Patient Scenario
- Anxiety is considered to be one of the most widespread mental health conditions;
- Anxiety should be regarded as an umbrella term for the various related condition instead of one complex disorder;
- Some of the widely recognized conditions, such as an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), are also preconditioned by anxiety (Bandelow et al., 2017);
- Anxiety requires immediate intervention in order to avert severe mental complications, such as the development of poor health conditions;
- The patient currently observed is a woman approximately 30 years of age;
- Patient’s diagnosis: generalized anxiety disorder;
- Condition background: severe workload on a position of a sales manager, high stress level at work, such personal qualities as perfectionism and overthinking;
- Physical symptoms: nausea, muscle tension;
- Psychic symptoms: worry and attention span issues;
- The patient realizes the presence of the issue and the need for intervention;
- The patient is willing to use mHealth applications as a means of handling anxiety.
Health Anti-Anxiety Medication: Sanvello
- Name: Sanvello.
- Purpose of the app: Sanvello is designed as a personal assistant for people diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. The purpose of the app is to provide people with help and support concerning self-care, therapy, coaching, and peer support on a daily basis (Sanvello, 2021).
- Intended audience: Patients diagnosed with anxiety and anxiety-related mental disorders.
- Mobile device: iOS and Android.
- Where to download:
- Apple Store: (Sanvello Health Inc., 2021b).
- Google Play Market: (Sanvello Health Inc., 2021a).
- Additional information: The major working principle of the application is based on the fundamentals of cognitive-behavioral therapy, which is generally believed to be one of the best methods in addressing anxiety (Sanvello, 2021).
Teaching Peculiarities
Ensuring Efficiency
- Perceiving the app as a personal journal.
- Developing the habit of daily check-up on the app.
- Reaching out to counselors in addition to the app usage.
- Encouraging communication with peers as a means of social adaptation.
Application Basics
- Learning the basic features of the app.
- Creating an account.
- Filling in the important information in order to connect with the practitioners.
Four Kinds of Support
- Learning how to communicate with peer groups.
- Training on live therapy sessions.
- Introduction of self-therapy techniques.
- Learning when to address a coaching session.
- Providing assistance during the first few days of familiarization with the app.
Evaluation
App Effectiveness
- Patients’ mental state prior to and after using the app.
- Patient’s ability to self-analyze the need for counseling and therapy.
- Outputs from the live therapy sessions.
- Frequency of communication with peers.
- The number of peers with whom patients maintain consistent communication.
- The amount of time spent on the app daily.
Patients’ Feedback
- Patients’ satisfaction with the app usage.
- The assessment of the app complexity.
- Patients’ understanding of the app value for anxiety handling.
- Patients’ self-evaluation of the mental state during the app use.
- Willingness to use the application every day.
Medication Management
- Patients’ response to medication after app use.
- Reconsideration of medication dosage regarding the CBT intervention.
- Assessment of the anxiety attack frequency prior to using the application.
- Assessment of the ability to replace medication with a full scale cognitive behavioral therapy treatment (Hana et al., 2018).
- Assessment of the medication use consistency during the app use.
References
Bandelow, B., Michaelis, S., & Wedekind, D. (2017). Treatment of anxiety disorders. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 19(2), 93.
Hana, L. M., McIngvale, E., Davis, M., Storch, E. A. (2018). CBT, medication, and the combination are effective for childhood anxiety. Evidence-Based Mental Health, 22(4). Web.
Sanvello. (2021). Web.
Sanvello Health Inc. (2021a). Sanvello (Version 8.21.0) [Mobile App]. Google Play Store. Web.
Sanvello Health Inc. (2021b). Sanvello (Version 8.21.0) [Mobile App]. App Store. Web.