These apps aren’t designed to diagnose a condition or substitute care for a mental health professional, but are there to support your overall mental health and your journey to improve it — making a beneficial impact in your quality of life in the process.
There are a number of mental health apps in the market that focus on a variety of different psychological topics, including therapy, meditation, anxiety, addiction, depression and even suicide. But how do they help these mental health issues and, do they even work?
Do mental health apps work?
The short answer. Yes.
Joseph Firth, Ph.D., an Australian investigator with Western Sydney University, and his associates, analysed 18 randomised controlled trials and 22 mobile mental health apps and found overall, the apps significantly reduced depressive symptoms with a moderate positive effect size when compared to inactive control participants.
Some apps have even seen results when using a ‘woebot’. This uses natural language processing to create a conversational “counsellor” that makes users comfortable revealing some of their most personal thoughts — even those who are too embarrassed talking to a real person.
How do mental health apps work and how can they help you?
Ultimately, it depends on what the app is designed to do. A therapy app can help you deal with a wide range of mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD, while a more specific mindfulness meditation app can help manage stress levels by teaching and guiding you through breathing techniques.
However, along with helpful tips and tricks, numerous mental health apps make the process of goal setting and tracking simple, allowing the user to better improve their mood over time.
1) Setting your goals
According to the global experts in goal-setting theory, Edward Locke and Gary Latham, goals not only affect behaviour, but they also help mobilise energy which leads to a higher effort overall. This increase in effort subsequently leads to an uptick in persistent effort.
In one of their studies, they also discovered that over 90% of the time, goals that were specific and challenging, but not overly challenging, led to higher performance when compared to easy goals or goals that were too generic such as a goal to ‘do your best’.
Mental health applications make the five key elements of goal-setting principles easy. These are:
Clarity — Apps help to set goals that are clear and specific and eliminate the confusion that occurs when a goal is set in a more generic manner.
Challenge — Apps give you a higher chance that you’ll accomplish more. Each success you achieve helps you build a winning mindset.
Commitment — By being easily accessible and simple to use, apps help commit you to your goal, which makes more likely you will achieve it.
Feedback — Apps help you know what you are doing right and how you are doing. This allows you to adjust your expectations and your plan of action going forward.
Task Complexity — It’s important to set a goal that is aligned with the goal’s complexity. Apps keep this usually confusing aspect of goal-setting simple.
2) Tracking your progress
Mental health applications give you the opportunity to quickly and easily collate your progress, allowing you to see tangible progress with your mental health goal. Sometimes, especially if the app has exercise or sleep-based goals built-in, your phone or smartwatch will input this data in real-time, so you don’t have to document it yourself.
This easy tracking makes achieving your goal easier by:
- Discovering whether your approach is working — Being able to see your progress in real-time can allow you to understand whether your resources are being spent effectively — or if you’re better off trying something else.
- Allowing you to catch negative outcomes quickly — If you realise your mood has been negatively impacted as a result of a change you’ve made, with an app, you’ll have the ability to see it more clearly, rather than second-guessing your emotions.
- Allowing you to know when your goal is complete — To reach a goal, you need to understand what success looks like. Whether it’s the number of runs in a week, or reaching a specific ‘mental health score’, you’ll know exactly when you hit your goal.
The Converge App
If your employer has registered for our app, you will have access to Converge’s comprehensive health metric tracking, combined with personalised insights and advice. The app focuses on goal setting and features ways to stay on track as you incorporate new physical and mental fitness activities and form new habits.
It has been designed to support you in developing your fitness and overall wellbeing by encouraging the creation of new habits that will serve you well and build wellbeing over time.
Other helpful mental health apps
Depending on what you want to focus on, whether that be your overall wellbeing or on a specific mental health issue, it’s best to do your own research in order to find the app that works most effectively in your unique situation. However, here are a few to help get you started:
MoodKit — Designed by two clinical psychologists, this offers over 200 activities designed to boost your mood and help change negative thinking.
Talkspace — Although an expensive option, it gives you direct access to a mental health professional.
Headspace — Headspace is a meditation app designed to help you live more mindfully. The app offers a wide range of meditations for beginners and experienced users that range from 3 to 20 minutes.
BeyondNow suicide safety plan — This app helps you to create a safe plan to cope when you’re feeling unsafe or suicidal.
Calm — An app that can not only improve sleep quality, but reduce stress or anxiety, improve focus and aid overall self-improvement.
There may be significant research support for mental health apps, but it’s important to bear in mind that a mobile app can never replace the therapeutic relationship that develops between a mental health professional and their patients.
While standalone apps may benefit the casual user looking to improve their mental health, if you feel like you need professional help a counsellor will still be far more effective in alleviating your distress. If you feel like this is you, don’t hesitate to talk to our team on 1300 687 327.
