This startup offers an app to treat pain during sex

According to studies, 20 percent of women in Germany experience pain during sex. This is often psychological. With a new health app, "Hello Better" aims to support the treatment of vaginismus and dyspareunia.

Hello Better has launched a new digital health app. Women who suffer from vaginismus or dyspareunia can have the "Hello Better Vaginismus Plus" app prescribed to them free of charge. Both conditions cause pain during sexual intercourse for psychological reasons, for example due to an involuntary tightening of the pelvic floor muscles.

Statutory health insurance companies cover the costs of the online therapy program approved by the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices. This consists of eight course units and is supervised by psychotherapists. After each unit, users receive written feedback so that they can check their progress. The program is based on cognitive behavioural therapy and provides knowledge and strategies for better coping with pain during sex.

"Research into effective therapeutic measures for overcoming sexual difficulties in women is still a marginal area that does not receive enough attention worldwide. This is where Hello Better Vaginismus Plus comes in and can offer those affected effective support that is available anytime and anywhere," says Anna-Carlotta Zarski, who researches e-mental health at the Technical University of Munich and the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen and developed the program concept.

Hello Better was founded in 2015 by David Ebert, Hanne Horvath and Elena Hever and offers digital therapy programs for mental illnesses. The new app is already the fourth health application to be approved by the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices.