An iPhone app that acts like a ‘therapist’ to soothe your soul

WASHINGTON - Going through holiday stress? Here’s an iPhone app to soothe your soul.

The ‘pocket psychotherapist’ application has been launched just in time to help ease the end-of-the-year burdens of the workplace, shopping and family gatherings.

‘Awareness’, the brainchild of holistic therapist Ronit Herzfeld and launched last week, allows the ever-stressed, particularly at holiday time, to find psychological solace, reports ABC News.

Herzfeld said her creation could help users discover inner peace in the routine of their daily lives.

“It’s a next generation application which is more interactive and brings it back to the self, rather than just playing a game,” said Herzfeld.

“It’s something the app can do for you and it’s hitting a chord with people,” she added.

Herzfeld said the application has about 550 users, and her developers are working on a version for Google’s Android, which would be ready by February.

Users with 3.99 dollars to spare are reminded by up to 25 gong tones a day to take a deep breath and assess their mental state. The application asks how you are feeling.

Based on the response, the application plays up to 20 videos with instructions on how to reduce stress. It also gives you about 400 inspirational quotes, such as ‘God gave burdens, also shoulders’.

The application also color-codes your feelings and charts emotional states over a day, month, week and year.

The application has 10 moods and under each one there are sub-categories. Anger, can be frustration, hurt or betrayal. For each mood there are two videos.

The constant iPhone reminder to take a deep breath and redirect behavior can teach the user to change behavior, according to Herzfeld.

There are no advertisements on this application and all data is kept private, stored only on the iPhone. It works with or without a network connection.

The application is not meant to take the place of standard therapy, Herzfeld cautioned, but it can act as a ‘diary of feelings’, where people can track their behavioural responses to different emotional states such as drinking, binge eating or overworking.

“It’s been my life’s work to helping people feel better and lead peaceful lives,” said Herzfeld, who has spent 25 years in traditional psychotherapy, much of it in a mobile crisis unit. (ANI)