No one knew how to help him during a panic attack, so this autistic man made an app to tell them.

[Vanilla]

Hey everyone

Thought this might come in handy for someone. I haven't tried it yet, but apparently an autistic man has created an app, to assist those going through a meltdown. Basically, the app is there to help others around the person having the meltdown, to understand what is happening, and how to respond. Hope it's helpful.

Original Source: No one knew how to help him during a panic attack, so this autistic man made an app to tell them.

 

[NateSean]

The key design flaw in this app is that you have to trust a complete stranger with your phone, which could have the complete opposite result from being helpful.

 

[Kari Suttle]

The key design flaw in this app is that you have to trust a complete stranger with your phone, which could have the complete opposite result from being helpful.

True...but chances are, I wouldn't ask someone for help with a panic attack if I didn't trust them. I would only ask for help if, say, if it got really bad and I was at at work and some of the good supervisors were on duty because those are the ones I would trust to help me. Granted, me being me I would probably just ask to go to the bathroom instead of telling then I was having a panic attack. Which i've done once.

 

[NateSean]

True...but chances are, I wouldn't ask someone for help with a panic attack if I didn't trust them.

Yes, but if you read the article, it says that you need to be willing to hand your phone to someone else to get help. The assumption being that you're going to have to, at some point, trust a complete stranger for the app to make any difference and how could you trust yourself to correctly guess at someone's intentions when you're having a meltdown?

 

[Kari Suttle]

Yes, but if you read the article, it says that you need to be willing to hand your phone to someone else to get help. The assumption being that you're going to have to, at some point, trust a complete stranger for the app to make any difference and how could you trust yourself to correctly guess at someone's intentions when you're having a meltdown?

Yeah i read it, why else would i have commented? Sorry i dont think i phrased my original post right i guess, not quite awake yet today. Five or six hours of sleep and all. But yeah i get your point - one would have to be very desperate and very trusting for this app to see any real use by those downloading it. At least in my life, i cannot see a situation other than work - where i know all the supervisors - in which i would possibly need to ask for help dealing with a panic attack rather than simply leaving the situation. That was my point.

 

[Beverly]

I'd never use that app. I don't even trust family with my phone - too many contacts in there that I won't risk leaking to anyone.

To use that app, I'd have to unlock the phone then hand it to someone who shouldn't have access to it. I'd leave the situation before I would need to risk that.

Me loosing it in public is very unlikely anyway, and if the situation is that high stimulation/high stress, I've got a bodyguard and, he/she will have been told what signals to watch for should I need assistance in getting our of the situation.

But my unique circumstances aside, I can't see many of us trusting a stranger with our phones, or even thinking to unlock the phone and open the app if we were that far into a panic attack and couldn't leave the situation or location causing the attack.

 

[Cerulean]

iPhones have a medical ID function that can be accessed when the phone is locked. I'm not sure why one couldn't put instructions under the "medical notes" category (assuming that if you have a phone you can create apps for, you could probably afford a phone that has this feature).

 

[piney13]

Emergency chat - Android Apps on Google Play



With Blackberry I can chose to lock individual apps, programs. I can set it up so someone can use my phone for a call and access nothing else...I keep my phone clean and....erase emails, fb notices etc..

 

[Ste11aeres]

Yes, but if you read the article, it says that you need to be willing to hand your phone to someone else to get help. The assumption being that you're going to have to, at some point, trust a complete stranger for the app to make any difference and how could you trust yourself to correctly guess at someone's intentions when you're having a meltdown?

Who says the person has to be a stranger? Yes, I know, the article said "just give your phone to a stranger", but further on it said that the guy who invented it did so because his friends didn't know how to help him. Also, I can imagine scenarios where the stranger is somebody like a paramedic, for instance, that is to say, the kind of stranger you actually can safely rely on to help.

 

[Beverly]

Still, if someone got my phone, who's to say they wouldn't hack it and unlock it, getting info I cannot let anyone get? Yes you need my fingerprint and password to unlock the phone and, I can completely disable it remotely if I ever loose it but, still I won't take the chance and just hand it to someone.

 

[piney13]

This app uses the full screen on my phone...nothing else is visible when the app is open (on my Blackberry 10) I have hacked my BB to use android apps, if you are wondering if this is available in a for Blackberry 10, the answer is no.

 

[NateSean]

I'd never use that app. I don't even trust family with my phone - too many contacts in there that I won't risk leaking to anyone.

Who says the person has to be a stranger?"

No one, but as Beverly said, you can't always trust the people closest to you either.

Also, I can imagine scenarios where the stranger is somebody like a paramedic, for instance, that is to say, the kind of stranger you actually can safely rely on to help.

In the best case scenario, yes. But I've rarely had a meltdown during or as a result of the best case scenario. I know everyone is different, but in my case, if I was able to trust the people around me, the meltdown wouldn't have happened in the first place and if I couldn't trust them to help me prevent it I certainly wouldn't trust them to help me during it.

 

[epath13]

I was trying to download the app, just to see what it's all about, but it said I didn't have enough space on my phone. I have about 8 GB space available. I'm not sure how much space the app needs. I'm sure it can be helpful for people who are still able to communicate during a meltdown or panic attack. But I'm sure there're plenty of people whose mind goes blank or who looses control over his/ her actions. I guess in mild to moderate cases this app can be useful. It does have pretty good reviews.

 

[Maelstrom]

True...but chances are, I wouldn't ask someone for help with a panic attack if I didn't trust them. I would only ask for help if, say, if it got really bad and I was at at work and some of the good supervisors were on duty because those are the ones I would trust to help me. Granted, me being me I would probably just ask to go to the bathroom instead of telling then I was having a panic attack. Which i've done once.

I like Kari Suttle's retreat to the restroom best, as lowering stimuli helps the most. A flip note conversation pad would work just as easy, with some basic phrases and explenations, it's not like you're going to discus War and Peace during a meltdown or shutdown. But I'm a little dubious anything more than staggering out the door is going to happen, I don't recall much thinking happening to me during a shutdown, I just swim through the honey for the door.