Part of the success of the Meru program is that many people feel stigmatized when they seek support for mental health issues. They’re afraid friends, family, and colleagues will think they are weak, crazy, or incompetent. Meru offers a way to seek out a digital clinic and get the care they need from the safety and privacy of their own home without having to worry about what other people think of them. Meru Health’s Chief Research Officer Valerie Hoffman points to the biofeedback aspect as the difference maker in the program. “I think the biofeedback is the secret sauce that kind of holds everything together,” she said in a video posted by Meru Health. “It actually has a physiological component that makes your flight-or-fight response calm down.” As of now, the cost of Meru Health is comparatively less expensive than traditional therapy, which costs approximately $2,200 for the same-length program. There is no up-front, flat rate for the program because the company is going for a more transparent, on-demand pricing that’s results-based. But on average, participants are paying around $750 in total. That’s a big change in an industry where people feel financial pressure to cut back on therapy. For patients like Leeti, a Meru participant that was open enough to share her personal story, the program offered her a way to learn about her body’s response to stress. “I feel like what I got from the Meru Health program was a very future-oriented attitude. Lots of new tools and techniques to help me change my behavior and thought patterns and the kind of things that I do that would be harmful to me in the future,” she said in an interview. “The program helped me to be more optimistic and have hope.” A lot of components of the program that helped Leeti have been clinically proven through published science resources and research. Much of the research has to do with the effectiveness of therapist-supported digital mental health intervention. Essentially, proving that talking to a therapist through your phone actually works. Overwhelmingly, the studies resulted in the reduction of depression-related and anxiety- related symptoms. Hoffman thinks there’s much more in store for the future of Meru Health. “I think that as time goes on, we can probably extend what we’re treating to more than just depression and anxiety,” she says. “I can see us being so helpful for substance use disorders, PTSD, and eating disorders, which could have really good clinical outcomes as well.” At this trajectory, Meru Health could be the new standard of mental health as more people have access to affordable help from the convenience of their phones.
“I feel like what I got from the Meru Health program was a very future-oriented attitude.” —LEETI, MERU HEALTH PARTICIPANT
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For Ranta, those moments in his life were dark, but they also taught him the most valuable lessons. “They kind of gave me perspective and the understanding of what it is to suffer and what other people have to go through,” he said in an interview. “It expanded my understanding of how I can help myself with situations as they arrive… you can learn how to change the way you take them so you can learn to change your reaction and perception.” For now, depression, anxiety, and burnout are the main issues Meru Health is treating. By integrating mindfulness practices, lifestyle changes, and physiological techniques such as biofeedback, long-lasting outcomes can be achieved. The biofeedback monitor gives participants a tool they can use to calm themselves before and after stressful situations such as morning commutes. That information is then relayed to their therapist, who confirms how successful their session was.
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