In recent years, there has been a surge of people seeking help for mental health concerns from their mobile devices. As many people struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic to cope with the 25% rise in anxiety and depression, mental health applications became a popular way to cope with symptoms while in-person support was restricted. Two million more mental wellness apps were downloaded in April 2020 than in January and new apps have flooded the market to meet the demand, making it a challenge to choose the most effective.
To choose the right app for coping with mental health conditions, it’s important to understand what they are and their purpose. Mental health apps are mobile applications that offer a range of features and tools designed to help users manage symptoms and improve their overall mental wellbeing. From guided meditations and breathing exercises to mood tracking and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) journaling, there is a mental health app out there for just about everyone.
Read: How Can Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Help Depression?
Best Science-Backed Apps for Anxiety, Depression, and Stress
Sifting through thousands of apps to find the most effective ones can be difficult for the average consumer. We’ve rounded up a list of our favorite mental health apps that are user-friendly, affordable, and—most importantly—utilize proven techniques. We’ll explore how our top app choices work, what they offer, and how they can help during these challenging times.
For meditation and mindfulness: Headspace
Headspace is one of the leading apps for evidence-backed, guided meditation. This subscription-based app’s main feature is a massive library of guided meditations to choose from for a range of needs: cultivating mindfulness, reducing stress, regulating emotions like anger or grief, and even winding down for bed. Users can also follow experts in mindful breathing, cardio, and movement exercises.
For CBT: CBT Thought Diary
The CBT Thought Diary is a highly recommended app for managing mood and anxiety, featured by Harvard Medical School and selected as the Top Mental Health app of 2022 by PsychCentral. It uses CBT, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and Positive Psychology tools to help users analyze their thoughts and emotions by completing guided journals, learning to recognize cognitive distortions, and reframing negative thought patterns. This free app also features an easy-to-use mood tracker and mental health assessments.
For anxiety & panic attacks: Rootd
If you feel an anxiety or panic attack coming on, Rootd has your back. The app will help you find relief with instant support, guided breathing, and proven grounding techniques. Rootd also includes exercises and lessons for not only coping with anxiety, but changing your relationship with it.
For stress relief: Sanvello
Sanvello’s clinically proven therapies aim to help build effective coping strategies for dealing with stress, depression, and anxiety. Its library of CBT-backed self-care tools include mood and health tracking, guided meditation and breathing exercises, peer support, virtual therapy, and audio lessons to find relief and regain control.
For positive thinking: Happify
Recommended by the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, the Happify app utilizes CBT, mindfulness, and Positive Psychology techniques to help reduce stress, anxiety, and negative thinking. Users choose “tracks” that best suit their goals, then progress through science-based activities and games developed by experts to help promote more positive emotions.
For better sleep: Calm
The Calm app was chosen by The Sleep Foundation as the best app for improving sleep. The app library contains relaxing stories, music, and soundscapes to listen to while falling asleep as well as guided meditations and breathing exercises designed to help relieve stress, anxiety, and ruminating thoughts.
For journaling: Morning Pages
Morning Pages is a journaling app perfect for both experienced and beginner journal writers. The app helps build a regular writing habit to unlock the benefits of journaling: improved self-awareness and reduced stress, anxiety, and depression syptoms. All you do is record your thoughts in Morning Pages, then the app generates insights to track mood, emotions, and topics over time to help you become more self-aware.
Do apps for anxiety and depression work?
While mental health apps offer a convenient and accessible way to manage anxiety and depression, the jury’s still out on whether or not they’re effective. Some studies have found a significant relief of symptoms, while others have found no significant improvement in symptoms from using these apps. However, it’s possible a placebo effect is at play, where simply believing in the app’s effectiveness may provide a sense of control and empowerment that can improve one’s mental wellbeing.
That being said, short interventions through mental health apps may still benefit some individuals. For example, apps that focus on breathing exercises or mindfulness techniques can provide immediate relief from symptoms of anxiety or stress. But for more severe cases, it is crucial to seek professional help and use mental health apps in conjunction with therapy or medication.
Online Therapy vs. Mental Health Apps
Professional virtual therapy is more likely to help improve symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress than self-management with a mental health app. Mental health apps are not a replacement for therapy, but can act as a supplementary intervention or means of tracking improvement.
We know using an app makes getting help feel a whole lot more approachable. And accessible. Online therapy can be an effective and convenient option, where licensed therapists can administer treatment through video chats or internet voice calls. Multiple studies have proven that online therapy can be just as effective as in-person therapy for a range of mental health concerns.
Our therapists at Austin Anxiety and Trauma Specialists offer online counseling to all residents of Texas and are trained in CBT and other proven methods for treating anxiety and depression. Book an appointment with us and we’ll start you on your healing journey. It can get better. We can help.
