RecoverTogether

As discussed in my previous blog posts, eating disorders are serious mental illnesses that take a toll on the minds and bodies of all kinds of people all over the world. Head to my first blog post for more factual information and statistics on eating disorders, and take a look at my fourth blog post for myths and facts about eating disorders. There are many great resources for information on eating disorders which can be found in my second post, but in this post I want to present an app that I’ve developed myself in order to help control, prevent, and treat eating disorders.

Social media and technology are so important in this day and age. In my third blog post you can find some helpful social media accounts, but I think an app would be a great way to put resources, social media, and treatment options all in one place for people to conveniently access.

After doing research on existing apps used for eating disorders, I discovered that many of the apps focus on tracking meals and logging emotions. There are also more broad apps surrounding mental health as a whole that use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help with symptoms. 

My app “RecoverTogether” would be inspired by Jane McGonigal’s TedTalk in which she develops a game called SuperBetter to help people struggling with illnesses and injuries. One part of the app would be the game. In this game, you would gain points for doing certain tasks throughout the day in order to reach a certain point goal each day. For instance, you would get 10 points for telling yourself that weight shouldn’t matter and 20 points for eating a balanced breakfast. After a while the point goal would increase. It would maybe start as 100 points, then the next week would be 120 points, and over time it could reach up to 500 points!

RecoverTogether would have different tabs at the bottom, so it would be organized similar to Facebook or Instagram.

In another tab, there would be resources available to you. For instance, it would have the number for the eating disorder hotline as well as addresses for clinics and centers near you based on your location. 

Another tab would be where you could enter goals for yourself and check them off as you accomplish them. They could be daily goals like “Try not to purge after eating” or long-term goals like “Eat what I want without feeling guilty.”

The last tab would be a forum in which you could chat with a therapist or other people who are also using the app. This is a way to make individuals feel like they are part of a community, and show that there are people there to help when you need it. Hopefully this would create a positive environment in which people using the app can help one another when they’re having a hard day and struggling with the disorder. 

Lastly, I would have the app send daily notifications. They could range from simple mood boosting reminders like “you are beautiful” to “only 20 points until you reach your goal for the day.” This way individuals are getting little nudges to keep them motivated throughout the day. 

Overall, my app would be a place where people can go for motivation, treatment options, reminders, and a community that helps them fight eating disorders no matter where they are or what resources are readily available to them. I want this RecoverTogether to give people hope for the future by helping to ease their minds from the constant pressure they are feeling.