In our modern, hyper-connected world, we have a powerful ally in our quest for enhanced mental health—smartphone apps.

With the rise of digital tools at our disposal, we now have an opportunity to leverage technology to our advantage. Whether you're seeking to assist a loved one or yourself in navigating the stressors of life and complex emotions, these apps offer practical tools for the journey. However, while technology can provide valuable support, it's important to remember the irreplaceable role of professional help in the realm of mental health. None of the following apps were created with the capability to replace psychotherapy. Undoubtedly though, there can be great harmony between digital resources and clinical insight in the pursuit of lasting mental wellness.

Mood Tracking

Ever walk into therapy and draw a blank when your therapist asks how your week has been? Logging your thoughts, feelings, and emotions throughout the week can be so helpful for your own insight but also to bring into your counseling session. Keeping a digital journal that can travel in your pocket can be so useful while you’re on the go! These are some useful apps for logging stress, worry, or low mood.

Moodfit: This app helps track mood and gives helpful tools and reminders. It can lead users through mindfulness, breathing exercises, and other helpful coping tools. It has an in-app gratitude journal and the ability to set goals and notifications. Users can set logs and goals in many areas such as mood, mindfulness, breathing, sleep, exercise, nutrition, therapy, etc.
Anxiety Log: This app is geared towards anxious thoughts and feelings specifically. Each log entry has you rate and describe the anxiety. It asks you to describe the situation, your thoughts, any physical sensations and what mindfulness techniques you chose to utilize.
How We Feel: This app helps users put words to their feelings and identify emotions. It gives users strategies to try in the moment. Over time, the app assists users in spotting patterns to gain self-awareness.
Daylio: This tracking app takes a slightly different approach than the previous tracking apps. It allows users to use emojis rather than writing to log their moods and experiences. Users can choose their color pallets and emoji themes. This app helps users track many activities such as emotions, sleep, health, hobbies, chores, school, work, personal hygiene, etc. This app has the ability to set reminders daily. It is especially helpful for quick-logging and you can even upload pictures with your entries.
Happyfeed: This is an unique app that allows users to upload photos and videos to journals recording mood, gratitude or experiences. The user can create a “pod” which is a private community of other users. Within your pod, you can share your “joy” moments with your friends and family.

Mindfulness/Relaxation/Coping

Mindfulness and relaxation techniques are incredible tools for enhancing overall well-being and mitigating stress. Practicing mindfulness helps individuals stay fully present in the moment, reducing ruminative thoughts and anxiety. Engaging in relaxation exercises, such as deep breathing or meditation, triggers the body's relaxation response, lowering stress hormones and promoting a profound sense of calm. These apps can help individuals incorporate these practices into daily life. By doing so, you may feel more equipped to manage stress, thus, likely enhancing emotional well-being.

Mindfulness Coach: This app aims to help users utilize mindfulness techniques. This app outlines basic principles and allows users to set goals and track progress. It allows users to experiment with various mindfulness exercises and find the right fit for them. The app encourages users to purposefully pay attention to their present moment without judgment.
Breathe2Relax: This app allows users to practice breathing exercises, watch demonstrations, and learn about stress. It allows you to select your scenery, background music, inhale and exhale length. This app can pair to your Apple Watch and track your heart rate.

Insight Timer: This app aims to help with sleep, stress, and anxiety through prompts in meditation, yoga, and journaling. It has over 100,000 guided meditations. Something unique about this app is that it has the ability to incorporate religion if desired and has over 12 different religious options.
MindShift: This app helps users take action in moments of anxiety or stress. It calls users to utilize cognitive practices such as thought journals, experiments, or encouraging reminders. It even has a “fear ladder” feature that helps as you begin to face anxious thoughts.

ClearFear: This app aims to help users lean into their emotions, manage their worries, and manage physical responses to anxiety and stress. It has many interactive features such as “The Worry Warrior,” “The Grit Box,” education on anxiety, and self-monitoring. It has a password feature to keep your entries private. This app also has a “safety net” feature with the option to set up an emergency contact.

Organization/Time Management

Time management and organization can play a large role in stress reduction. Large to-do lists or even the “simple” tasks can seem insurmountable some days. When you can receive help in effectively planning and in organizing your tasks, you can minimize the complexity and unpredictability of daily life, creating a sense of consistency or even control. This, in turn, can help to reduce stress and anxiety, allowing you to feel equipped and motivated. With the help of these apps, you can experience a greater sense of accomplishment, ultimately promoting better mental well-being.

My Life Organized: This app helps organize and break down tasks into approachable projects and reasonably-sized actions. It can create a simple list of actions and update automatically. You can organize to-do lists and sync them across all devices.
myHomework: This app is a simple planner for students in school. It can sort classes as well as track due dates and assignment descriptions. Your student can rank the priority of the assignment and set reminders in the app. The app has the widget ability to pop up on your student’s iPhone or iPad home screen.
Medisafe: This app is a helpful tool for individuals who take medications and vitamins to manage their wellbeing. The biggest benefit of this app is its pill reminder and alarm so that you do not miss a dose. This can be especially helpful if you are juggling more than one medication at a time or if you have to take your medication at a specific time of day. Medisafe also has a drug-to-drug interaction checker, a family and friend support function, refill reminder, a logbook that you can share with your doctor, and an appointment manager and calendar.

All apps are available on both the Apple Store and Google Play. Please be mindful these apps are not meant to replace professional help. Here at Atlanta Wellness Collective, we want to help. For support, contact us or request an appointment online.

This blog post was written by Anna Worden.

Disclaimer: This blog is not intended to substitute professional therapeutic advice. Talk with your healthcare provider about your health concerns and before starting or stopping therapies. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct professional advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.

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