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About Sylvia
General questions
What is Sylvia? +
Sylvia is a precision digital mental health platform designed for people with eating disorders and disordered eating, as well as the clinicians who treat them. Using real-time mobile monitoring and advanced data analytics, Sylvia identifies the specific psychological mechanisms maintaining each individual's symptoms and generates a Personalized Recovery Roadmap that targets those mechanisms directly.
Who is Sylvia designed for? +
Sylvia serves two primary audiences. For individuals, Sylvia offers a data-driven path to personalized eating disorder recovery that does not require access to specialized clinical care. For clinicians, treatment centers, and public health agencies, Sylvia provides precision tools to personalize treatment and improve outcomes for their patients and populations.
What eating disorders does Sylvia address? +
Sylvia is designed for individuals with eating disorders and disordered eating more broadly, including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, ARFID, and other eating and feeding conditions. Because Sylvia's approach is idiographic — meaning it is built from each person's own data — it is applicable across the full spectrum of eating disorder presentations rather than being condition-specific.
Is Sylvia a replacement for therapy? +
Sylvia is not a replacement for clinical treatment and should not be treated as one. It is designed to extend the reach of evidence-based care to individuals who currently lack access to specialized treatment, and to enhance the precision of care for those already working with clinicians. For individuals with severe eating disorders, Sylvia recommends seeking in-person clinical support alongside the platform.
What is the Personalized Recovery Roadmap? +
The Personalized Recovery Roadmap is a data-generated plan that identifies the most impactful targets for change in your specific case. It is based on an analysis of your two-week EMA data using idiographic network modeling and is paired with evidence-based exercises from The Personalized Recovery Workbook for Eating Disorders. Every element of your Roadmap is matched to your individual symptom profile.
The Assessment
How the two-week assessment works
What is an ecological momentary assessment? +
Ecological momentary assessment, or EMA, is a research methodology that collects data in real time, in naturalistic settings. Rather than asking you to recall how you felt over the past week, EMA captures your experiences as they happen throughout the day. This produces data that is more accurate, more granular, and more clinically useful than traditional retrospective self-report measures.
How many surveys do I complete per day? +
You will complete brief surveys several times per day over approximately two weeks. The exact frequency depends on your assessment protocol, but surveys are designed to take only a few minutes each and are timed to minimize burden on your daily life. You will receive notifications on your smartphone when it is time to complete a check-in.
What do the surveys ask about? +
Surveys capture real-time data across several domains relevant to eating disorders: eating behaviors and patterns, thoughts and beliefs related to food and body image, emotions and mood, related mental health symptoms such as anxiety and depression, and contextual factors that may influence how you feel. Questions are brief, validated, and drawn from established clinical research measures.
What if I miss some surveys? +
Missing occasional surveys is expected and does not invalidate your assessment. Sylvia's algorithms are designed to work with real-world data, which includes occasional gaps. We do recommend completing as many check-ins as possible to ensure your Roadmap is based on the most complete picture of your symptom patterns.
How long until I receive my Personalized Recovery Roadmap? +
Your Roadmap is generated after your two-week assessment period is complete. Analysis typically takes a short time following the end of your assessment, and you will be notified when your Roadmap is ready to view. For clinician plans, the treatment plan is delivered to the clinician dashboard shortly after analysis is complete.
The Science
Research and methodology
What is idiographic network modeling? +
Idiographic network modeling is an analytical approach that treats each individual's data as its own unique system. Rather than comparing you to a population average, it maps the relationships between your specific symptoms and identifies which ones are most central to maintaining your disorder. This is the core algorithm that powers Sylvia's personalization. It represents a significant departure from traditional nomothetic approaches, which apply group-level findings to individuals regardless of how well those findings fit any particular person.
Is Sylvia's approach evidence-based? +
Yes. Sylvia's methodology is grounded in peer-reviewed clinical research in eating disorder treatment, precision mental health, and ecological momentary assessment. The Personalized Recovery Workbook for Eating Disorders, from which all exercises are drawn, is authored by leading eating disorder researchers. The platform is developed in collaboration with clinical scientists with expertise in eating disorder treatment and network science.
Why do current eating disorder treatments fail so many patients? +
Approximately 55% of patients with eating disorders fail to achieve full recovery under current treatments, and up to 80% never receive treatment at all. A core reason for poor outcomes is the high variability within and across eating disorders. Most treatments apply the same protocol to every patient regardless of individual differences in symptom presentation. Sylvia addresses this by identifying what is actually driving each individual's disorder and targeting those mechanisms specifically.
What is the Personalized Recovery Workbook for Eating Disorders? +
The Personalized Recovery Workbook for Eating Disorders is an evidence-based resource authored by Dr. Cheri Levinson and Dr. Irina Vanzhula, currently forthcoming. It contains a comprehensive set of exercises matched to the specific symptom targets identified through idiographic network analysis. Sylvia delivers only the exercises most relevant to your individual Roadmap rather than the complete workbook.
Privacy and Clinical Use
Data, privacy, and clinical integration
Is my health data private and secure? +
Yes. All data is encrypted in transit and at rest. Sylvia is built with clinical-grade data security standards and is designed to be HIPAA-compliant. Your information is never sold or shared with third parties.
Can I share my results with my therapist? +
Yes. Sylvia is designed to support clinical integration. You can share your Roadmap and assessment results with your existing care team. The Clinician-Supported individual plan and all clinician plans include secure data sharing tools specifically for this purpose.
Do I need a wearable device to use Sylvia? +
No. Sylvia works entirely through your smartphone. You do not need any wearable device, external sensor, or additional hardware. All you need is a smartphone capable of running the Sylvia app.
How can clinicians use Sylvia with their patients? +
Clinicians can order a Personalized Treatment Plan for any patient who completes the Sylvia assessment. Plans include a full symptom network analysis, prioritized intervention targets, and matched exercise recommendations. Optional psychologist consultation is available to support case conceptualization and treatment planning.
Can Sylvia be implemented across an entire treatment program? +
Yes. Sylvia offers full program implementation support for treatment centers, community mental health centers, and public health agencies. This includes staff training, onboarding, organization-wide analytics, and ongoing program support. Contact us to discuss implementation for your organization.
How often should patients reassess? +
Reassessment frequency depends on clinical judgment and individual progress. Sylvia supports periodic reassessment to track changes in symptom networks over time and update the Recovery Roadmap as needed. This is particularly useful in clinical settings where treatment response is being monitored.
Still have questions?
Our team is happy to help. Whether you are an individual exploring Sylvia or a clinician evaluating it for your practice, reach out and we will get back to you promptly.