5 Mental Health Apps: For Parents Who Want Balance In Their Daily Life

[ In the last five years, use of mental health apps to monitor and manage our behaviours and moods has grown at a rapid rate. We have selected 5 mental health apps that have been developed with extensive research and care for you.]

While we may exercise, take care of our diet and avoid junk food to take care of our physical health, our mental health fails to feature on our priority list. It was only recently, after experiencing a phase when I was feeling low, moody and anxious, that I began taking my mental health seriously.

As a parent to a 9-year-old, I wanted my child to see a happier, cheerful version of myself, so I turned towards a mental health app for support. I found that many apps allow you to access their features any time of the day, proving to be the perfect well-being companion in times of need.

We have listed some of the best mental health apps you could rely on when required.

What is a mental health app?

A mental health app can easily be downloaded on your smartphone, laptop or a smart device and helps improve your mental and emotional health.

These apps offer numerous ways to engage with you through feeling trackers, daily trackers and lots of learning material.

While some mental apps can help assist those undergoing treatment, some can be for an individual’s independent use.

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While a mental health app is not a replacement for a licensed therapist or physician, it can be a great tool to help you manage your daily mental health concerns and prevent certain conditions from worsening.

Who benefits from a mental health app?

Anyone can benefit from a mental health app. While several different formats of apps are available, the quality and intention of apps may vary.

Some apps may offer therapy techniques like CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy), exposure therapy etc. Other mental health apps support through meditation, mindfulness, relaxation exercises and more.

With the right app, one can learn valuable skills to manage one’s mental health. Also, there are a group of people who can benefit a lot from such apps, like those who:-

• Struggle with anxiety or depression
• Have experienced trauma
• Are unable to manage stress
• Want to improve their sleep
• Want to learn how to incorporate mindfulness in their day-to-day activities
• Need help managing their mood
• Want to engage with a community for support
• Want to learn about mental health

Individuals who are experiencing a current active mental health condition with erratic thoughts or behaviour or have suicidal tendencies should not rely only on such apps but seek the help of a medical professional right away.

 Top mental health apps

• MindDoc: Your Companion

Mind doc is a great mental well-being companion you can easily install on your smartphone. The content on this app is analysed and approved by certified clinical psychologists. Its design is compatible with Android and Apple devices.

This app helps with anxiety, depression, eating disorders, insomnia and more. MindDoc provides insights, summaries, and courses and can be integrated with your Apple Health Data to monitor your mental health and well-being patterns.

• What’s Up? – A Mental Health App

This app is highly interactive and requires greater engagement. It is one of the best mental health apps powered by AI and helps you cope with emotions like depression, stress, anger, anxiety etc.

This CBT-based app provides an impressive array of options that enables users to practice techniques through creative exercises.

The app includes breathing techniques, habit and anxiety trackers, positive quotes, games, and a diary where you can log in your feelings.

• Depression CBT: Self-Help Guide

This app aims at educating others about depression and the best strategies to manage the symptoms using the principles of CBT. It motivates you to indulge in self-care behaviours to improve your mood.

It provides audios on relaxation, mindfulness and emotional training. They have an initial screening test that will assess the severity of depressive mood and connect users to resources if their scores display severe symptoms of distress.

These scores cannot be thought of as diagnostic tools, but indicate levels of distress. The app is free of charge and has a cognitive diary feature that teaches you how to challenge stressful thinking.

• Calm

Calm is a mindfulness and meditation app that offers flexible programs and exercises to help manage anxiety. Clam provides a 7-day free trial, so you can try it out before committing a monthly fee of Rs 304.16 or an annual subscription of Rs. 3650.

The app offers guided meditations, sleep stories, relaxation tools and breathing exercises to help you distress and sleep better.

The app is easy to use and provides much information on meditating and eliminating negative thought patterns from the mind.

• Happify

If you are looking for an app that keeps you engaged and uplifts your mood, then Happify is best for you. Happify consists of science backed games that help reduce stress, build resilience and tackle negative thoughts.

The app’s ultimate goal is to make you feel happy and allows you to select which track you want to focus on, like:

a) Coping better with stress

b) Boosting your career success

c) Achieving mindfulness through the art of meditation

d) Conquering negative thoughts and building up optimism

e) Improving self-confidence.

The creators of the app state that 86 % of their users feel better about their lives within two months of using Happify.

Takeaway

Even though numerous mental health apps are available at the moment, only a tiny percentage is evidence-based. Mental health should be everyone’s priority and should never be ignored.

However, with this list of the best mental health apps in hand, we hope you find the perfect tool to address your mental health concerns.

Image source: vie studio from Pexels and thinkqkreations from Getty Images, free on Canva Pro

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