Maggy

"Medicine" for overthinkers

Overview

After observing many undergraduates struggle with overthinking, I started to work on this problem. The interactive ball (Maggy) aims to help people recognize negative emotions and stop overthinking. I combined cognitive behavioral therapy, affective computing, and adaptive lights to achieve a better user experience.

TIMELINE

3 Months

DISCIPLINE

Interactive Design

TEAM

Individual

The Problem

The term “overthink” is defined as the action of using one’s mind to think too much about something; or putting too much time into thinking about or analyzing something.

Being an overthinker, a person is trying to control the future or constantly thinking about negative situations.

Overthinking is Prevalent.

73% of adult in the age group between 25 and 35-year-olds are overthinkers.
52% of adult in the age group of 45- to 55-year-olds are overthinkers.
People can overthink about a single word, others' gestures, jokes, job decisions, financial investment...

Overthinking is Harmful.

makes people feel emotionally and physically drained
leads to severe anxiety and depression
makes people more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol
may push some individuals to consider or attempt suicide

How can we help people end the vicious cycle of overthinking?

User Research

I personally have several overthinking experiences. To put things into perspective, I conducted a survey and two semi-structured interviews to know about other young people' overthinking experiences.

Yiying Zhou

Age: 21
Gender: Female
Occupation: Student
Education: Undergraduate

"Overthinking is quite common for me, especially during my graduate application. I experience frequently mood swings when I jump between self-doubt and self-affirmations."

Zhanbo Huang

Age: 22
Gender: Male
Occupation: Student
Education: Undergraduate

"I always overthink about social relationships and can’t sleep well because of this. I need someone to correct my way of thinking, but it is hard to find the right person."

Personal Journey

Amber is a busy undergraduate. One night, when she is reading the pre-class reading, she suddenly remembers a group project she has completed.

Thoughts

revaluates her work and finds many tiny mistakes

images consequences of her mistakes

focuses on possible negative things, like a low grade, disappointed group members

rebuilds confidence by keeping self-affirmations

slips into a negative outlook

be overwhelmed by negative thoughts

be emotionally drained

stops reading

be absent-minded when doing everything

feels pain in her stomach and the guilt makes her cry

restarts to read with a high efficiency

can’t concentrate on readings

stops reading again

shuts off the computer, browses TikTok, and leaves the reading unfinished

Actions

Inspiration

#1 Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

CBT is a short-term therapy technique that can help people find new ways to behave by changing their unhelpful mindset. There are models for a wide range of conditions, including panic disorder, social anxiety, phobias, and so on.

#2 Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness is a form of meditation that urges practitioners to remain aware and present in the moment. Rather than dwelling on the past or dreading the future, mindfulness encourages awareness of an individual’s present surroundings.

Idea

A portable device that allows:

1. Speech interaction
CBT can be conducted through the user-machine communication. Meditation guidance can be given in the similar way.

2. Non-invasive measurement of biosignals
Heart rates and other biosignals can indicate mental health issues, like anxiety and depression.

3. Comforting touch and light
Effective touch and visual cues can work as supplementary tools to achieve a comforting effect.

Process Idea

Dialogue Interface

The machine can communicate with users by dialogue by detecting trigger words in users’ response. Using questions borrowed from CBT, people can improve their unhealthy thinking pattern when no therapist present.

Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) Sensor

There is an increase in eccrine sweat gland activity when saddening, joyful, and other emotional arousals are observed. GSR measures the change in electrical activity due to the sweat gland activity. It can be measured through skin contacts with the finger and palms.

Photoplethysmography (PPG) Sensor

PPG is a low cost and non-invasive optical technique which is used to estimate the skin blood flow using infrared light. This signal, obtained from a finger or ear-lobe, can be used to estimate heart rate (HR) which may be one of the features in emotion recognition process.

Emotion Visualization Light

Emotional self-awareness and acceptance can help improve people’s emotion regulation, lead to fewer mood swings, and improve emotional balance. Color is a powerful communication tool to influence users’ emotions and can be used to help users recognize and accept their emotions.

Program and Hardware Production

1. Heart Rate (HR) detection

Pulse Sensor

Arduino UNO

1. connect the UNO to PC and wire Pulse Sensor with UNO

2. load the PulseSensor sketch in the IDE

3. place the Pulse Sensor on the fingertip

4. Heart Rate data collected

HR when relaxing

3. Conversation logic

To identify and alter users’ unhelpful thinking patterns, the device will use questions and instructions derived from CBT to lead the conversation. Dysfunctional Thought Record, an effect tool in CBT, is used here.

Device’s Instructions

Users' Response