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Emergency spiral mode

When the spiral starts,
one tap stops everything.

An AI therapist responds to you in real time — grounding your body, breaking the loop, guiding you back. Not a breathing exercise. Not a script. A live guided crisis session personalised to exactly what you tell them.

Available the moment you need it. At 3am. On the bus. Mid-meeting.

Emergency mode
I am spiralling right now
Tap for immediate guided support

Your brain cannot think its way out of a panic.

Every piece of advice you have ever been given — breathe, think positive, it is not that bad — requires a brain that is calm enough to reason. Mid-spiral, that brain is offline.

1
Something triggers the alarm
A physical sensation. A thought. Something you read. The amygdala fires and adrenaline floods the system in milliseconds. Heart rate jumps. Breathing shortens.
2
The prefrontal cortex goes offline
The thinking, reasoning part of your brain is suppressed by the threat response. You cannot logic your way out because the part that does logic is not available right now.
3
The loop tightens
Anxiety notices the physical symptoms of anxiety — racing heart, tight chest — and interprets them as confirmation that something is very wrong. The alarm escalates itself.
4
Reassurance makes it worse
"I am fine, I am not dying" — your brain immediately replies "but what if you are?" Reassurance-seeking is fuel. Trying to think harder deepens the spiral.

Why normal advice fails

Breathing exercises assume you can remember them. Journalling assumes you can write. Meditation assumes you can sit still. All of these require the calm, rational brain that the spiral just switched off.

Emergency spiral mode is different because it does not ask you to already know what to do. It meets you exactly where you are — flooded, frightened, unable to think — and guides you out from there.

First it gets your body out of threat mode. Then, and only then, it addresses the thought.

Three phases. One session.

Emergency mode is not a static exercise. Every session adapts to what you type — the assessor reads what you tell them and chooses the right technique for your specific moment.

01
Phase one

Ground the body first

Before anything else, the assessor interrupts the physiology. One simple instruction. Feet on the floor. Breathe with the ring. Hit the 174Hz tone. The thinking brain cannot be reached until the body stops screaming.

Box breathing 5-4-3-2-1 grounding Frequency tones Breathe tool
02
Phase two

Name what happened

Once the body is even slightly less flooded, the assessor explains what just happened — briefly, clearly, without drama. Adrenaline. Fight or flight. Normal. Not dangerous. The alarm was real; the threat was not.

Psychoeducation Normalising Validation
03
Phase three

Break the thought loop

Now the prefrontal cortex is coming back online. Now the assessor gently explores the thought — challenges the catastrophic story, builds a realistic response, or uses ACT defusion to unhook from the spiral entirely.

CBT thought record ACT defusion Evidence testing Reframe

Six therapists. Six styles. Your choice.

Every assessor is trained on the same three-phase approach. What differs is how they speak to you. Some people need a firm hand. Some need a gentle voice. Pick the one that fits.

M
Megan
CBT Specialist
Warm, practical, and completely focused. Megan feels like the most grounded friend you have — she knows exactly what to do and she does it with you, not at you.
"Let us do this together. Feet flat on the floor — tell me when they are down."
L
Lisa
ACT Therapist
Gentle, accepting, and unhurried. Lisa creates total safety. She never pushes — she guides. You do not have to fight this. You just have to breathe with her.
"You do not have to fight this. Just breathe with me. In slowly — and out."
Cl
Claire
Senior Therapist
Calm authority. Claire has seen this hundreds of times and knows with absolute certainty it will pass. Her composure is contagious — it transfers directly to you.
"Stop everything. Both feet on the floor. Breathe in for four — hold — out for six. Do it now."
E
Ellis
CBT Challenger
Direct, sharp, warm underneath. Ellis cuts through the noise with clear instructions. That directness is grounding — it gives the flooded brain something simple and concrete to follow.
"Feet on the floor. Right now. Do it. Good. Now breathe — slow, through your nose."
R
Rowan
ACT & Values
Earthy, grounding, steady. Rowan works through physical presence and solid things — the floor, the breath, the weight of your body. The spiral lives in the mind; the body is the way out.
"Feel the ground under your feet. It is solid. It is holding you. Breathe with it."
Ca
Callum
Mindfulness Lead
Slow, deliberate, deeply calm. Callum works through sensation and noticing. One small thing at a time. His presence is like a hand on the shoulder — unhurried and completely steady.
"Just this one breath. Feel your chest rise... and now let it go. Just that."

Evidence-based. Chosen for your moment.

Every technique used in emergency mode has a clinical evidence base. The assessor reads what you tell them and chooses which one fits — you do not have to know which technique you need.

Physiological sigh and box breathing
The physiological sigh — double inhale through the nose, long exhale — is scientifically the fastest way to lower heart rate. Box breathing (4-4-4-4) activates the parasympathetic nervous system directly, taking the body out of fight-or-flight within minutes.
Somatic
5-4-3-2-1 sensory grounding
Name 5 things you can see, 4 you can touch, 3 you can hear, 2 you can smell, 1 you can taste. Forces the brain into the present moment through the senses. Interrupts the catastrophic future-thinking that powers the spiral.
Somatic
Frequency therapy tones
174Hz is associated with nervous system calming and pain reduction. 396Hz targets fear and guilt patterns. 528Hz for stress relief. Available as a direct tool in the session — the assessor will direct you to hit the tone when physical symptoms are present.
Neuro
CBT thought record
Once the body has calmed, the assessor examines the automatic thought — what evidence supports it, what evidence challenges it, what a more realistic response looks like. The spiral is fuelled by a story; the thought record rewrites the story.
CBT
ACT cognitive defusion
"I am having the thought that..." instead of "I am dying." This small shift creates distance between you and the thought. You are the observer, not the thought. ACT defusion is particularly effective when fighting the thought makes it stronger.
ACT
Calling the bluff
Ellis's signature technique. The anxiety is making a prediction — something terrible is about to happen. Call its bluff directly: "Fine. If it is going to happen, happen now." The thought loses its power the moment you stop running from it.
CBT

You say when. The assessor closes it properly.

When you are ready — when the loop has broken and you feel steady — you tell the assessor. They give you a warm, affirming close, then the session saves to your timeline.

You say you are better
A button appears when the assessor senses you are calming. You tap it when you are genuinely ready — there is no pressure to end early.
The assessor closes properly
A final warm message acknowledges what you worked through and what you did well. Not hollow — the assessor references the actual session.
Session saves to timeline
The session is saved with the date, assessor, and your mood after. Over time your timeline shows your patterns — what triggers you and what resolves it.
Back to your day
No lingering. No long debrief. You broke the loop, the session is done, you get back to what you were doing before the spiral started.

Emergency mode is included free.

Start with a free account. Emergency spiral mode, all six assessors, and the frequency tone tools are available from day one. No credit card required.

Free tier · No card needed · Full emergency mode from day one

Important: Stop The Loop is a self-guided CBT and ACT tool for anxiety management. It is not a medical device or replacement for professional mental health treatment. Emergency spiral mode is a therapeutic tool — not a substitute for emergency services. If you are in crisis, experiencing suicidal thoughts, or need immediate help, please call 999, NHS 111, or Samaritans on 116 123.