Does anyone have experience with self-therapy? I’ve been trying the bloom app for the past week, which is a self-guided CBT program.
It’s interesting and I like that it has a lot of sessions/guided exercises for very specific situations (like procrastinating on a project, anxiety about job search taking too long), and I kinda want to know if there’s other competitors out there.
I had no idea this was a thing, so I’m going to hang out and read everyone’sexperiences :B
I was surprised to find out about it too! Definitely got a instagram ad for it. But I used to do a lot of workbooks so I guess this is just the app version of that . Mental health services are so hard to find right now, not to mention unaffordable, it kinda makes sense that this niche exists
I’m definitely going to check this out. I don’t have the spoons to search for a therapist right now, but a little mental health touch up is in order for sure.
I am delighted to find that such a thing exists. Thanks!
The reviews on Google playstore is 2 stars. How are you finding it?
I did the week trial and just wrapped up the week. I’m not immediately going to pay $35/year for it but I might consider it, but I have found it helpful. It’s like finding the right audio version of a podcast combined with a workbook for whatever you’re dealing with. That being said, I don’t think a week is really a fair shot for it.
Also, I wonder if the android app is worse/buggy? The iOS app has much higher ratings 4.8/5: Bloom: CBT Therapy & Self-Care on the App Store
Ohhh I just looked at the one on the google play store and it look VERY different than the iOS app. I think the one I’m using only exists for iOS
I found this alternative:
(ios only)
and this one for google play
Thanks 
will look into them
I was on SuperBetter for a while. The problem I had with it is that it ended on level 25 (it’s set up like a video game) and after that, you just repeated yourself. There used to be also Daily challenge which was community based, they gave stamps, you selected tracks, etc. My problem with them was similar. I’ve had a lot of people recommend Habitica.
For those of us who do self-care and work at it anyway, it’s tough finding something that doesn’t just become rinse, lather, repeat.
What I want isn’t training, I grew up in therapy, I know what I should do in most cases. What I need/want is the support. Maybe a new way now and then to approach a problem. But mostly I want community.
interesting perspective! I used habitica for many many years but I see it mostly as a todo list app, not really the same as therapy. The nice part is you can have self-care tasks in there that you do every day. Also I was very motivated by collecting pets for a long time, but then I collected all of the standard ones and nearly every one of the special ones. It took actual years to do that, but then I lost some motivation. I had to find a new todo list app.
But the parties and guilds are very good for accountability and the advantage of having accountability for those thigns.
I started therapy in first grade. My last therapist retired about 5 years ago. There’s approx. 60 years in between, mostly in therapy. I’ve had therapists tell me I’m better at it than they are. I don’t have the education or experience to be a therapist, but I certainly know the mind-set.
I decided against becoming a therapist because my boundaries aren’t good enough.
I will push towards a goal, and keep going, most of the time. But I get discouraged, want to give up, and can talk myself into little eddies of insecurity. Intellectually knowing what I should do is much easier than actually doing whatever. Ex. I"m a “recovering” hoarder. I’ve been one for about 15 years now. I know I should get rid of the excess stuff. But when I do it a lot I have panic attacks. So I approach it like a ticking bomb. I’m capable of “forgetting” I was going to cull x or y area. I wish knowing what I need to do made the doing easier, it doesnt’ necessarily.
Aside from the next step and ideas for approaching it, I called therapy my “one hour a week where I can be as whiney as I want.” We all have the selfish whiney baby inside. We want things our way. We want x or y or z boo hoo. In therapy I could unapologetically be that person and then work past it to what’s best for the situation: work, marriage, friendship, whatever. I found that ignoring or just trying to suppress the whiney me didn’t work. I have to acknowledge and pay attention to her.
I use Finch which is an app where you take care of a little bird! You can set daily goals for yourself and check in with yourself. It has some journaling prompts that I find very helpful and some absolutely AWFUL language processing (it analyzes your journal entries and sometimes comes up with some weird suggestions like “introduce jude (my roommate) to pasta”, or “think about how teeth make you feel satisfied” (one of my goals is to brush my teeth every day)) which I find delightful and hilarious. It’s $40/year for “all the features” but I’ve been using the free version and find it perfectly fine.
I also have a referral code, A34PJ5CKY3 (it gets me Rainbow Stones which are the in-game currency you can use to buy clothing items for your bird, very low-stakes).
I find any self therapy plans, (and I love workbooks) only work if I’m also doing therapy with a human or group. I think @JanetJackson has good experience with worksheets.
For me, I can’t stick it through the hardest parts when I’m completely doing it solo. I’ll either skip exercises or give light answers. OR write out something deeply unravelling and then never touch it again because it was too much
I have so so so so so much to add to this conversation as I did a ton of self therapy for several years and still continue to do so well also working with active professionals.
I’m working right now but I will absolutely have some input here later today or tomorrow morning.
I love this conversation!!!