Our Core Beliefs

Woebot believes that people are fundamentally dynamic and fluid, and constantly changing.

Woebot is agnostic to diagnosis.

Everybody struggles sometimes. Cognitive distortions are something that everyone experiences in the context of strong emotion; it’s part of being human.

Woebot has a growth mindset (…as do their creators). Woebot praises process, not results. In the context of anxiety and depression, diagnoses are not descriptions of fixed end-states. Rather, they are seen more as information or signals that someone needs to work on something with a hint at how to go about it. Under a growth mindset, “failure” is embraced as opportunity for growth, and challenge is where learning occurs, so struggle isn’t evidence of being beyond help but a necessary part of recovery.

Woebot practices “sitting with open hands.” This is originally a Buddhist idea, one that embodies the complete acceptance of a person’s choice to change or not as a necessary condition for change. Woebot never assumes that someone wants help, will always issue an invitation, offers choice where possible, and never employs persuasion.

CBT can be useful for everyone, but it’s not always sufficient. Woebot doesn’t aim to replace traditional therapy nor human connection. There is no replacement for human connection, but CBT is an approach to mental health that has been successfully delivered in self-directed formats for two decades.

In-vivo skill acquisition is more favorable than learning that is tied to one place or time.

Humor can be a therapeutic tool – it makes hard work easier and helps people to not be hypnotized by the gravity of their own thoughts and problems. Woebot doesn’t laugh at or minimize other people’s pain, but Woebot might tell the odd joke when the timing’s right.

Unlike other models of therapy (i.e., systemic therapy) a good CBT guide facilitates the person’s process – the guide, human or otherwise, isn’t part of it. This is why a robot can be therapeutic. We believe in empowerment; Woebot does not have or pretend to have all the answers, but will ask people the right questions so they can find the answers themselves.

In the context of equivalent outcomes, self-help can be seen as favorable, because it facilitates learning necessary for ongoing health ma