How this company is putting a lid on PTSD

GrayMatters Health, whose Prism treatment can help treat PTSD, is one of 2024’s most innovative medical device companies.

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People with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) tend to have hyperactive amygdalae, the region of the brain that regulates emotions. GrayMatters Health’s Prism—a cap covered in electrodes and an accompanying game that treats PTSD—received FDA clearance in March 2023.

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During treatment, patients wear the cap and play a computer game in which they watch a simulation of a noisy, crowded room full of agitated avatars. The patient is guided to focus on a memory or emotion to calm themselves. As they do this, the cap measures their brain activity, and as the patient’s brain waves change, the avatars begin to sit down. Over the course of 15 half-hour sessions, patients practice this strategy—and then they apply it to their own lives when they experience PTSD symptoms.

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Besides winning approval in the U.S., in 2023 Prism gained expanded investment from the European Innovation Council Fund, which had already chipped in €2.5 million to support its development and a large-scale EU study. Following its FDA clearance, Prism has started being used with patients in clinical settings and in clinical studies of other mental health disorders, including depression.

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Explore the full 2024 list of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, 606 organizations that are reshaping industries and culture. We’ve selected the firms making the biggest impact across 58 categories, including advertising, artificial intelligence, design, sustainability, and more.