Mood Mint – Boost Your Mood 4.1.1

Mood Mint is a comprehensive program that incorporates a variety of evidence-based psychological techniques to enhance mood, reduce stress, anxiety, and depression.

The program consists of four main components, each supported by scientific research:

1. COGNITIVE BIAS MODIFICATION: Mood Mint features Attentional Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM), a computer-based therapy that trains individuals to focus on positive information over negative information. By repeatedly selecting positive images in the game, CBM helps retrain the brain to naturally prioritize positive information in daily life. Studies have shown that just two hours of CBM treatment can effectively reduce anxiety, and it has also demonstrated potential benefits in alleviating depression. Moreover, participants who engaged in CBM exhibited increased activity in the lateral prefrontal cortex, an area associated with positive and happier thinking. Mood Mint allows users to fully customize the CBM game by editing, deleting, or adding their own images, enabling a personalized and effective CBM experience.

   If you would like more information on Attentional Cognitive Bias Modification and its application in treating anxiety and depression, please visit biasmodification.com.

2. HAPPY NOTES: During the CBM session, slides with bite-sized tips, facts, stats, techniques, and exercises to improve mental health appear. Users can take their time reading the slides and performing the exercises as the timer stops while they are displayed. These "Happy Notes" are all based on leading research and theories in psychology and neuroscience. Each one can contribute to reducing stress and anxiety while enhancing overall mental health and well-being. Users also have the option to personalize the program by editing or adding their own happy notes via the Settings.

3. POSITIVE WORD SEARCH: Focusing on positive information triggers the release of "feel-good" chemicals like serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins. Mood Mint includes a word search activity designed to encourage attention on positive words, aiming to stimulate the release of these chemicals. Users must find all four listed words in the letter grid by dragging their finger over the letters to highlight them. To maximize the positive psychological effect, individuals are encouraged to think about all the positive associations they have with each word as they search for them.

4. BREATHING EXERCISE: At the end of each training session, a guided breathing exercise is provided. Focusing on one's breathing helps ground individuals in the present moment and activates the parasympathetic response (known as the "rest and digest" response), promoting a sense of calm. Focused breathing plays a crucial role in mindfulness meditation and comes with numerous mental health benefits. Numerous studies have demonstrated that focused breathing meditation alone can help reduce stress, anxiety, and depression.

To achieve optimal results, individuals are advised to train for approximately 5 to 10 minutes per day and engage in additional sessions whenever feeling stressed, anxious, or upset. The program can be completed by earning 10,000 points.