In today’s digital age, mobile applications (apps) have become an integral part of our daily lives. Whether it’s managing stress, improving sleep, boosting productivity, or finding moments of relaxation, apps can provide a range of benefits that enhance our mental and physical well-being. This blog will guide you through how to choose an app, and then which types of apps to choose! In your sessions with a clinical psychologist, you might also be able to discuss the most suitable digital tools for your individual needs.
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Choosing the Right App
There has been an explosion of apps on the marketplace and so it is important to first discuss how to choose the right one, as not all apps are created equal. A professional with experience in private practice can often bring valuable insights into the effectiveness of certain apps, but here are three key factors I suggest you consider:
1. Credibility
When selecting an app, the credibility of the app’s creators and the scientific basis of the content are key. Look for apps developed by or in collaboration with mental health professionals, universities, or reputable organisations. Credible apps should have features that are grounded in evidence-based practices.
Additionally, you might check for reviews or endorsements from trusted sources such as professional organisations, healthcare providers, or academic institutions. A credible app will often cite the research or clinical guidelines it follows, providing a level of transparency about its methods and effectiveness.
2. Usability
Think about the user experience of the app as this plays a significant role in how effectively it can support your goals. A well-designed app should be intuitive, easy to navigate, and free from excessive distractions like ads or unnecessary notifications. The user interface (UI) should be clean and straightforward, allowing you to focus on the task or therapy without getting bogged down by complicated controls or confusing menus.
The user experience also includes the app’s responsiveness and reliability. An app that frequently crashes or has slow load times can be frustrating and may mean you are less likely to use it! Before committing to an app, it’s worth reading user reviews to gauge common experiences regarding the app’s performance and ease of use.
3. Transparency
Transparency is crucial when it comes to privacy and data security. Many apps, particularly those related to health and wellness, require users to input personal information. It’s essential to understand what data the app collects, how it is stored, and who has access to it. A reputable app will have a clear privacy policy that explains these details in plain language, ensuring that users are fully informed about how their data is handled.
Transparency also extends to the app’s business model. Be wary of apps that are free to download but offer little functionality without expensive in-app purchases. Similarly, apps that push frequent ads or use manipulative tactics to encourage spending can detract from the overall experience. Opt for apps that are upfront about their costs and provide clear value for the price.
The Different Ways Apps Can Be Used for Mental Health
With these ideas in mind, let’s start to think about how apps might be useful for you to improve or sustain your psychological well-being. Individual therapy can be complemented by using specific apps tailored to personal therapeutic goals.
1. Self-Monitoring and Awareness
Self-monitoring is a powerful tool for gaining insight into your thoughts, behaviours, and emotions, and help you track patterns over time. The evidence shows that even just tracking something can make it change in a positive direction. The other benefit is that by increasing your awareness, you build a true understanding of what is happening and can use this to start to actively making some shifts. Self-monitoring can also be beneficial for tracking sexual health, helping individuals understand and manage their sexual well-being.
Mood Tracking: Some apps allow you to log your mood throughout the day, helping you identify triggers or patterns in your emotional responses. By regularly monitoring your mood, you can gain a better understanding of what influences your emotional state, which can be valuable information to bring into therapy or to reflect upon in your self-care routines. eMoods, Daylio, and How We Feel are all good examples of these types of apps.
Behaviour Tracking: Whether you’re trying to break a bad habit or establish a new one, tracking your behaviours can provide a clear picture of your progress. Apps that support behaviour tracking can help you set goals, monitor your actions, and celebrate small wins along the way, reinforcing positive behaviour change.
Journaling and Reflection: Journaling apps, like Day One, offer a digital space to reflect on your day, your thoughts, and your feelings. Regular journaling can help you process emotions, reduce stress, and identify areas of your life that may need attention. Some apps also offer prompts to guide your reflection, making it easier to explore your inner world.
2. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Tools and Strategies
While apps cannot replace the personalised support of a therapist, they can be valuable adjuncts to therapy, offering tools and strategies that complement psychological treatment, including commitment therapy. Apps can also support dialectical behaviour therapy by providing structured exercises and guidance. Examples of this type of apps include: Happify, Sanvello, Iona Mind, and Moodfit.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT): Apps offering cognitive behaviour therapy exercises can help users identify and change negative thought patterns. Some apps (like the ones named above) provide structured CBT exercises, guiding you through the process of recognising unhelpful thoughts and replacing them with more constructive ones.
