Prism Mental Strategies
The mental strategies that patients explore and develop during Prism sessions are the engine of the therapeutic process. This is what patients take with them – to home, to work, in the street, everywhere they go in their daily life.
PTSD and depression are associated with dysregulation in neural networks involved in emotional processing, salience detection, self-referential thinking, and cognitive control. During Prism sessions, patients explore different mental strategies and Prism reflects back to them the effect of those mental strategies on the dysregulated network. Patients learn in a gamified manner which of their personal mental strategies work the best to change the Prism interactive simulation.
What is a mental strategy?
The Mental Strategy is a personal memory, emotion or experience that gets the animated characters in the Prism simulation to respond. This is individualized because the experiences that are effective in getting the simulation to respond vary from patient to patient.
The Mental Strategy transforms the treatment from something that is delivered to the patient into something that is actively explored and developed by the patient. From something mechanistic to something personal, resulting in a treatment that is science-based and personal at the same time.
Biomarker-powered training
During Prism sessions, patients watch a computer simulation and engage their Mental Strategy to get the animated characters, or avatars, to respond. This is where the technological innovation of Prism connects with the patient, creating a closed-loop learning process:
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The patient applies the mental strategy.
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The patient’s brain activity is measured by the EEG sensors.
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Prism reads the signal from the EEG and computes the appropriate biomarker, amygdala-based for PTSD or reward system for Depression.
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If the patient's mental strategy is effective, the simulation changes. The Prism simulation responds in real-time so the patient can learn which mental strategy is effective.
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Repetition reinforces the learned skill.
The clinical team can encourage patients to practice their mental strategy that is effective in the clinic, in normal everyday situations, such as waiting in line for a bus, in a crowded supermarket or walking out the front door. Many patients report applying their strategy during periods of stress, emotional distress, or symptom escalation. These mental strategies reside in one’s mind. They are intangible.
Now with Prism Imagine patients can generate a visual image that represents their mental strategy. The image, watermarked with your clinic logo, becomes something tangible for patients to refer to between sessions or after completing their Prism treatment.