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.
Proud for being a part of this community!May god bless all those who help others :)
Very pleasing read. I would be particularly interested to see a demographic break-down of some of those tables. Surely, theres a difference between what some of the teen and adult members said in the survey? Or maybe even some correlation?
I don't suppose there are any plans in the works to create our own publication along similar lines to this report? Would definitely like to see more reports like this, even if they don't quite make it into the peer-reviewed sphere of publications.
I agree with Squib. I think it's also important to note that this study is very limited with a biased sample, no data on how the results of this test are accomplished and no data on real therapeutic growth.
Looks like good results nonetheless.
Glad to here that this community is working so well and we, listeners, are helping peple in the best way possible. Great sturdy. Great results. Proud. Keep up the good work :)
The results might not be quite substantial but what we can take from it is, this selfless of effort of people involved here is making a positive difference for sure and we shall be glad we are taking a small step towards making life better,helpful and meaningful to others
@DreamerPanda
Wow, this is awesome guys =) congrats!
Super excited about this!
I also loved the quotes from the participants about the advantages of 7 Cups compared to psychotherapy, for me they really put their finger on some important points:
"the feeling that there is always someone at the other end to listen and support me when I need, this feeling is great and cannot be measured
‘‘Its anonymous, which makes it easier to be completely honest and it makes me feel more comfortable overall
‘‘Sometimes it is easier to type out my feelings, where I can take time to think out what I want to say and how I want to say it without having someone watch me go through my mental process
‘‘I can type and dont have to talk to someone face to face, which is amazing because I have severe social anxiety
‘‘Helps me to have good safe conversations without worrying about being with someone in person where my PTSD gets triggered more easily
‘‘When the chemistry doesnt match I can easily get a new listener and finding a new therapist is difficult
‘‘It is a more accepting and not at all demeaning environment. No one here would even dream to tell me ‘‘Your problems are not real problems!", which I have heard from a professional
‘‘The tone is more casual and there isnt as much of a power dynamic
‘‘Often the listeners have gone through similar things, or are closer to my age or the problems that I am having
‘‘For me in a moment of crisis, listeners support may help more, because its more natural, like you feel that someone cares and is not just receiving money to do the job
I can't wait to see more work being done in this direction. It strengthens us so much as a community to be able to point to research that backs up our mission.
@Michaelmichael Am overwhelmed reading this ...:)
Good news indeed, this is a motivating factor that all our effort and care we put in is getting the desired result, which is people are getting the help they need.
Thanks for sharing and keep up the good work all! ^_^
WOW !!! Amazing news!
Well done!
Great job! 
Keep up the great work!