Tech Tip—Apps for Supporting Your Mental Health
There is no replacement for mental professional mental health support, and if you feel you have need of it, you should absolutely seek that additional help.1 However, if you are working towards improving your overall mental wellbeing, there may be many different options through technology that can assist. You can find resources that connect you with doctors and counselors via applications, as well as applications themselves that guide you through different mental support processes. That is what we will focus on today.
As mental health has become more important and additional attention brought to the subject, there has been a flood of apps for your phones and other devices to assist with maintaining parts of your mental well-being. I am sure there is endless debate as to the value of many of these, but like most things, each is in the ‘mind of the beholder.’ If you can find a tool or resource that assists with your specific needs, that is what is most critical. In this article, I am sharing some ideas of more popular and common applications that may be useful for helping to clear your mind and provide support for mental clarity as part of your personal wellbeing journey.
Headspace
This may be the best known of the tools discussed here today. It was one I came across many years ago and do still use occasionally, even if just the free version of it (which is limited). I maintained a subscription for a while, and I am contemplating it again. The annual subscription runs about $70, but can be an extremely valuable investment when working to clear your head. Headspace is a guided meditation application on Apple devices. You can get a 7 day or 14-day free trial with your monthly or annual subscription. It is a perfect way to give it a try first to see off it is something that will work for you. The app covers an array of different mental clarity exercises ranging from meditation to sleep support. They have different coaches you can choose from and several programs within the app you can use that fits your specific needs.
I have found the meditation practices to be extremely helpful and easy to adapt to as a beginner. Meditation is both easier than you would expect, as well as more difficult. Most people think of monks sitting quietly with their legs crossed and fingers held together. That doesn’t have to be what this is. Meditation is what you make of it, but is the sense of being aware of your thoughts, acknowledging them, and moving on. The coaches take you through this and make you feel at ease, regardless of your level of awareness and practice. If you have never tried it, I would recommend giving it a go to see how it works for you.
Calm
Calm is another well-known and popular application. It, too, has a large following and is well-known. When you look at their webpage, you can see the different media platforms they have been featured on. It is very similar to Headspace and offers a similar assortment of meditation and support offerings. They cover from basic meditation to sleep support, as well as additional resources on their site and in the app. Their pricing model is also very similar to Headspace. This is the perfect use case for free trials. You can give both apps a try for 7 or 14 days and see which one will work best for you. The best app is the one you’ll use. So give them both a try and see which is the better fit for your needs.
One thing I will call out for Calm, they have a very simple, but helpful breathing exercise and graphic built into their website to help you relax. It is an excellent way to get a sense of how basic breathing can make a difference in how you feel.
Breathe—Mindfulness (in Apple Watch)
If you have an Apple Watch, there is a very simple ‘Breathe’ application built in that helps with guided breathing activities. It is as simple breathing in, and breathing out slowing while focusing on your breath and clearing your mind. It can be done anywhere, anytime. The time spent is logged automatically, and you can see it in your iPhone Health app as part of mental wellness.
Also built into the iPhone Health app are different surveys and logs for your mood and overall feeling. These are also easy ways to take a quick inventory of how you are feeling and how the day (or your environment) is impacting you. The real benefit comes from seeing your feedback over time, and connecting it to other activities that may be going on. Using this mood tracking along with your journal (see below) can become a powerful tool for managing your mental wellbeing and overall feelings.
Day One (or other Journal apps)
Writing is still one of the best ways to clear your head and capture what you are thinking at any given moment. Even if those words will never see the light of day again, it can be highly therapeutic to write down your thoughts. I have covered Day One previously and mentioned other journal apps in the process. Even the Apple Journal app that comes with any iPhone would be an excellent starting point for having a place to write down whatever is sitting in your brain. In fact, you really don’t even need anything as fancy as a journal app. They are great for easily capturing the day, time, and place of your notes. But, the humble Notes app or Google Keep is a perfect place just to capture words. If you haven’t tried writing for clearing your brain, I’d highly recommend as a way to free up space and often unload some stressful ‘thinking’ baggage.
There are no shortage of resources in this space. CNET mentions there are tens of thousands of them available. They cover their top 2024 apps in an article for their readers, which may also be a great resource to help narrow down your options. Whatever options you choose to go with, or completely opt to go a different direction, that is up to you. But know that there is a tremendous selection of choices available to blend technology and mental wellbeing. There really is no excuse for not looking for alternatives to doing nothing. These can also be a nice suggestion for you to provide someone you know who may be struggling with stress, anxiety, or healthy sleeping habits. Take advantage of what is available, and know that there are millions of others who have been right where you are (me included) in finding the right balance between reality and coping. We all need support systems, and our phones are always with us. And even though they are probably part of the source of the problem, they can also be a big part of the solution.
Which applications have you tried? Any recommendations for what works best for you?
For immediate mental health support.
Dial 988
The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline provides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, across the United States. The Lifeline is comprised of a national network of over 200 local crisis centers, combining custom local care and resources with national standards and best practices.
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