(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) In this episode, a quick look at the mental health wellness app, Zenora. Welcome to the Anxiety Road podcast. This is the involuntary journey, finding treatment options and resources for people that have anxiety, panic attacks, and phobias too. This podcast is treatment agnostic. My name is Gena Haskett It is a very chaotic time in the so-called mental health app space. You have a lot of
conflicting interests that want to provide mental health services. You have insurance companies that are being pressured to provide access to mental health care, but also want to reduce their human cost, specifically the providers that would be giving the services. You have large businesses and corporations also looking for affordable health resources
for their employees, again at a reduced cost. Then the actual mental health providers, the human ones, some who are leaving the profession because of retirement, some that are being forced out due to promises of a technological revolution in mental health, and those that remain are overworked and underpaid. I find myself continuing to talk about the growing entrepreneurial mental health prospectors who crunch the members and figured out there's
gold in the mental health hills. This explains the wave of apps that are making claims of providing services or the option for treatment. In this episode, I want to take a look at the Zenora app. If you're new here, this is the podcast that looks at medical, behavioral health, meditation, relaxation, and X equals the unknown resources for those of us that
have an anxiety disorder or a mental health condition. What is Zenora? Per the website, it is described as a mental wellness app designed to help you manage your emotional health through personalized AI driven support. The app claims to have what it calls an AI therapist that offers you suggestions and information based upon what you'd have typed into the app. I have no doubt that most of those suggestions are based on a type of treatment called cognitive
behavioral therapy. It also states that Zenora will provide emotional support. It does have a journaling feature where you can enter your mood and the intensity of your feeling. Zenora has the ability to chart your moods over a period of time. So who is this app for? Honestly, I don't know. There are no specific or intended users listed on the website at the time that I visited it.
There are a wide range of mental health conditions. Now sure, there can be some similarities in how the anxiety is expressed or how moods are expressed, and certainly similarities in symptoms. But treatment options can be very different depending upon what you've done. For example, you don't treat an eating disorder the same way as you do agoraphobia. In my opinion, I don't think this app is for newbies or for people focused on symptom control. I think there are better resources for that.
However, for people who are currently under treatment or have a good understanding about their mental health condition or who would like a more visual representations of how their moods change over time, maybe this is the app for them. Here's some of my concerns. The company states that this is a wellness app, but they use the term AI therapist. AI therapists do not perform therapeutic services. What the app does, what it's trained to do, is pattern matching. It can be a word, a phrase,
or a question that you type into the app. The app will search the large language model that's associated with that word or concept and select a response. Now that large language model may have been reviewed by a psychologist, but there's no understanding or cognition about you or anything else. Another thing is that there is no specific condition that it allegedly treats. It's not anxiety or depression specific. Now for mood tracking, it doesn't really have to be.
But again, they use the term AI therapist. How much help can it be if it really doesn't truly understand what you got? Claiming that it's a cognitive behavioral therapy AI app isn't really helpful if you need a different type of treatment than the app can provide. Another concern I have is the method in which you'll be able to access the app and specifically premium services. This is the subscription app. I believe it's $9. Now for $9, it will remove ads. You have the
option to accept ads if you don't want to pay the $9. And when I looked at the app in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Stores, under data safety, the vendor does state that they will share your personal and health information with third parties. If you choose not to view ads, you will have limited access to most of the app's features. So again, I have questions. Even if you pay a subscription, will your personal information be shared and who are they sharing it
with? I looked at the data collection information on the Android App Store and the company will collect your name, your email address, your user ID, and other information. And I'm assuming that would include all users, whether you paid for the app or not. And if you do accept ads, what kind of stuff will you see? Will you see generic ads like Temu or mental health specific ads like a specific drug or a company like Better Health? The bigger question is, what is the value of data
collected from people who have stated that they have a mental health condition? What dollar value does that have to the company that produces this app and who are the potential buyers? Now, what are they going to do with that information? Again, these are questions that I have. So when it comes to resources, and let me make this clear, I am not endorsing this app, not endorsing any app. I just want to present some alternatives that might be
closer to what we would want as people who have anxiety conditions. So there is an app called Rootd, and that's spelled R-O-O-T-D, Rootd for Panic Attacks and Anxiety. And it has many of the features that Sonora has, but there is a specific focus on anxiety and panic attacks. There are short and long-term lessons, breathing practices, nature sounds, and other items that you can access through the app. This is a subscription service.
There is a blog called the Knock-Off Therapy Blog, and they have a free PDF paper-based tracker and the information on how to use it to track what's going on with you. Please be aware that you would have to subscribe to the blog newsletter to get the tracker, but you could also read the blog post to see if this is a good match for you.
And there's another app called Unstuck CBT Therapy Journal. This has a tracking features, they have a thought journal, they have examples of thinking traps, and other doodads that you can use to track your feelings and your thinking patterns. I implore you to take the time to read the privacy policy and the terms of service. How will your personal information be used?
And be informed, be informed about your specific condition. What are the traditional and even non-traditional treatment options, so that you have a good solid base, so that when you come to an app, you can evaluate whether or not this is going to be appropriate for you. I'll catch you next time on the Anxiety Road. You can visit anxietyroadpodcast.com for links and other information resources. You can listen, subscribe, and do all kinds of things to find the podcast via
free podcasts. You can visit anxietyroadpodcast.com for links and other informational resources. You can listen, download, or subscribe to the podcast via any of the free podcasting apps. You can find the show on Apple Podcasts, Amazon, Ganna, Pandora, or on the web at listennotes.com. Links to other sites are provided for information purposes only and do not constitute endorsement. Always seek the advice of a qualified health provider with questions you may have regarding
a medical or mental health disorder. This podcast is intended for information and education purposes only and nothing in the program is intended to be a substitute for professional psychological, psychiatric, or medical advice like nurses or treatment.