REPETITIVE NEGATIVE THINKING INTERVENTION PROJECT

11 February 2023

Repetitive negative thinking is defined as a process of attentively, repetitively or frequently thinking about oneself or world-related.  The most common types can be listed as follows:
Worry: Repeated continuous thinking about potential future threats, catastrophic images, uncertainties and risks
Rumination: Excessive analysis of events and situations, and repetitive continuous thinking about the negative aspects of life and past experiences (failure, regrets, etc.)
Self-Criticism: Repeated negative and self-critical thinking and self-talk.
      Repetitive negative thinking is an important risk factor that plays a role in many mental health problems, especially anxiety and depression, and negatively affects the functionality of people in their daily lives. It also leads to an increase in chronic stress, weakening of the immune system, an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer.  For this reason, interventions for repetitive negative thinking play an active role in both preventing the maintaining of psychological-physiological problems and supporting the treatment process.
        Stopping repetitive thinking behavior can be challenging for people. However, an evidence-based psychotherapy process given by a mental health professional has been found to be quite effective in this regard. On the other hand, many people are unable to benefit from psychotherapy services due to various limitations (time, money, accessibility, etc.). Based on this, this project aims to develop a self-help based mobile application that includes intervention methods to reduce repetitive thinking behavior. Through this application, it is aimed to improve the psychological skills of people and to stop their thinking behaviors rather than to stop their thoughts and to enable them to continue their lives.
        Self-help mobile applications are expected to deliver greater benefits to users due to their inherent potential advantages. In this context, some of the main advantages of the application to be developed are:
Convenience: The ability to access the application from anywhere and anytime
Anonymity: Users can receive services without sharing their personal information.
Cost-effectiveness: Being cheaper than traditional therapy sessions
Personalization: Users can customize it according to their needs, goals and lifestyle
Unrestricted access: Users can use the app for as long as they want
Reliable measurement: Users can measure their changes during the day in real time and more accurately.