Rebecca Lombardo
Author - Blogger - Advocate - Survivor
Mental Health Apps
ACT Coach
ACT Coach teaches users how to tolerate negative thoughts and feelings by virtually guiding them through awareness exercises and giving tips on how to ditch self-doubt. With an extra focus onmindfulness, this app also provides a log to track your progress. (Free; iOS)
AETAS
Designed by therapist Rosemary Sword, this app uses Time Perspective Therapy, a method developed to unglue us from unhelpful or obsessive thoughts. Chock-full of visual aids to encourage relaxation and self-soothing, AETAS also arms users with atime perspective inventory that helps them understand how they view the past, present, and future will either help or hinder their happiness. ($4.99; iOS)
Breathe2Relax
Sometimes, all we need to de-stress is take a few deep breaths. Created by the National Center for Telehealth and Technology, this app teaches users how to do diaphragmatic breathing. Features include educational videos on the stress response, logs to record stress levels, and customizable guided breathing sessions. (Free; iOSand Android)
DBT Diary Card and Skills Coach
This app works as a daily mood and thought diary. But it also has a coaching module that gives tips on sticky emotional situations, like how to ask for what you need without drama or how to successfully resolve conflict. And users get positive reinforcement when they're consistent with their entries. The app also includes a super helpfulDBT reference section for more info on coping skills—all backed by research. ($4.99; iOS)
Depression CBT Self-Help Guide
Need help managing the blues? Monitor dips in your mood, learn about clinical depression and treatments, try guided relaxationtechniques, and learn strategies to challenge negative thinking with this app. It's all just a few taps and swipes away. (Free; Android)
eCBT calm
Implementing some of the many strategies of cognitive behavioral therapy, this app helps users assess their stress levels, practice mindfulness and relaxation skills, and connect their thoughts to feelings and behaviors. The end result is more calm in your everyday life and more awareness of your actions and emotions. ($0.99; iOS)
Happify
Want to kick negative thoughts, nix worry, and dial down stress? The array of engaging games, activity suggestions, and gratitude prompts makes Happify a useful shortcut to a good mood. Designed with input from 18 health and happiness experts, Happify’s positive mood-training program is psychologist approved. Even cooler? Its website links to bonus videos that are sure to make you smile. (Free;iOS)
How Are You
Tracking your moods can help you fight the blues and teach you to tune into positive things. That's the premise behind this app. But as a bonus, it also allows you to compare your mood with worldwide averages, see which emotions you feel the most, and export your mood tracking data so you can share it with a mental health professional or trusted friend. ($9.99-$12.99; iOS and Android)
MindShift
This straightforward stress management tool helps users re-think what’s stressing them out through a variety of on-screen prompts. At the same time, the app encourages new ways to take charge of anxiety and tune into body signals. (Free; iOS and Andriod)
Operation Reach Out
This mood tracker and resource locator was designed by Emory University researchers to aid in suicide prevention. The setup is simple: Users create a personal profile that includes emergency contact information, current medications, safety plans, and reminders for appointments or medications. Plus the app uses GPS to locate mental health care services nearby, should any user enter crisis mode. (Free; iOS and Android)
PTSD Coach
If you suffer from PTSD symptoms, this 24-hour tool that's linked directly with support services is a valuable thing to download. Available as an app or on the Web, PTSD Coach lets users select the specific issue they want to deal with (from anxiety and anger toinsomnia and alienation), and then gives them guidance on how to lift their mood, shift their mindset, and reduce stress. (Free; iOS andAndroid)
Quit It
If you’re a smoker, you probably already know all about the nastyhealth consequences. But it probably doesn’t stop you from lighting up. But this app's approach is different. It shows you the hit your wallet takes every time you get another pack. Even better: Quit It calculates how much money you save each time you don’t smoke. Think of it as extra financial incentive to kick nicotine and tobacco (and save for something far better!). ($1.99; iOS)
Quit Pro
Think of this as a fitness tracker for your smoking habit. By monitoring your cravings over time, the places you puff the most, the triggers that lead you to light up, and the money you save by resisting a cigarette, this comprehensive app is a much better thing to have in your back pocket than a pack of smokes. (Free; iOS andAndroid)
SAM
How do you know what’s pushing you over the edge and reel yourself back in? SAM’s approach is to monitor anxious thoughts, track behavior over time, and use guided self-help exercises to discourage stress. SAM takes it to the next level by offering a “Social Cloud” feature that allows users to confidentially share their progress with an online community for added support. (Free; iOS and Android)