The medication they can prescribe really does help: it stops your heart from racing, it helps you stop the cyclic negative thinking... it just plain helps.
Our society puts so many negative connotations on the use of drugs to address mental deficiencies that even after learning how much they could help, we hesitate for fear of the peer pressure and social stigma of "popping pills" in favor of "shut up and man up".
> We're hoping that Pacifica can help bridge that gap, ideally helping people find the care that they really need.
Great! Might I recommend using your app to provide advice on how to approach discussing this issue with their GP, or even giving links to professionals in their area? Or even provide a "doctor's view" which can be passed to your GP to assist in their diagnosis?
I make these suggestions because the emphasis on the word "privately" across your website concerns me. It seems to re-enforce the negative mindset of "this is your problem, don't bother anybody else" that I saw so profoundly affect my wife.
Regarding "privately," we had a slightly different take. Because of the stigma, there are so many people that aren't seeking help. We think that providing an application that can help you understand where some of your thoughts come from might help you realize that you can start talking about this. And ultimately, our hope is that creating a consumer application that is widely used might contribute to breaking down some of those walls. It's a lofty goal, but our mission is to do what we can to combat the stigmas around mental health.
But you're right, seeing a professional is useful.
And if the symptoms are not clear cut, they will still give you a recommendation to someone who can identify what is going on and give you the help you need.
The GP also has the advantage of being relatively cheap.
You go to see your GP. You explain that you have anxiety (or whatever), and that it interferes with your daily life. They should follow the NICE (see below) guidance. There are "books on prescription" - curated lists of recommended self-help books; talking therapies; medication.
Or you web-search for your local "IAPT" (improving access to psychological therapies) service. This is often but not always provided by your local NHS mental health provider. You should be able to self-refer, by phone. Here's the example page for Gloucestershire: http://www.talk2gether.nhs.uk/
You can get private treatment from therapists. The BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy) is a recognised respected professional body. So, web-search for therapists providing CBT and with a BACP registration.
NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) has some good information about what you should expect from providers.
http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/QS53
http://pathways.nice.org.uk/pathways/generalised-anxiety-dis...
It's great that you're concerning yourself with the well-being of other people, but please allow concern over the use of medications to be between people with significant mental health issues who are taking those medications and their doctors.
I'm coming at this from a perspective of one doctor who advocated for long term use, only to meet with (several) other doctors years later who highly disagreed with the approach. In other words, there's lot of contradicting information out there and not every doctor is an expert.
This is me as a data point saying - if you're being lead down a path of long term benzo use - be aware that its a possibly dangerous trajectory and in some places its not even really allowed (UK).
Benzodiazepine withdrawal is hell at best, and at worst it can kill you. This is not something you often hear in a doctor's office.