Grafting of Emotion and Technology Becomes Medicine for the Bruised Heart

A lot of people suffer from mental anguish due to stress at least once in their lifetime. For most of us, the stress goes away naturally, but for a few, this anguish can develop into depression.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), America has the highest rates of people meeting the criteria for depression around the world with 1,454.74 people feeling depressed per day. People with high rates of depression also have high rates of obesity, heart disease, stroke, sleep disorders, and many other symptoms.

In America, about 45,000,000 people each year undergo a medical checkup due to psychological problems. However, out of those people, the number of patients who feel relieved by psychological therapy reaches less than 40%.

According to the Gustavus Adolphus College's "Why People Say No to Counseling," people hesitate to see a therapist for numerous reasons: they feel embarrassed, they worry there is no definite secrecy agreement, and they believe it is too expensive.

In real life, getting professional help is not an easy task. Even the people who are willing to pay the high cost for treatment are restricted because of the difficulty of scheduling an appointment with a doctor. Thus, there are a lot of people who do not get appropriate treatment at the right time.

Due to this complicated process, a new type of therapy called "text psychology" has recently gained steam among folks experiencing psychological problems.

Text therapy apps are a combination of digital technology and psychological therapy. This newly born industry works by downloading an application to one'ssmartphone and paying a subscription fee of $20 to $25 per week. Currently, apps such as "Trost" and "Talkspace" exist. These applications provide a service that connects users with professional advisers, who have at least a Masters degree and 5 to 10 years of face-to-face therapy experience. The biggest advantage of text therapy is that people can use this service 24 hours a day through the Internet, text messages, and even Facetime.

So far, this new service has been successful, receiving positive reactions from its users. For example, app Trost has reached 13,800 accumulated members in the past four months. It has high satisfaction scoring 4 out of 5 with 10% of recharge proving its popularity.

In an interview with JSR, a psychology therapist, Mi-ran Jeong, said, "I'm worried about the increased number of people suffering from depression. I want to tell them, sharing their agony is not showing their weakness to others. I'm sure everyone has an experience from suffering sad events once in their lifetime. They might be the best mentor of your life, but you won't really notice it until you give it a try. Enduring is not always the best, it can make more wounds in your heart. I'm glad that apps for psychological counsel came out. I think it will help people who are hesitant to speak with professionals."

There is a famous phrase: "Joy is doubled and sorrow is halved when shared." How about using these "text psychology" apps to heal the wounds of your heart by sharing your painful moments?

Da Young Gloria Yoon, Grade 10

Cresskill High School