Panic Attacks

When someone goes through a panic attack, it's not just racing thoughts and a worried expression etched on to their face. Often times, their heartbeat spikes up, they begin to hyperventilate, or they're feeling nauseous. And these are just three of the many symptoms it has.

For those who are familiar with them, they know that bringing your breathing under control and distracting yourself are two important things to do to calm down from a panic attack. Knowing this, and the fact that people might not necessarily have someone to guide them through this, we've designed a basic chatbot that gives you a variety of breathing exercises and relaxation techniques that are often recommended by Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

Our Solution

Chatto is a simple bot that helps you through panic attacks. Once a user feels anxious, they can tell Chatto how they're feeling (i.e. "I'm panicking", "I think I'm having a panic attack", "I'm hyperventilating", "I feel like I'm going to throw up"). Chatto can recognize a few symptoms of panic attacks and then asks if the user would like to be given a simple exercise they can do alone wherever they are.

Based on the user's reply ("I'd like a breathing exercise", "Relaxation technique"), Chatto then gives the user one of the many prompts it has. If the user asks for another, Chatto can keep giving tasks until the user has returned to calmer state. In case the user doesn't feel like Chatto is being helpful ("This isn't working", "Stop"), they can go to the Resources tab for playlists or games to take your mind off of what is happening.

The Problem It Solves

When people are in a state of panic, they might not be in the state to ask someone else for help or calm down on their own. Having someone that can give you exercises to do can help you return back to a normal state.

Chatto eliminates the need to find techniques that work, people that can help you calm down or even the need to reach out to someone.