We are delighted to announce a new partnership with PsyberGuide, a Project of One Mind. PsyberGuide (PsyberGuide.org) is a non-profit website reviewing smartphone applications and other digital mental health tools. Its goal is to help people make responsible and informed decisions about the technologies they use for management of mental health. PsyberGuide is committed to ensuring that this information is available to all, and that it is free of preference, bias, or endorsement.
PsyberGuide is funded by One Mind, a leading non-profit organization supporting collaborative brain research to provide patients who suffer from brain disease and injury better diagnostics and treatment. With over 325,000 emerging digital health technologies, and an estimated 15,000 of those designed for mental health, One Mind recognized the lack of advice or guidelines to help people navigate the expanding marketplace of mental health apps. Thus in 2013, One Mind established PsyberGuide to address this growing problem.
In 2017, One Mind welcomed Dr. Stephen Schueller as Executive Director. Dr. Schueller is an Assistant Professor of Psychological Science at University of California. Irvine. His work focuses on expanding the accessibility and availability of mental health services through technology.
We believe that digital tools such as smartphone apps have tremendous potential to aid in stress management by providing accessible, on-the-go, cost-effective support. PsyberGuide has reviewed dozens of apps which aim to help people cope with stress and in the coming months, will be highlighting some of these apps on the AIS website. We hope that through this partnership, we can disseminate information on digital resources for stress management to a broad audience.
PsyberGuide Executive Director, Dr. Stephen Schueller, said “As AIS says, there is no panacea to reduce stress and there is no one app that’s going to work for everyone. PsyberGuide has various apps that might help”.
AIS president Dr. Daniel L. Kirsch commented that it is ironic that the solution can be found within the problem. “In order to recharge your phone you must plug it in,” Kirsch said, “but to recharge your brain you need to unplug it. Meditation would be ideal however it is not easy or easily accessible. The 21st-century solution is in the ubiquitous 21st-century device; the smartphone. The American Institute of Stress recommends taking short breaks every hour and at least a 15-minute break every few hours to calm your mind. Technology can certainly help with that rebalancing your life in just minutes a day, but it may not be the kind you might think.”
