As the prevalence of mental illnesses like depression and anxiety continues to grow, clinicians have turned to mobile applications as tools for aiding their patients’ treatment. These apps can be especially helpful for teenagers and young adults suffering from mental illness due to their frequent use of technology as a means of communication.
The apps can be helpful as a way to engage people who may be unwilling or unable to attend face-to-face therapy, and they can also provide support in between sessions. Experts believe that these apps will work best when used in conjunction with medication and/or in-person therapy.
Breathe2Relax - Android - ITunes
Breathe2Relax is an app developed for stress management. It walks users through breathing exercises that help to reduce stress , stabilize mood, control anger, and manage anxiety. The app’s developers note that it can be used on its own to help reduce stress or in combination with other therapies. Breathe2Relax is available for free on both iOS and Android devices.
BoosterBuddy - Android - ITunes
BoosterBuddy is a free app designed to help teens and young adults improve their mental health.
Manage your personal wellness journey and earn achievements as your sidekick guides you through a series of daily quests designed to establish and sustain positive habits.
Check-in with how you are feeling each day, Use coping skills, Keep track of appointments and medications, Get started on tasks, Follow self-care routines & Increase real-life socialization.
CALMHARM - ITunes
Calm Harm provides tasks that help you resist or manage the urge to self-harm. You can add your own tasks too and it’s completely private and password protected.
Hearing Voices - Android - ITunes
Here is a short video about the application.
Optimism - ITunes
Optimism is a family of applications that focus on self-tracking as a tool for coping with mental illnesses including depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and PTSD. The app helps users detect patterns in their mood, creating a way to identify triggers and other things that affect their mental health. Users can create a customizable wellness plan to chart their coping mechanisms, and this can be updated as they come to have a deeper understanding of what they need to tackle their mental illness. Optimism is available for download on Mac OSX, Windows, iOS devices, and various web browsers.
SAM: Self Help for Anxiety Management - Android - ITunes
SAM is an app designed to help people manage their anxiety. Users can record their anxiety levels and identify different triggers. The app includes 25 self-help options to help users cope with the physical and mental symptoms of anxiety. Users can create a personalized anxiety toolkit, adding in the features of the app that they find most useful for easy access. The app also has a social cloud feature that allows users to anonymously share their experiences with other SAM users.
SAM is available for free on both iOS and Android devices
Step Finder- Android - ITunes
Got a problem, need local help? StepFinder pin-points your nearest local support service and shows you how to get there using your phone. It shows you tips and recommendations from other young people so you know what to expect when you use a service for the first time. StepFinder is totally free and confidential.
True Colours - Website
True Colours is an online self-management system that allows you to monitor your symptoms and experiences using text, email and the internet. By answering questionnaires you create a record of how you are feeling and can see how it changes over time. You can use this to help you to manage your own health and to share information with your family, friends or care team. Your data is stored on a secure computer system.