There are a number of apps you can download to help you with low mood and anxiety. Apps can be quite different in what they offer you. They may:
Provide mindfulness meditations and activities to improve your mental and physical health in your day-to-day lives.
Help you to cope with urge to self-harm and any negative feelings byusing interactive exercises
Bring you in contact with others who are in similar situations and get support from other users
One thing to keep in mind is that apps are usually not controlled for quality by an independent organisation like drugs or licensed therapists are. Some apps may never have been tested for actually helping their users orto establish if they may cause some harm rather than good.
It’s important to check whether an app that you want to use has been tested or recommended by an insurance provider or a national health service or similar. Also beware that some apps sell data to third-parties.
Not all of them are free, some are actually quite pricey.
Some of the apps we liked include:
Daylio is a mood tracker and micro diary that allows you to keep a private journal without having to type a single line. The app allows you to pick your mood and add the activities you have been doing during the day. The app records everything you input into a calendar that helps you to keep track of your activities. It will allow you understand you habits better and create patterns to become more productive. If you ever wanted to start journaling, then this is the app for you!
FREE
Set reminders so you never forget to create a memory
Customize the name of moods
Explore interesting statistics about your moods on a monthly or yearly chart
Use emojis to monitor your moods
'What's Up? is a fantastic free app utilising some of the best CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) and ACT (Acceptance Commitment Therapy) methods to help you cope with Depression, Anxiety, Anger, Stress and more! Simple headings and easy-to-follow methods make it easy to navigate the support.
FREE
A diary feature to keep your thoughts and feelings together in, including the ability to rate feelings on a scale out of 10
Positive and negative habit tracker to set goals to practice those good habits while ending the bad ones!
A grounding game containing over 100 fun questions to help keep you grounded and in the present when stress is taking over
“Sleep. Focus. Relax. Meditation” is the motto for Tide. This app aims to improve your physical and mental health through using nature sounds. It can be used to reduce stress and help you sleep better through its different settings.
FREE
Get it on Apple Store!Get it on Google Play!Calm wants to help have lower stress, less anxiety, and more restful sleep. The app offers guided meditations to Sleep Stories and breathing programs. If you’re new to meditation and practicing mindfulness techniques, they have a 7 day programme to introduce you to the basics. The app also saves your meditation and sleep sessions to your Apple Health app if you’re an iPhone user. There’s also a subscription option if you wish to take things further.
FREE trial
Get it on Apple Store!Get it on Google Play!This is an app that helps you resist or manage the urge to self-harm by using interactive exercises of cognitive behavioural therapies. The app was originally designed for young adults who deal with self-harm but a person of any age might find the exercises to be valuable in coping with self-harm.
FREE
Get it on Apple Store!Get it on Google Play!This app teaches you the basics of mindfulness and how to implement these techniques in everyday situations. You will learn how to calm your mind and focus on the moment. Not to mention it has some pretty cute animations as a bonus.
Get it on Apple Store!Get it on Google Play!This app combines mindfulness meditations, cognitive behavioural therapy exercises and community support to help with stress, depression and anxiety and is very good at guiding through the exercises which really helps when you have trouble focusing.
FREE in basic mode (not all functions usable but effective)
Relaxation &mindfulness meditation audio tools
Guided self-help paths
Mood tracker
Thought recording,journaling & analysis
Daily challenges & goaltracking
Health tracker
Communities & groups
This app does not explicitly support trauma coping or PTSD and should be used with caution and only after having stabilised.
Get it on Apple Store!Get it on Google Play!.png)
Disclaimer: This guide has not been put together by mental health professionals. It is not intended to be medical advice. It has been crowdsourced by survivors and volunteers of Chayn. Care has been taken in reflecting the experiences and knowledge of people around the world, including therapists but information in this guide should be taken instead of certified medical advice. Please seek professional support.
Getting better & moving on: A guide for mental healing after abuse and trauma by CHAYN is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.