Mental Health Apps
T2 Mood Tracker
Click image for app site
Originally developed as a tool for service members to easily record and review behavior changes particularly after combat deployments, it has now become very popular with many civilian users around the world.
Highlights:- Designed to monitor and track emotional health
- Records a range of emotions for anxiety, depression, head injury, stress, posttraumatic stress and general well-being
- Users can create items to track
- Results can be shared with healthcare practitioners via e-mail
Department of Defense and National Center for Telehealth and Technology. The National Center for Telehealth and Technology is a center with the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury. Located on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, it is the primary office of responsibility in the Defense Department for integrating technology with psychological health and traumatic brain injury care.
Breathe2Relax
Click image for app site
Developed to teach diaphragmatic breathing sometimes called "belly breathing". Users can learn and practice this skill independently or as part of a stress management program supervised by a healthcare practitioner. Provides detailed information about the effects of stress on the body.
- Hands-on diaphragmatic breathing exercise
- Portable stress management tool
- Touch-screen technology
- Record stress level using a visual analogue scale
CBT Apps
Click image for app site
CBT applications, for iPhone and iPod Touch, designed by an experienced CBT therapist to create easy access skills sheets and diaries to complement therapy. Information is communicated via graphs and records for patients and healthcare providers. See individual apps below.
Designed to record thoughts and beliefs leading to emotional and psychological distress. This helps identify negative, automatic or dysfunctional thoughts. Identifying these patterns provides an opportunity to challenge and change these thoughts thereby reducing psychological distress.
Designed to rate levels of mood and/or anxiety at regular intervals in hopes of recognizing factors impacting mood and/or anxiety. Designed to track these together allowing the user to see if there is an interaction between mood and anxiety. However, the app also allows users to track either mood or anxiety individually.
Designed with two main components: Activity Monitoring: recording daily activities in a diary format; and Activity Scheduling: increasing contact with positive reinforcement in the environment and increasing a sense of achievement and enjoyment.
Optimism
Click image for app site
Optimism is a mood-charting app that helps develop strategies for managing depression, bipolar disorder or other mental health conditions.
Highlights:- Develop and monitor health strategies
- Learn the “triggers” of a decline in your mental health and recognize the early warning signs
- Detailed charts and reports that can be shared via email
- Compatible with iPhone and iPad.
