Personal Zen

Description:

Personal Zen is an app based on Attention Bias Modification Training. It is very simple to use - requiring users to trace the path of a 'sprites' (animated characters on the screen) with their finger. Both friendly and unfriendly sprites appear on the screen, and the user needs to follow only the friendly sprites, thus retraining the user to pay attention to positives rather than negatives. Users are able to use Personal Zen as much or as little as they please, depending on their stress levels, and weekly goals can be set. For users who are feeling mildly stress, the game suggests 5 minutes a day, 2 to 3 days per week.

Service URL:

http://www.personalzen.com/about/

Agency Responsible:

Hunter College, City University of New York.

Mobile Platform:

Apple.

Details

Format:

Smartphone Application. Apple

Intervention Type:

Other. Attention Bias Modification Training

Course Structure:

No Set Course.

Course Length:

Other. Designed to be used in an ongoing way, with no set end-point

Support Option:

Program guidance.

Target Audience

Primary Category:

Stress.

Target Audience:

Adult. Research trials have focused on adult users, but the app is rated for 4 years and older, indicating that it is suitable for use by children.

Language:

English.

Access

Mobile platforms:

Apple:

https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/personal-zen/id689013447?mt=8

Fee:

Free.

Access:

Open: No registration required.

Contact Details:

tracy.dennis@hunter.cuny.edu

Research evidence

Research Trials:

3

Research RCTs:

3

Outcome Summary:

Personal Zen has been tested in 3 randomised controlled trials, two of which have included trait-anxious adults, and one that included women in the second trimester of pregnancy. Each of these RCTs compared the use of Personal Zen to a Placebo Training condition which utilised similar stimuli but had participants trace the path of both 'friendly' and 'unfriendly' sprites across the screen (as opposed to only friendly sprites, as is the case in Personal Zen).
Study 1 (2014) (N=78) indicated that a single session of use could signifincantly reduce threat bias (the bias towards focusing on negatives/threats found with anxiety) and that this effect was present for long (45 minute) sessions rather than shorter (25 minute sessions).
Study 2 (2016) (N=42) incorporated the measurement of ERPs (even-related potentials) in the brain as well as looking at the effect of Personal Zen on an anxiety-related stress task, finding that only female users performed better on the stress task as a result of having used the app. Effects of app use also differed based on individual differences between users in terms of neurocognitive responses to threat.
Study 3 (2017) (N=29) found mixed results for threat bias reduction in pregnant women randomised to either 4 weeks of Personal Zen or 4 weeks of the placebo training app. Once again, although there were some indications of app effectiveness, individual differences in neurocognitive responses to threat, as well as differences in cortisol levels, predicted program response.   

Recommended rating, reviewer 1:

Recommended rating, reviewer 2:

Read more about Beacon's Smiley Rating System.

Research paper citations

Dennis, T. A. and L. O'Toole (2014). "Mental Health on the Go: Effects of a Gamified Attention Bias Modification Mobile Application in Trait Anxious Adults." Clin Psychol Sci 2(5): 576-590.
Dennis-Tiwary, T. A., et al. (2016). "For whom the bell tolls: Neurocognitive individual differences in the acute stress-reduction effects of an attention bias modification game for anxiety." Behav Res Ther 77: 105-117.
Dennis-Tiwary, T. A., et al. (2017). "Salutary effects of an attention bias modification mobile application on biobehavioral measures of stress and anxiety during pregnancy." Biol Psychol 127: 148-156.