Israel-based software developers create app to tackle mental health

The new software targets an individuals' memory imaging system, displaying images that build on life events that have left emotional scars on a person overtime.

MAY 4, 2021 12:55

Updated: MAY 4, 2021 12:56

Where to turn for mental health? (photo credit: PRISCILLA DU-PREE/UNSPLASH) — Where to turn for mental health?

(photo credit: PRISCILLA DU-PREE/UNSPLASH)

Umoove, an Israel-based mobile software technology company launched its new program MindReset, which is an app intended to help users de-stress through short eye-tracking sessions, it announced on Tuesday.

The new software targets an individuals' memory imaging system, displaying images that build on life events that have left emotional scars on a person overtime.

Continuous exposure to these events can trigger emotional responses as if the events are taking place in real-time, over and over, eventually leading to mental health problems.

With the strain that has been put on mental health services amid the coronavirus pandemic, Umoove saw an opportunity to alleviate the stress for the masses using the eye-tracking technology, in turn providing a radical new approach to mental wellness.

Umoove's describes its new mental wellness app - a partnership between mental wellness coach Matt Hudson and MindReset - as using eye-tracking technology that detects split-second access to the emotional mental imagery, and then takes the user through a process which is intended to interrupt the connection to these subconscious images and the distress it causes.

Once is a connection is typically interrupted, the users tend to experience an immediate recovery from stress, depression, anxiety, chronic stress, trauma, chronic fatigue and insomnia. Other programs are planned for future releases, the company said.

“The eyes are known to be the window of the soul, for us it's a window of opportunity; providing a quick non-invasive intervention to the mind, even if the user is unsure about the cause of their stress,” said CEO and co-founder of Umoove Yitzi Kempinski.

“JCT was the ideal place for my values and ambitions,” said co-founder of Umoove Tuvia Elbaum, who graduated from the Jerusalem College of Technology in 2013. “I am a true believer in leading a life filled with Torah, but I also prioritize working, creating, and being an active contributor to the economy. JCT offered incredible flexibility that enabled me to achieve my multifaceted goals.”

“During my initial years in the hi-tech world, it felt like there were very few kippot around,” Elbaum added. “Now the landscape is different, yet occasionally I still ask myself: ‘Do I belong in this world?’ JCT is working diligently to ensure that religious high-tech professionals become not the exception, but the rule in Israel, which is mutually beneficial for religious communities and Israeli society as a whole.”