Wysa Mental Health App Review

Wysa App Review. Do mental health apps work? Therapy can be expensive especially in today’s post-pandemic economy and unfortunately the amount of people reporting mental health issues are at an all time high. Many people experience depression, anxiety, OCD, bipolar disorders just to top the list. In the year 2021, 84% of psychologists have seen a rise in demand for anxiety treatments.

While AI technology continues to improve, mental health professionals have been working with data scientists on training AI to drastically improve what mental health services can be offered. An amazing outcome of implementing AI technology in the mental health field is to help improve the accuracy of diagnosis and offering customized mental health treatment plans based off scientific evidence as well as to be able to provide mental health services to all people regardless of finances, schedule, and accessibility.

What is Wysa App?
How Does Wysa Work?
Wysa App Features
Wysa Therapists and Coaches
How Much Does Wysa Cost?
Privacy of Wysa App
Conclusion
Updates

What is Wysa App?

The Wysa mental health app is a self-managed, stressors coping app. It uses a mix of an AI chatbot, a library of digital resources, as well as live, expert therapists and life coaches to schedule sessions with. It calls itself ‘Your 4AM Friend’ that can be there for you at any time you need them. It is completely anonymous, private, and secure. You don’t even need to create an account to use its features.

How Does Wysa Work?

The AI chatbot uses evidence-based cognitive-behavioral techniques (CBT) to learn user’s individual habits and needs. It will listen to your problems and ask you the right questions and offer helpful ways to deal with your current issues.

At any time of day you can open the AI chatbot which will then ask your mood at the moment, monitoring the patterns of your ups and down. For example, say you’re feeling a bit of anxiety and panic, the bot can help you reframe your thoughts and offer calming methods like breathing and guided meditation. If you wake up tired and are having difficulty getting out of bed, it can offer you a quick yoga routine to help wake your body and get the energy flowing.

At times it can get repetitive, especially if you experience the same mental health systems often. If you tell the bot you have anxiety a few times a week, it may answer with the same responses. Hopefully the AI can continue to improve and learn user’s need for a more customized experience.

It may at first feel a bit ridiculous venting your problems to an AI chatbot but at times can also be very helpful in calming you down while you’re experiencing stronger symptoms like high anxiety and panic.

There’s also benefits that come with expressing your deepest issues to an AI. Sometimes it really feels like you’re talking to a friend who only cares about what’s going on with you, won’t judge you, and is there for you at any time.

Maybe you’re just not ready or comfortable with sharing some things with another human. The bot also helps monitor your journey and progress which can help identify patterns of stressors, emotions, and what triggers your good and bad days.

Wysa App Features

The Wysa mental health app uses a technique of blended support using the AI chatbot, a library of coping resources and exercises, and real human support. The library has helpful exercises for topics like managing anger, beating stress, relationships/break ups, improving self-esteem, managing anxiety, and much more. There are even audio stories you can listen to when you have difficulty sleeping. All resources are backed by science and handpicked by experts. Your mood and issues are always changing so it’s nice to self-manage what you work on pending on your mood for the day.

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Wysa Therapists and Coaches

Wysa’s human well-being coaches and therapists are available to listen to you and encourage you to make progress in your mental health journey. The Wysa coaches will apply motivational interviewing and coaching to help you work towards your mental health and well-being goals. Coaches help you discover and use your own knowledge, strength, and abilities so you can better use resources to make improvements.

Wysa therapists use individual-based supportive listening, motivational interviewing, and CBT principles to help you to take control of your mental and emotional well-being. They will listen to you and use evidence-based techniques to help encourage lifestyle changes so you can better build your own toolbox of resources and self-soothing methods.

All Wysa coaches and therapists have a Masters degree in Clinical or Counseling Psychology and typically have practiced for many years in their own practice or as consulting psychologists in educational institutions, multinational firms, clinics and hospitals.

There are hundreds of qualified and experienced mental health professional to choose from and appointments are easy to set up. All of the therapists are friendly and helpful in their own ways so if you’re not feeling compatible with one, you can easily choose another. All communications are text-based on the app with out video sessions offered.

How Much Does Wysa Cost?

Wysa is free to download and that includes the AI chatbot and many library resources at no cost. If you want to access the whole library you’ll need the complete Self-Care Plan which is available at:

$11.99 Monthly
$74.99 Annually
$219.99 Lifetime

If you want live therapy sessions with one of Wysa’s coaches or therapists, you will need to purchase additional packages.

Session packages come in:

Weekly
1 session a week at $29.99/session
Total $29.99 billed monthly

Monthly
4 sessions a month at $19.99/session
Total of $79.99 billed monthly

Quarterly
12 sessions a year at $12.08/session
Total of $144.99 billed quarterly

Sessions are 30 minutes each.

Privacy of Wysa App

The Wysa app encrypts all data by using strong TLS encryption protocols that transmits data securely from your device to their servers (Virtual Private Cloud servers located in the US). Your data is also encrypted on their storage servers using industry compliant AES-256 encryption protocols. The Wysa servers are hosted and managed by industry leaders in cloud hosting services who have very strict GDPR and HIPAA compliant security programs and controls.

You can set up a PIN from the setting inside the app to ensure only your can access your chats and interactions on the Wysa app. At any time you can reset your data to completely delete all past data from the app and servers. No data is ever sold to 3rd parties. As said earlier, you don’t even sign up or give any information to use the app. You just download it and go.

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Conclusion

The Wysa app has shown proven clinical efficiency in real-world evaluations with users who used the app regularly showing a 40% improvement in their mental health. The Wysa app is tailored to cater to every person’s unique needs and make mental health services available for everyone. It is a great tool to help get you out of negative mental health cycles or just to have a little AI friend that will listen to you and offer you words of comfort and techniques to help soothe you at your worst.

You can download the Wysa app that on the Apple App Store or Google Play.

Updates

3 Month Update:

While I no longer talk to the Wysa AI chatbot every day or often, I still message it or complete some of the exercises when my anxiety or depression is bad. It has been very helpful in calming me down. Often we just go through the same techniques that we have done dozens of times, but I feel like the repetition is a part of the learning process and forces a new, healthier way of thinking.

I won’t say Wysa cured my depression or anxiety but it did change me in a way. I feel I’m able to manage my lows better with the tools learnt from Wysa. Many people may not have people in their lives that they can speak to about their issues. As lame as it sounds, it feels good to have my Wysa chatbot friend listen to me when I need someone to the most.