Mindset Health founders Alex and Chris Naoumidis on VatorNews podcast

Hypnotherapy to address mental health, IBS and menopause

• Mindset Health offers hypnotherapy in an app. Mindset app focuses on mental health issues (anxiety and depression) while Nerva, created by Dr. Simone Peters, is for those enduring IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). The apps can be downloaded from an app store. The Nerva app costs $67 for three months. Typically, during the first six weeks, consumers engage with the app 5-7 times a week to learn how to heal their IBS. The remaining time is for maintenance or check ins, typically once a week. If a person wants to continue using the service, it remains $67 for every three months. IBS is a chronic condition, so it’s likely people will rejoin when they’re experiencing another flare-up. 

• So how does hypnotherapy work to improve the gut? Gut-hypnotherapy is a guided process that aims to help people focus on certain gastrointestinal sensitivity. The techniques use imagery and suggestion designed to calm the digestive tract system and remove thoughts of discomfort. The idea of hypnosis is that there is a miscommunication between the brain and the gut. It’s similar to how changes in the brain can change perceptions of pain. People with IBS typically have visceral hypersensitivity, which means a person has a lower threshold for pain in the abdomin. Hypnosis is changing the way the brain regulates those messages and dials down the sensitivity.  

• Hypnosis is an alternative to diets. A study conducted by Dr. Peters shows that hypnosis is more effective or just as effective as diets, specifically the FODMAP diet.

• The mental health app is called Mindset. The difference with Nerva is that the guided process follows a cognitive behavioral approach, directing people to focus on what they can control vs what they can’t or understanding the outside world vs their perception. While the guided instructions or techniques are different, the process is the same in that a person shuts their eyes and are directed to focus on a particular topic.  

• The company plans to have both a B2C and B2B approach. They’re currently seeking to expand to more providers - dieticians as well as therapists. Their marketing for B2C has involved SEM)

• At the moment the company has some 9k to 10k users. 45% in the US and 55% in Australia and England. 

• Demographics: IBS is 75% are women so IBS is 30yrd old women; Mindset skews more male but closer to 50/50. Our next program is managing hot flashes (older women demographics). Each of our programs targeting

• The next program Mindset will tackle is hot flashes, a common symptom of the menopausal transition. Hormone Replacement Therapy was once the treatment. During menopause, women lose estrogen, and HRT replaces that estrogen via a pill. But HRT is not advised because it increases the risk of cancer, heart disease and many other ailments. Hypnosis is one of the proven clinically validated for hot flashes.  

• Mindset’s differentiation is the use of hypnosis for various underserved conditions, like IBS and hot flashes, beyond anxiety and depression. 

• Listen on closer to the end when we discuss 50k-foot questions, such as what’s the root cause of the rise in mental health, particularly for the 18-24 yr old demographic? We discuss technology as creating a “reality distortion field” that isn’t good for mental health and the role of religion and lockdowns.