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Ask HN: Help me find a lost opportunity.

11 points by swamy_g ↗ HN
Hello, A few months ago, I met this Ruby programmer once on the N-Judah in SF who told me that he was working for a start up that specializes in bringing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) treatment for people with mental illness by harnessing the power of the web. As someone who has great faith in CBT I found the idea to be fascinating. But I failed to grasp the name of the company. Fast forward to now, I'm looking to see If I, as a Rails engineer, can be part of it. Does anyone of you know the name of the company or the url? I'm going to contact them and see if they have any opportunities at the moment. Much appreciated, thanks.

10 comments

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jcr
I'm just guessing/searching based on your description, but Empower Interactive fits your description fairly well.

http://www.empower-interactive.com/

swamy_g
I don't think this is it, he said it's more of an web based application. Empower's product is DVD based. But thanks for taking time to search. I wonder what search terms you used (I tried a lot of combinations before asking HN).
juanbyrge
Any technology product that promises to cure anxiety, depression, or stress is going to fail. Technology is a large part of the problem.
dholowiski
Really? Sources? Why do you think so?
001sky
Overview: I think this was the general point

“The technology is rewiring our brains,” said Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute of Drug Abuse and one of the world’s leading brain scientists. She and other researchers compare the lure of digital stimulation less to that of drugs and alcohol than to food and sex, which are essential but counterproductive in excess.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/technology/07brain.html?sc...

faul_sname
Everything we do rewires our brain. That's how we learn. And note that she say "counterproductive in excess".
alid
I take a far more optimistic stance. Yes technology is part of the problem - we now receive five times as much information every day than we did in 1986, & our brains are exposed daily to more information than a laptop can handle. Yet technology can be part of the solution. Our ways of communicating and relating to the world around us, and our knowledge of human psychology and brain development, have developed dramatically - surely there's a way we can tap this. (I've written a rant about this on my personal blog www.thecreativefiles.com)
Wilduck
There was a Show HN post a few days ago about Sleepio.com which is using CBT over the web to help with insomnia. In the thread the OP talked about wanting to expand it to other types of therapy. Even if it's not the company you were thinking of, it might be interesting. Here's the thread:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4504639