Mindfulness Techniques: Mindfulness-based approaches are increasingly recognised for their benefits in reducing stress and improving emotional regulation. Apps that teach mindfulness techniques, such as breathing exercises, guided meditations, and body scans, can help you develop a mindfulness practice that fits into your daily routine. These practices can enhance your ability to stay present, reduce reactivity to stress, and foster a greater sense of calm. Smiling Mind is a very popular and useful mindfulness app developed here in Australia.
Exposure Therapy Support: For those dealing with phobias or anxiety disorders, exposure therapy is a common treatment method. Some apps can support exposure therapy by helping you gradually confront and desensitise yourself to feared situations or objects in a controlled and systematic way.
Support Networks and Peer Communities: Some apps offer platforms for connecting with others who are going through similar experiences. These peer communities can provide support, encouragement, and a sense of belonging.
3. Relaxation and Meditation for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Relaxation and meditation apps are designed to help you unwind, reduce stress, and try to build a sense of calm. These tools can be particularly beneficial when you are feeling emotionally dysregulated and overwhelmed.
Guided Meditation: Guided meditation apps offer a range of meditation practices, from basic breath awareness to more advanced techniques like loving-kindness or body scan meditations. These apps often include sessions of varying lengths, making it easy to fit meditation into even the busiest schedules.
The Insight Timer app offers one of the largest free libraries of guided meditations. It includes sessions from Australian meditation teachers and content tailored for beginners and experienced meditators alike. The app also provides options for sleep, stress management, and relaxation, making it a very comprehensive tool.Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR): PMR is a relaxation technique that involves tensing and then relaxing different muscle groups to reduce physical tension and stress. Some apps guide you through PMR exercises, helping you release tension and promote relaxation throughout your body.
The Calm app is widely used in Australia and offers progressive muscle relaxation exercises as part of its broader suite of relaxation tools.Visualisations and Imagery: Visualisation techniques involve imagining a peaceful scene or positive outcome to reduce stress and improve mental focus.
Relaxation: Relaxation apps often include tools to help with sleep, such as calming sounds, bedtime stories, or guided sleep meditations. These features can be particularly useful for individuals who struggle with insomnia or have difficulty winding down at the end of the day.
4. Self-Care and Lifestyle Changes
Apps can be powerful allies in improving self-care as well as making and maintaining lifestyle changes. For example, Bearable which is a comprehensive health tracking app that allows users to monitor both their mental and physical well-being, as well as Finch which is a self-care pet app where users care for a virtual bird by completing daily wellness tasks and goals, encouraging positive habits and emotional well-being in a fun and interactive way.
Sleep Monitoring and Improvement: Poor sleep can have a significant impact on mental and physical health. Sleep tracking apps monitor your sleep patterns and provide insights into how long and how well you’re sleeping. Some apps also offer tips or exercises to improve sleep hygiene, helping you establish a consistent sleep routine and improve the quality of your rest. Sleep Cycle is an example of an app which both monitors and advises the user about their sleep.
Exercise Motivation and Tracking: Regular physical activity is crucial for maintaining mental health, as it helps reduce stress, improve mood, and increase energy levels. Exercise apps can provide workout routines, track your physical activity, and offer motivation to keep you moving. Whether you’re training for an event or just trying to incorporate more movement into your day, these apps can help you stay on track.
Habit Formation: Building and then maintaining positive habits is often an essential part of sustained lifestyle changes and self-care. Apps (such as Habitify) that focus on developing and sticking to new habits can help when aiming for healthy behaviours, such as drinking more water or eating more vegetables. By tracking your progress and providing positive reinforcement, these apps make it easier to reach your goals.
Quitting a Habit: At the opposite end of the continuum, there are also apps designed to stop unhelpful behaviours. These apps, like QuiteGuide or QuitStart for smoking cessation, can be effective tools by providing structure, support, and real-time feedback to encourage positive change. They often include features such as habit tracking, motivational reminders, and access to supportive communities, all of which can enhance accountability and sustain progress.
5. Organisation and Productivity for ADHD Assessments
Staying organised and managing your time effectively are key components of a balanced life. Productivity apps can help you streamline your tasks, manage your schedule, and reduce the emotional stress that comes with life feeling a bit chaotic.
