The Science Behind Mind Haven
Evidence Library
We believe that mental health tools should be grounded in real science — not trends, opinions, or guesswork. Every feature you see inside this app is inspired by peer-reviewed research from trusted journals and clinical studies.
Below, you’ll find a curated library of the scientific evidence that supports the mental health practices we’ve included — from mindfulness and journaling to movement, creativity, and more.
For each theme, we’ve provided a plain-language summary of what the research shows, along with links to published studies from trusted journals. This is the foundation we use to design the features you see in the app.
We review and update this library regularly to reflect the latest clinical findings:
| Theme | Key Findings | Representative Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness, Breathwork & Guided Imagery | Mindfulness-based interventions, slow diaphragmatic breathing and guided imagery all reliably lower stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms in RCTs and meta-analyses. | Zuo 2023 systematic review (Frontiers) · Jamil 2023 narrative review (PMC) · Fincham 2023 breath-work meta-analysis (Nature) · Zemla 2023 guided-imagery EEG study (PMC) |
| Journaling & Expressive Writing | Both free and prompted “positive expressive writing” improve mood, reduce social anxiety, and enhance well-being; effects are strongest for gratitude and “best-possible-self” prompts. | Hu 2024 RCT (SAGE Journals) · Hoult 2025 systematic review (PMC) · Sugimori 2024 past- vs future-self letters (PMC) |
| Mood Tracking & Digital Phenotyping | Daily mood/sleep logging increases emotional self-awareness and enables early detection of relapse when paired with smartphone sensing. | Almuqrin 2025 systematic review (PMC) · Lee 2025 wearable-prediction study (PMC) · Lamichhane 2024 multimodal sensing study (Nature) |
| Cognitive Distortion Training (CBT) | Teaching users to spot distortions (e.g., catastrophizing) is a core CBT mechanism linked to symptom change; serious-game formats are effective. | Ryum 2024 CBT process review (ScienceDirect) · Ezawa 2023 cognitive-restructuring guide (PMC) · De Jaegere 2024 serious-game RCT (PMC) |
| Art & Expressive Creativity | Art-therapy meta-analysis shows significant anxiety reduction when participants engage in free painting or coloring activities. | Zhang 2024 meta-analysis (PMC) |
| Behavioral Activation, Social & Novelty Scheduling | Systematically scheduling pleasurable or social activities is as effective as CBT for depression and is inexpensive to deliver digitally. | Medina-Jiménez 2024 BA overview (PMC) · Cuijpers 2023 RCT meta-analysis (Taylor & Francis Online) · Lancet BA-vs-CBT trial (Time report) (TIME) |
| Physical Activity & Exercise | Exercise (aerobic, resistance, yoga) yields moderate reductions in depression and anxiety across age groups, including in short, app-based programs. | Noetel 2024 BMJ umbrella review (BMJ) · Soong 2025 JAMA meta-analysis (JAMA Network) · Singh 2023 BJSM review (PubMed) |
| Letter-Writing Interventions | Writing letters to past or future selves or to significant others facilitates emotion processing, reduces anxiety and grief, and boosts positive affect. | Tadros 2024 narrative-therapy review (SpringerLink) · Hoult 2025 positive expressive-writing review (PMC) |