Pin It or Bin It

Use the diary app to help you remember good times, and move on from bad times.

Pin it or Bin it was designed by psychologists at the Universities of Liverpool and Manchester and students at Liverpool Life Sciences University Technical College to illustrate some of the key principles of psychological approaches to mental health and wellbeing, and specifically Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).

It is not intended to be a substitute for professional mental health care, therapy or advice. If you are worried about any aspects of your mental health, you should approach a professional.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).

CBT is based on the idea that the way we think about ourselves, the world and other people can affect our emotions, and can ultimately lead to mental health problems. But through practice, we can learn to change the way we think,
which can really help in recovering from psychological problems and improving our mental wellbeing. What we’re offering here is only a very simple approach to dealing with troubling memories, but it still might be helpful. We’ve called it Pin It or Bin It.

Pin It: Remembering good times

One way to feel better about things is to remember – to do things to make sure we remember – the good things that happen. A record of the good events, a diary of pleasant memories, can help. Pin It or Bin It allows you to do this by ‘pinning’ good events.

Bin It: Moving on from the bad times

We all experience bad events from time to time. When we go over and over the bad things in our minds, when we ruminate on things, we can become anxious and stressed. Pin It or Bin It is designed to allow you to move on from bad events.

When you ‘bin’ a bad memory, Bin It asks you a series of questions that allow you to resolve issues, to answer nagging questions, to remind yourself of why it’s Ok to move on. These will allow you to resolve unanswered questions, and, then, to move on. Then, by destroying these memories in an amusing, memorable, way, Bin It then gives you a clear signal that it’s OK to move on.

Practice Makes Perfect

Psychologists and psychiatrists have found that homework is important. It’s important to practice, so try using Pin It or Bin It more than once. It may help… and if it does, use it again.

Remember, this is a very difficult process. Overcoming mental health problems is a huge challenge and even though CBT is an effective approach, our Pin It or Bin It app is just a very simple first step.