Our First Study!

The day has finally come! Our first study was published today in the Journal of Mental Health. It was independently conducted by Dr. Baumel of the North-Shore-LIJ health systems in New York City. This article is peer-reviewed, which means that the research was reviewed by peers and approved by them for publication.

You can read the full article here and a summary of it here. This study was done several months ago and was designed to assess the therapeutic alliance levels that listeners achieve with members and guests. It was also designed to measure how people compare 7 Cups with therapy done by licensed mental health professionals. The results - to me - are amazing.

First, therapeutic alliance is just a fancy term for the guest/member feeling like listeners really care for them and are on their team. The guest/member feels understood, validated and accepted. When you look at what works in psychotherapy studies, the number one indicator of people getting better is the strength of the therapeutic alliance. Our listeners - and these were not special listeners or even pre-selected listeners - performed at excellent levels - levels in other studies that are consistent with what license mental health professionals achieve in one hour of face to face therapy. What is particularly interesting is that these levels were achieved via messaging in 19 minute long conversations with non-licensed listeners (i.e., listeners that have not gone to school for 8+ years).

Another interesting piece is the comparison of 7 cups to traditional psychotherapy. People that have used 7 Cups and also participated in traditional therapy were asked how does 7 cups compare to therapy? Is 7 Cups way less helpful, less helpful, the same, more helpful, or much more helpful? Again, to me, the results are amazing. Overall, 69.4% of 7 Cups members and guests reported that 7 Cups was equal to or more beneficial than psychotherapy.

Remarkable right? I'm extraordinarily proud of our listeners and the great community that we have built here. It is indeed a therapeutic community.

We have 4-5 more studies underway right now and we'll soon be opening our doors to more researchers. You can read more about our open research initiative here.