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Mindset Health (YC S19) raises $1.1M to develop hypnosis apps
- rpiguy 6y agoDamn it I thought they were going to resurrect the Mindset computer from 1985. Such an awesome machine.
- mindsetalex 6y agoThat's stage 2 of our roadmap
- dvcrn 6y agoClicked on the link on my phone and hitting the back button just refreshed the page over and over again. Had to long press the back button and select hackernews to escape. Stop overwriting the back functionality of the browser please!
- BubRoss 6y agoThese people are shoveling out an app based on hypnosis, did you expect a respectable site?
- mindsetalex 6y agoHypnosis is simply a state of heightened focus and suggestibility, nothing more. The misconceptions you're familiar with are unfounded but understandable. We work with respected doctors and researchers and are evidence-focused (Nerva is based on an RCT and we're in the early stages of our own study). I do think our website is pretty respectable: https://www.mindsethealth.com https://www.mindsethealth.com
- BubRoss 6y agoSave your pitch for someone with a weaker filter for nonsense.
- mindsetalex 6y agoIf you're interested in our science, here's the RCT our app is based on: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/apt.13706 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/apt.13706
- dang 6y agoAttacking other users like this will get you banned on HN. No more of this, please, regardless of how wrong others are or you feel they are. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- Delk 6y agoI might be a bit sceptical about the benefits of a hypnosis app, too, but you're being unnecessarily harsh. It's not like hypnosis itself as a phenomenon is automatically nonsense. It attracts people who are into woo, so there's probably lot of nonsense being thrown around, but AFAIK the phenomenon is real and has been used with some success. So maybe don't buy all the hype, but from your comments I get the vibe that you automatically dismiss the whole thing because of the h word. That's not necessarily right either.
- dang 6y ago"Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- mindsetalex 6y agoSorry was this our site or TechCrunch?
- dvcrn 6y agoTechCrunch, sorry!
- mindsetalex 6y agoHey HN, I'm Alex. I’m the co-founder of Mindset Health, a digital health startup that makes hypnosis-based management programs for chronic health conditions. Hypnosis get’s a bad rap but it’s essentially just a state of focused attention and absorption where you become more suggestible. It’s an experiential learning state that amplifies therapeutic techniques, from CBT to visualization and direct suggestion. If you’re interested in learning more, here’s a recent study from Stanford on the brain areas activated during hypnosis: (https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2016/07/study-identifies-brain-areas-altered-during-hypnotic-trances.html https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2016/07/study-identif...) and a meta-analysis on hypnosis as an adjunct to CBT vs CBT alone (http://coyoteinstitute.us/Hypnosis%20as%20an%20Adjunct%20to%20CBT%201995.pdf http://coyoteinstitute.us/Hypnosis%20as%20an%20Adjunct%20to%...). We work with expert doctors and psychologists to deliver audio hypnotherapy sessions (think goal-orientated guided meditation) through mobile apps for various health conditions, like anxiety and Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). I work on Mindset Health with my brother, Chris, and small (but awesome) team based out of Melbourne, Australia. We raised our US$1.1m seed round coming out of Y Combinator and are passionate about empowering people to manage their conditions themselves, from home. We have two programs at the moment, Mindset for Mental Health and Nerva for IBS. Mindset is based on the work by Dr Michael Yapko, a world-leading expert in the clinical uses of hypnosis and involves teaching coping skills while in a hypnotic state. Nerva is based on the work by Dr Simone Peters, who ran a randomized clinical study with Monash University that found her 6-week gut-directed hypnotherapy approach helped 71% of participants improve their symptoms by an average of 62%. We want your feedback, questions, and ideas. We know the topics of ‘hypnosis’ and ‘hypnotherapy’ bring up questions and skepticism and we’d love to dive deeper into those questions.
- hashberry 6y agoI will gladly hand over my money for an app that will hypnotize me to stop procrastinating and make me like my job.
- mindsetalex 6y agoWe actually have a course on procrastination (by a different practitioner, not Dr Yapko) but you'll have to learn to like your job yourself haha.
- organicfigs 6y agoI'll try to maintain my cousins' anonymity while stating this: both of them are literally the best in the world at their passion (think Olympic athlete, math Olympiad, Rhodes Scholar, etc.) What's their secret? Their mom/my aunt swear by hypnosis. On a side note, their passion is not lucrative, it always saddens me to see them have such a drive yet not achieve anywhere close to their earning potential.
- hypnqs 6y agoI'm curious, are they hypnotized while training, performing, or both?
- organicfigs 6y agoI'm not sure if they have a session prior to competing but I know they use it to train and get through 8+ hours of practice.
- hypnqs 6y agoIt's not every day you hear a strong a testimonial for hypnosis :) Can I hire a hypnotist or something to try this on me, or is there a book which describes the process? I imagine it's something like getting into a flow state on command & staying there.
- mindsetalex 6y agoI'd look into active-alert hypnosis: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00029157.2018.1496318 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00029157.2018.1... We have an alert session in Mindset you can try as well. The flow comparison is quite apt.
- organicfigs 6y agoI wouldn't know since I haven't really prodded them on the details. I wouldn't want to give any advice on something I don't know too much about, I'm sorry!
- mister_hn 6y agoBut how? Is really any VC giving out so much money out _before_ seeing any kind of result/code?
- mindsetalex 6y agoWhen we raised our seed we had already launched two mobile apps and had existing user data (as well as being based on an existing study).