Every little thing helps in the Pentagon’s and VA’s war on PTSD, depression and suicide. The latest: the Positive Activity Jackpot app for your Android smartphone (apparently folks with iPhones don’t need such help). It immerses mentally-ailing troops or vets in “pleasant event scheduling” by marrying behavioral therapy to their GPS location.
Its goal: guide returning war-zone vets from the high op tempo of their deployment to the slower-paced routine back home. “After returning from a combat deployment that controls almost every moment of a service member’s daily schedule, many have difficulty adjusting to a less structured life at home,” says the Pentagon’s National Center for Telehealth and Technology, which just released the app. “This can lead to difficulties with relationships, depression and other problems.”
PAJ finds local things to do — ranging from outdoor and water activities, to road trips, to exercise and shopping, among many others — based on the phone user’s location, and lets him or her invite pals from their contact list to join in. But if deciding what to do is too challenging, you can simply “`pull the lever’ and let the app’s jackpot function make the choice.” Adds the clinician’s guide: “The Jackpot arm is fully animated, allowing users to `pull’ it, or they may simply shake the phone to start the reel turning.”
Think of it as gambling for mental health…