Task Management: Task management apps allow you to create to-do lists, set deadlines, and prioritise your tasks. By breaking down larger projects into smaller, manageable steps, these apps can help you stay focused and reduce the stress of looming deadlines.
Calendar and Scheduling: Keeping track of appointments, meetings, and deadlines can be challenging, especially when juggling multiple responsibilities. Calendar apps help you organise your schedule, set reminders, and sync your appointments across devices, letting you keep on top of everything from someone’s birthday to when to take your medication.
Note-Taking and Idea Organisation: Note-taking apps can allow you to organise your thoughts, save important information, and keep everything in one easily accessible place. The added psychological benefit is rather than these ideas whirling around your mind and they are parked in your phone. Some people will even create a list of worries that they can worry about at a pre-assigned later time! ReachOut WorryTime is an app that allows users to do just this. Developed by ReachOut Australia, it encourages users to postpone their worries until their designated “Worry Time,” helping them regain control over their thoughts and reduce anxiety.
Focus Enhancement: Some productivity apps are designed to minimise distractions and keep you on task. These apps might include features like time blocking, where you allocate specific periods for focused work, or “do not disturb” modes that silence notifications during work sessions. Forest is a unique app in this category that encourages focus by growing a virtual tree that flourishes when you stay on task and withers if you get distracted.
6. Helpful Distraction
Sometimes, what we need most is a healthy distraction—a break from stress, anxiety, or routine tasks that allows our minds to reset. Apps that provide engaging activities or games can serve this purpose, offering a mental escape that can be both enjoyable and beneficial. The caveat to this is that the use of these apps needs to be time-limited.
Mindful Distraction: Mindful games and activities, such as The Sims, can help shift your focus away from stressors while also engaging your mind in a positive way. These apps often require concentration and problem-solving, which can help divert your attention from negative thoughts or anxiety. Peak is another example of an app that offers a variety of brain-training games designed to improve cognitive function as well as provide a mental break from stressors.
Creative Expression: Apps that allow for creative expression, such as drawing, music-making, or writing, can provide a therapeutic outlet. Engaging in creative activities can reduce stress, improve mood, and foster a sense of accomplishment.
Relaxing Games: Not all games are about competition or high stakes. Some apps offer relaxing games that are designed to soothe rather than excite. These games often involve calming visuals, simple gameplay, and a pace that encourages relaxation rather than stimulation.
B. Impaired Autonomy and Performance in Anxiety Disorders
This domain includes schemas that interfere with one’s ability to function independently and perform adequately.
6. Dependence / Incompetence Schema
Individuals with this schema believe they are unable to handle everyday responsibilities competently without significant help from others. This can lead to reliance on others to make decisions and perform tasks, and avoidance of new experiences or challenges due to fear of failure. A mental health plan can be crucial in addressing these issues by providing access to counselling sessions funded through Medicare.
For example: In his 30s, Alexander still lives at home and though he works part-time, he still relies on his Mum a lot for both financial and practical support. He has never had a partner.
7. Vulnerability to Harm or Illness Schema
This schema involves an exaggerated fear that catastrophe will strike and that one will be unable to prevent it. This might relate to fears of medical illness, or emotional collapse, or other types of disasters. This can lead to hypervigilance and avoidance.
For example: Olive has significant health anxiety, constantly thinking she may have cancer, and gets very worried about her children getting injured or sick.
8. Enmeshment/Undeveloped Self Schema
This schema is characterised by excessive emotional involvement and closeness with significant others, often to the detriment of their own identity and autonomy. Individuals may have difficulty separating their own feelings and needs from those of others, leading to dependent relationships and a lack of personal direction.
For example: Pascale struggles to develop his own sense of self beyond his role within his family. Deep down he suspects he might be gay, but is unable to reflect on that further because he knows his parents would not approve.
9. Failure Schema
People with this schema believe they are fundamentally inadequate and will inevitably fail to achieve. This can result in chronic feelings of helplessness, low self-esteem, and avoidance of challenges due to this fear of failure.
For example: Megan believes she is not really that bright and won’t do that well. She has remained at the same level at work, despite her manager’s encouraging her to apply for more senior roles.
Integrating Apps into Your Life Mindfully
Whilst apps can undoubtedly be helpful, it’s important to approach their use with intention and a plan. By carefully selecting your app and understanding its purpose, you can effectively integrate it into your life in a way that supports your overall well-being.
