The Science of Psychelinx
Grounded in proven psychological principles, supported by extensive studies from leading universities worldwide.
Psychelinx builds on the well-established use of clinical diaries in psychotherapy, and takes it further by integrating Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA)—brief, in-the-moment check-ins recorded in daily life. Thanks to the EMA paradigm, Psychelinx addresses the limitations of physical diaries, like recall bias and poor adherence, therefore improving data quality. Psychelinx then summarises this data into clear charts, saving therapists time when reviewing patterns and change over time—without the manual effort paper diaries require.
EXPLORE THE RESEARCHES
Clinical diaries in psycotheraphy
The diary technique offers superior data quality over self-reports by minimizing recall and cognitive biases through immediate behaviour recording, therefore making it a valuable adjunct for therapists. Additionally, there are direct benefits for patients as well: self-monitoring is a crucial aspect of self-management, serving as the foundation for self-insight and prompting changes in behaviour and experience patterns.
- C. Thiele-Sauer, A. R. Laireiter (2002). Diaries in Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy: A Selective Review. University of Saltzburg.
- K. Metsäranta, M. Kurki, M. Valimaki, M. Anttila. (2019). How Do Adolescents Use Electronic Diaries? A Mixed-Methods Study Among Adolescents With Depressive Symptoms. Journal of Medical Internet Research.
- J. Van Os, S. Verhagen, A. Marsman, F. Peeters, M. Bak, M. Marcelis, M. Drukker, U. Reininghaus, N. Jacobs, T. Lataster, C. Simons, ESM-MERGE Investigators PhD (2017). The experience sampling method as an mHealth tool to support self-monitoring, self-insight, and personalized health care in clinical practice. Maastricht University.
Electronic Diaries
Digital diaries can achieve higher levels of compliance and better data quality than a physical diary. In a controlled study, an electronic diary with time-stamped entries showed significantly higher compliance, with an average compliance rate of 94% compared to only 11% for paper diaries.
Furthermore, when using paper diaries, subjects demonstrated a tendency to not only backfill diary entries but also to pre-fill diary cards for future assessments.
Stone, A. A., Shiffman, S., Schwartz, J. E., Broderick, J. E., & Hufford, M. R. (2003).Patient compliance with paper and electronic diaries.Controlled Clinical Trials, 24(2), 182–199.
EMA / ESM
The Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) is the repeated sampling of patients’ current behaviours, experiences and symptoms in real time, in their natural environments. The goal is to study the variables affecting symptoms and behaviours in the real world.
Several studies indicate that individuals tend to recall their negative experiences as more intense and lasting than they truly are, often overestimating the connections between their symptoms and stressful situations. However, EMA or ESM generates in-the-moment, timestamped data, which helps mitigate these biases and inaccuracies.
- S. Shiffman, A. A. Stone , M. R. Hufford (2007). Ecological Momentary Assessment. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, University of Southern California.