Seeking mental health support is a complicated process, but some founders believe that formalizing techniques such as CBT (Congestive Behavioral Therapy) with AI can help people who don't have access to specialists. Dr. David Burns, who has more than 40 years of experience in the field of psychiatry, developed an app called Feeling Great based on his own techniques.
Burns teamed up with Jeremy Karmel, who previously led growth teams at DoorDash and Reddit, to develop “Feeling Great,” which is also the title of Burns' best-selling book on mental health.
Founded in 2022, the company today announced it has raised $8 million in seed funding co-led by Learn Capital and TitleTownTech, with participation from Lux Ventures, WaveMaker Three-Sixty Health, Pacific Health Ventures and Treble Capital. The startup is also releasing its app today, which has so far been in beta with about 3,000 users.
Feeling Great currently has 14 employees and is looking to invest funds into developing and marketing the app.
Rob Hatter, founder and managing partner of Learn Capital, said he read Burns' books and attended his seminars years ago and became deeply interested in his work.
Over the past few years, he reconnected with Barnes and, after learning that Barnes was working with Carmel to build a therapy solution, decided to invest in him. Hatter noted that Barnes' popularity and Carmel's growth mindset were the perfect combination to scale the app.
Apps and Technology
Burns said the company had been considering developing an app with guided lessons even before large-scale language models were on the market, but with the release of the latest AI models, the company decided to incorporate Burns' knowledge into its own models to speed up the feel-good process.
“We're very excited to have developed an electronic tool that not only reduces feelings of depression, but also reduces seven negative emotions simultaneously,” he told TechCrunch over the phone.
The Feeling Great app has two parts: an interactive course on mental health and emotion management delivered through illustrations and stories, and a chatbot where you can discuss your problems. The latter also offers a way to practice techniques that can help you deal with negative emotions.
Image credit: Feeling Great
The company said it developed the AI model based on Burns' TEAM (Test, Empathize, Evaluate, Method) approach, which focuses on responding with empathy and providing actionable advice to users.
“We've developed an empathy model that is specifically focused on deeply engaging and connecting with users, and we've also created an evaluation framework that allows us to know if the AI is doing a good job of understanding its users,” Carmel said.
From a physiological standpoint, Burns said the app works to improve mood first and foremost, transforming negative emotions into pleasure, and also helps people deal with tough emotional situations when negative thoughts resurface.
He added that it's often difficult to train human therapists to empathize with patients, but once an AI model is trained, it will act as instructed.
Still, the startup says the app isn't trying to replace a human therapist, and it includes ample warnings during the onboarding process to remind users that the app isn't a replacement for a therapist, and suggests that users who are suicidal should seek professional help.
Image credit: App screenshot via TechCrunch
Opportunities and the way forward
Beyond the mental health sector, which includes marketplace startups like BetterHelp and Talkspace that connect users with therapists, and meditation apps like Calm and Headspace, Feeling Great also competes directly with apps like Woebot, Wysa, and Sonia.
Learn Capital's Hutter said he believes it's possible to take a manualized treatment approach that's proven to work and use that data to build a product.
“The reason this product is relevant in today's world is because the LLM revolution has enabled computational intelligence to communicate with humans and unlock psychological change in products,” Hutter said.
“Learn Capital is all about how we can deliver transformative change at scale to help people realize their full potential.”
Both Hatter and Feeling Great's co-founders emphasized that therapy can sometimes be expensive and therapists aren't always available. They argued that even if you're seeing a therapist, apps are always there and can help.
The company ultimately hopes to develop an app that works on clinical conditions and apply for FDA approval. In 2022, Calm also launched its own clinical services.
Feeling Great is also working on introducing new features to the app, such as voice-based AI, long-term memory, and an anonymous mode.
Available for both Android and iOS, Feeling Great will only be available to US customers at launch, with a seven-day free trial after which it will cost $99 per year.