agency Online!

  • NEW WORKSHOP with Barbara Barna & Sean De Simone!

    Hi Everyone and Happy Summer! Sean at Sean De Simone casting and Barbara Barna are teaming up for a super informative and fun Hosting for Home Shopping workshop. A great opportunity for established or experienced TV Hosts and Experts interested in learning how to get noticed and how to get in....
  • MASTERCLASS W. Robin Carus & David John Madore

    A Special Offer for the Agency Community, from one of our favorite NYC Casting Directors! EMAIL FacetheMusicWithUs@gmail.com Or Eventbrite To Sign Up! Class Size is Limited.
  • Don't Fall Into The Comparison Trap

    Hi Everyone! As the second installment in an ongoing series of features by the Agency's amazing community, here's some sage advice from our own Regina Rockensies; a humble (& awesome)veteran we've had the pleasure of working with for a long time. Have an excellent week! : ) - The Agency....
  • One Model's Agreement

    Hi Everyone! As the first piece in an ongoing series of original articles by the Agency community, here's a short reflection on some of the values of professional acting & modeling that we can all keep in mind for our next casting. Good luck on your castings &shoots this week! : ) -....




 
home       castings&news       privacy policy       terms and conditions      contact us      browser tips
Official PayPal Seal