Application

Medical indications (ICD-10)

Morpheus may be considered by the treating psychotherapist within an existing exposure-based therapy for patients with one or more of the following diagnoses, where clinically appropriate.

• F43.1 Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• 6B41 (ICD-11) Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD)
• F40 Phobic disorders
• F41 Other anxiety disorders
• F42 Obsessive-compulsive disorder
• F43 Reactions to severe stress and adjustment disorders
• F44 Dissociative disorders [conversion disorders]
• F45 Somatoform disorders
• F48 Other neurotic disorders
• F60 Specific personality disorders

Medical contraindications

• Morpheus must not be used in group therapy, only in individual therapy.
• Morpheus must not be used if the patient also has one or more of: epilepsy; dementia in Alzheimer's disease.

Features

Session recording

With Morpheus, the therapy session can be recorded. Recordings are stored only locally on the smartphone. Highest data security is guaranteed.

Exposure

Therapy sessions can be played back at any time. Self-reported data are entered by the patient and can be viewed together with the therapist in the therapy session.

Skills

Stress regulation games can be used at any time to e.g. distract from high stress and to regulate emotions during exposure within the therapist-guided exposure. All skills are designed to engage different senses without being addictive.

Statistics

During use of Morpheus, statistics are collected via questionnaires. These can be discussed in the therapy session with the therapist. The joint review supports the therapeutic relationship and is at the therapist's discretion.

Data security

• Morpheus stores all personal data such as session recordings and statistics encrypted on the user's device.
• Morpheus does not send personal data to a Vacay server or any other server.
• Morpheus sends anonymous app usage data (e.g. performance and crashes) to a Vacay server.
• Morpheus allows users to export usage data (e.g. for research). Users can also securely share these data with therapists or research institutions. This process must be initiated by the user and exports all data at once.

For more information on Vacay's privacy policy, see our policy page.

Evidence & research

Morpheus originated in 2011 as a bachelor project. Since then the app has been continuously developed and researched. Here is a selection of key studies conducted with Morpheus:

• Martin Bohus et al. (2020) Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (DBT-PTSD) Compared With Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) in Complex Presentations of PTSD in Women Survivors of Childhood Abuse. A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Psychiatry. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2020.2148
• Görg N, Priebe K, Deuschel T, Schüller M, Schriner F, Kleindienst N et al. Computer-Assisted In Sensu Exposure for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Development and Evaluation. JMIR Ment Health 2016; 3(2):e27. doi: 10.2196/mental.5697
• Martin Bohus, Christian Schmahl, Thomas Fydrich, Regina Steil, Meike Müller-Engelmann, Julia Herzog, Petra Ludäscher, Nikolaus Kleindienst, Kathlen Priebe (2019). A research programme to evaluate DBT-PTSD, a modular treatment approach for Complex PTSD after childhood abuse. 10.1186/s40479-019-0099-y