{"id":918,"date":"2015-11-12T21:01:34","date_gmt":"2015-11-12T21:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/depressionhelp\/?p=918"},"modified":"2015-11-12T21:01:34","modified_gmt":"2015-11-12T21:01:34","slug":"your-happyplace-app-helps-fight-depression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/depressionhelp\/2015\/11\/your-happyplace-app-helps-fight-depression.html","title":{"rendered":"Your HappyPlace App Helps Fight Depression"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/a>\"happyplace<\/a><\/h2>\n

Your Happy Place App Helps Fight Depression<\/h2>\n

An app, called HappyPlace<\/a>, helps you fight depression with your smartphone. Available on itunes, HappyPlace manipulates a person\u2019s perception of ambiguous facial expressions. If apps can monitor your daily steps taken, take your pulse, or measure your exercise levels, why not have an app to treat depression?<\/span><\/p>\n

Our brains process everything we see. Sometimes, the facial expressions of others are ambiguous. Is she happy or sad? ls he frowning because he\u2019s angry or is he focused on solving a problem? Your perception of an ambiguous expression is influenced by how you feel that day and how biased you are towards certain expressions. If you think a frown means anger, then you\u2019ll assume the person is angry even if he is really just trying to solve a math problem.<\/span><\/p>\n

Think about when you walk down a street and see a friend. If the friend has a blank facial expression, on a good day you won\u2019t think anything about it. On a bad day, you\u2019ll interpret the blank face in a completely different way. You\u2019ll think the person is indifferent or doesn\u2019t care about you.\"happyplace <\/span><\/p>\n

Depression makes you feel horrible and think negatively about everything. Your bias is to not see joy or love or anything good because you don\u2019t feel happy or good about anything. So an ambiguous expression will make you project your anger, pain, and sadness onto that person. You\u2019ll think something negative before you think about something positive. You\u2019ll think your boyfriend is angry when he\u2019s not. Next thing you know, your boyfriend who you accused of being angry does get angry because you\u2019re telling him he\u2019s angry. It\u2019s a vicious cycle in depression and one that drives loved ones away from you.<\/span><\/p>\n

Your HappyPlace App<\/span><\/h3>\n

The idea behind the HappyPlace app is that your misinterpretation of facial expressions can be corrected by using feedback to teach you to think first about positivity instead of negativity. HappyPlace wants to replace the thought that your boyfriend is angry with the thought that your boyfriend is happy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how HappyPlace works. HappyPlace shows you faces with expressions that fall along a continuum from happy to sad. The faces appear in random order, and you\u2019re forced to say whether each one is happy or sad, even for the ambiguous ones. The app assesses your personal boundaries of sad and happy. Then you\u2019re shown some more faces. This time HappyPlace gives you feedback on your answer. The faces that are just on the sad side of your personal boundary are classified \u2018happy\u2019 by HappyPlace, so when you say they\u2019re \u2018sad\u2019, the app tells you you\u2019re wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n

This feedback seems to shift a person\u2019s boundary point towards positivity, and also seems to affect mood. Plus it cuts down on the number of times you have a pointless and unnecessary argument with your boyfriend about whether he\u2019s angry or happy.<\/span><\/p>\n

HappyPlace is cheap to use and easy to upload. Apps like HappyPlace is where research in depression is heading. Having apps that help you when you don\u2019t want to visit a doctor but feel crappy is something you can use in addition to medications and therapy.<\/span><\/p>\n

HappyPlace is available from itunes<\/a> <\/span>for $.99. <\/span>HappyPlace lets you store things that make you happy, including journal entries. There\u2019s even a \u2018Today I Am Grateful For\u2026\u2019 and you fill in the blank.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Twitter: @tereziafarkas \u00a0#depression \u00a0#HappyPlace \u00a0#newtech<\/p>\n

* Click here to find out more about Terezia Farkas\u00a0<\/span><\/a>and Depression Help Free.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Your Happy Place App Helps Fight Depression An app, called HappyPlace, helps you fight depression with your smartphone. Available on itunes, HappyPlace manipulates a person\u2019s perception of ambiguous facial expressions. If apps can monitor your daily steps taken, take your pulse, or measure your exercise levels, why not have an app to treat depression? 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Terezia is a reiki master, psychic medium, and certified channeller. Visit Terezia Farkas on Twitter @tereziafarkas Website: http:\/\/www.tereziafarkas.com Honours: Alberta Lt. Governor Circle on Mental Health and Addictions award. Bell Let's Talk Social Media Ambassador 2017. 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