Essie has a racing heart

Essie is currently in the middle of her teacher training. She recently moved to a new place and has been confronted with many new impressions and tasks in recent weeks. Recently, on the bus ride home, she felt really strange for the first time. Her heart suddenly started racing, her chest tightened, and her limbs tingled. The day before yesterday, it happened again, this time in a full classroom. Essie is very worried. Does she have a serious illness? Essie consults her family doctor, Dr. Ahrens. After thoroughly examining Essie and finding no physical causes, Dr. Ahrens diagnoses her with “panic attacks.” This is not a serious issue at first. One in three people experiences at least one panic attack in their life. However, to prevent individual panic attacks from developing into a panic disorder and the symptoms from becoming chronic, it is important to address them early. Dr. Ahrens has seen many patients with symptoms similar to Essie's and knows what to do.

Dr. Ahrens now prescribes apps

Dr. Ahrens writes a referral to a psychotherapist. Waiting times for a therapy spot are very long in Germany. For this reason, Dr. Ahrens is aware of the importance of her role as a family doctor and first point of contact. Her primary intervention is the decisive step for Essie's further treatment success, as it often takes several years for patients to seek and receive help. Therefore, Dr. Ahrens also prescribes Mindable. She takes Essie's symptoms seriously and doesn't want to send her home empty-handed, nor does she think tranquilizers are the right solution. Dr. Ahrens is glad that she can give Essie a behavioral therapy tool with Mindable. Essie is not yet sure if she wants to undergo psychotherapy. She is glad that Mindable can be used completely independently and that, if she later decides to pursue therapy, it can be easily integrated into the therapy.

Walter on the waiting list with therapist Mr. Thiele

Walter has suffered from panic attacks for several years and is very afraid of public transport and crowds. His condition worsened to the point that he could hardly leave his apartment. About 4 months ago, Walter had his first meeting with his therapist, Mr. Thiele. Walter was diagnosed with panic disorder and agoraphobia. Now he is waiting for a therapy spot. Unfortunately, this takes an average of 5 months because psychotherapists in Germany are completely overwhelmed. To prevent Walter's symptoms from worsening during the waiting period and to allow him to actively do something about them, Mr. Thiele prescribed Mindable for him. Walter now copes much better and understands the mechanisms of his anxiety. He knows what to do to get used to his body symptoms and face fear-inducing situations.

During therapy

Therapist Mr. Thiele extends his reach

Mr. Thiele is frequently confronted in his professional life with the fact that he cannot offer anything to patients after an initial consultation and diagnosis. His therapy slots are fully booked for months. It’s a bad feeling since his patients urgently need help right now. Mr. Thiele is glad to have discovered Mindable, as he can now confidently offer a tool to make good use of the waiting period. This also strengthens the self-efficacy of his patients, and he enjoys seeing the independent steps they have taken after the waiting period. What excites Mr. Thiele as a therapist is that he can continue to use Mindable interactively and seamlessly during therapy. Additionally, Mr. Thiele now saves much of the pre-allotted therapy time that he previously spent on psychoeducation. This allows him more time to focus on what matters during therapy sessions.

Ina in therapy

Therapist Mr. Thiele currently has Ina in therapy. Like many others, before coming to him, Ina struggled for years with anxiety that greatly restricted her daily life. Ina used to suffer from agoraphobia with panic disorder. To avoid panic attacks, she avoided many situations and constantly distracted herself, which affected her quality of life. Ina has now almost completed her therapy and made great progress. She has used Mindable throughout her therapy from start to finish. Initially, Ina learned through psychoeducation why it is so important to confront her fear rather than avoid and distract herself. This helped her engage in the subsequent exercises. She then faced her uncomfortable bodily sensations through symptom provocations. She performed the exercises suggested by Mindable with animations, such as breathing through a straw. This made her feel very dizzy, mimicking the symptoms she experienced during panic attacks. It was hard to endure. But she knew that her body could only get used to it if she kept doing it. To this end, she set a daily appointment in the app. After practicing for a while, it became slightly easier, and she felt ready for the next step – confronting fear-inducing situations. Together with Mr. Thiele, she set up exercises in the app tailored to her fears and what she could handle. For example, she went shopping alone, something she hadn't done in years. During this, she recorded her anxiety curve using her phone's volume slider and could discuss everything with her therapist, Mr. Thiele, afterward. She observed how the intensity and duration of her panic changed in fear-inducing situations. Initially, it got worse, which worried Ina greatly. But Mr. Thiele explained that this is common at first, especially for those who have avoided it strongly. He encouraged her to keep going. Mindable also asked her weekly checkups about how she was doing. Using progress curves, statistics, and histories, she could retrospectively see how her overall condition gradually improved. Of course, there were days and weeks when things didn’t go well at all, even sliding backward. But Ina pushed through. Today, she is glad that she faced her fear with Mr. Thiele and Mindable, and she is proud of the courage she showed.

After therapy

Roger without relapse

Roger completed his therapy with Mr. Thiele a year ago. He suffered from agoraphobia without panic disorder. Mr. Thiele recommended that he continue using Mindable after therapy to avoid relapses, practice regularly, and expose himself to confrontational situations. Since then, fear no longer has a chance to dominate Roger's daily life.