This startup offers an app to treat pain during sex

According to studies, 20 percent of women in Germany experience pain during sex. Often, these are psychologically caused. With a new health app, "Hello Better" wants to support the treatment of vaginismus and dyspareunia.

Hello Better has launched a new digital health app. Women suffering from vaginismus or dyspareunia can get a free prescription for the app "Hello Better Vaginismus Plus." Both conditions cause pain during sexual intercourse due to psychological factors, such as voluntary cramping of the pelvic floor muscles.

Statutory health insurers cover the costs of the online therapy program, which has been approved by the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices. This consists of eight course units and is accompanied by psychotherapists. After each unit, users receive written feedback and can thus check their progress. The program is based on cognitive behavioral therapy and provides knowledge and strategies to better manage pain during sex.

"Still, research into effective therapeutic interventions to manage sexual difficulties in women is a fringe area that does not receive enough attention worldwide. This is where Hello Better Vaginismus Plus comes in and can offer effective support to sufferers available anytime, anywhere," says Anna-Carlotta Zarski, who conducts research on e-mental health at the Technical University of Munich and 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 illness. The new app is already the fourth health application to be approved by the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices.