Teachable Moments.

Our apps are designed to intervene exactly when a user is tempted to act out. He or she is essentially in an “altered state” at that time. We all know what that feels like. We stop thinking about consequences or we minimize the cost of acting out. We rationalize, we make excuses, or we just stop thinking altogether and go to our habit mindlessly. So, that’s what our apps target: Communicating to a person when his or her urge is actually happening.

If ever there was a need for a teachable moment! OK, so what is a teachable moment? Educators use the term as the time at which learning a particular topic or idea becomes possible or easiest. Parents use the term too, meaning the perfect time to help kids realize something important.

So doesn’t it make sense to think that teachable moments occur in folks with negative habits exactly at the time they are tempted to act on their urges? We traditionally think that “bottoming out” is the teachable moment for people with addictions. That’s true, but let’s think outside the box and consider that another critical teachable moment is experiencing the urge and learning what to do about it.

Makes sense, doesn’t it? I don’t know how many times I’ve counseled clients in therapy sessions (thousands of times, for sure) about how to handle those urges. The problem is that the clients aren't having those urges when they are talking to me. So they understand my advice intellectually, cognitively, but it’s really a stretch to think that they are going to be able to follow that advice when they are in a totally different emotional state -- a trance, really -- where their thinking has changed, their perceptions have changed, and they are hell bent on getting their “fix.”

So all of our apps include three phases of help whenever a user signals that s/he is having an urge to act on the negative habit.

First, we give immediate advice based on the urgency of the situation -- how strong the urge is, what shape the individual’s self control is at that moment, and whether there is immediate access to the desired item (ice cream in the freezer; porn hidden in the drawer, etc.).

Second, we check back in a few minutes after giving the initial advice (usually within 3 minutes) to see if the user is still in a jam. If so, we select one of 50 or 60 3-4 minute videos included in the app. The videos all teach something. They might suggest a way to lessen the intensity of the urge, they might explore consequences of acting out and bring awareness on board, or they might address underlying thoughts, emotions, behavior, or events that are associated with the urge. We believe those lessons “sink in” more readily at exactly the time when the urge is active.

Third, the app checks yet again a few minutes later to see if the user is still struggling. If so, then more advice is given and the user is advised to use other sections of the app (resources, personal support sections) such as calling a friend, listening to his or her recorded goal statements, etc. And of course, the app has recorded the time, place, the intensity of the urge, and other data that eventually are used to tailor advice more and more precisely for the user when urges hit later on.

Do we have research results that prove that our apps are effective tools for defeating urges? Not yet, but we do know the literature. When we combine information from “state-dependent learning”, from ending habits by establishing new patterns of behavior when an urge is first experienced, and from relatively simple techniques to strengthen willpower and to change the experience of having urges, we are convinced that we’re on the right track.