Apps for Mental Well-Being

Trauma-Informed Care

March 4, 2024

Coping with Perimenopausal Depression

March 22, 2024

Published by Okanagan Clinical on March 11, 2024

Tags

With roughly 80% of the Canadian population using smartphones daily, it should come as no surprise that increasing numbers of the population are spending more time online, but what does that mean for mental health? As has been widely documented, there are certainly mental health pitfalls correlated to the amount of time and activities spent on apps involving scrolling, liking, swiping, and commenting, but what about the apps that are targeted to improve mental well-being? They don’t get enough credit. How can apps enhance mental well-being? Well, there are many ways. For example, they can support goal attainment, promote accountability, and teach skills such as self-care or meditation.

Not sure where to start with the big wide world of apps? Let’s take a look together.

Apps for Mindfulness and Focus

Headspace – Learn meditation techniques, improve sleep, and cultivate mindfulness with this little app. There are brief, short, and longer meditations available. It tracks and sends a gentle reminder to keep you on track for your mindful goals.

Forest – Set timers on your phone for controlled usage and have real world application. This application encourages presence and focus by tapping into your social conscious. When you focus i.e., do not engage in micro-scrolling and loose time to mindless online activities that leave you feeling blah and stay on the Forest app, seeds are planted, and REAL forests grow. When you leave the app to engage in the unwanted activities, your seed is not watered and does not grow. If you love plants, want to have an impact, and aim to reduce media time for focus time then this one might be worth a try.

Apps for Mood

Moodkit – Developed by clinical psychologists, this app uses the principles of CBT to help users boost mood, change negative thinking patterns, and capture accurate details of how their emotional changes impact them.

Happify – This app harvests the power of positive psychology to help users tap into neuroplasticity and mold their brain into happier patterns. It aims to reduce stress and increase positive emotions.

Apps for Positive Self-Talk

I am – Promote positive self-talk with daily affirmations.

Gratitude: Self-care journal – This app fosters gratitude, self-love, awareness, and motivation through the use of tools such as journalling and vision boards.

Other Information

Now, of course, these are just a few of the MANY options available and we are not promoting one or the other. Rather, we are simply highlighting the fact that there may be some useful tools and/or other ways to consider using your device to promote mental well-being.

For more information on the apps listed above, please follow the links provided below. Keep in mind that many are available via paid subscriptions, but many have free trials and/or free options for access.