The mind and the body are connected and therapeutic modalities such as the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) or “body tapping” address the cognitive and the biological. The methods of action remain unknown, but published research shows it can be effective for mental health issues.

What is EFT?

EFT combines psychotherapeutic methods of cognitive therapy and exposure therapy with the biological method of acupressure. Cognitive therapy focuses on how we see the world, our thoughts about the world, and how those thoughts influence emotions and behaviors. It is one of the most-used methods of therapy for many disorders. Exposure therapy is based on the idea that small, incremental exposures to traumatic thoughts, feelings, or events, combined with relaxation, can help desensitize someone to the effects of traumatic thoughts, feelings, or events. Exposure therapy is most often used with people who have phobias and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Anxiety is everywhere. The new buzzword. But what does it really mean and is it really the culprit it is made out to be?

Simply defined, anxiety is a sense of unease, nervousness, or worry. It manifests on a continuum of physical, mental, and emotional symptoms from the feelings of butterflies in the stomach before a performance, athletic event, or speech all the way to a panic attack. There is a biological basis for anxiety. It is our stress response system, or our fight, fight, or freeze response. When our brain senses any kind of imbalance or potential threat to the body system, the stress response is activated in preparation for “survival mode.” For example, walking to your car alone in a half-lighted parking lot, you feel uneasy. This is an appropriate signal to you to be alert for danger. Sometimes, however, it is activated when it doesn’t need to be or it is often activated, leading to anxiety disorders.

One of the things that make human beings amazing is our metacognitive abilities. Meta-what? In fancy psychological terms, it means humans have higher-order thinking that allows us to analyze and control our thinking processes and our memories. We can think about how and why we think as well as how and why we have memories. We are aware of our abilities to think and form memories, we have thoughts and feelings about those abilities, and we evaluate them in the past and for the future. We are not born with this ability; it develops over time.

The wearables market is booming and this wave reached the mental health fields too. What is significant to our readers is that some of those companies are focused specifically on BFRB disorders such as excoriation disorder and trichotillomania. We decided to reach out to all vendors who are creating devices for the BFRB market, and put their products to the test. This is going to be the first post in a series of reviews dedicated to such devices. This following is a thorough review by a member of our team:

 
Hello – Slightly Robot

SlightlyRobot is a young and small venture run by two brothers from Seattle (we interviewed them last fall).  As their website states:

“The Slightly Robot Bracelet tracks your hands and vibrates when you forget what they're doing, whether it's pulling your hair, biting your nails, or something else.”