Mental health is an essential factor at every phase of life, from childhood to adulthood. With the growing generation, mental health illness is becoming a serious issue worldwide, where people are busy with their workload and neglecting their mental wellbeing.

Half of the people concerned with mental illness are reluctant to seek treatment for their mental health in fear of being stigmatised, or there might also be some financial explanations. Because of such circumstances, there have been new amended alternatives to take good care of your mental health and prevent adverse consequences. 

This article highlights 10 FREE mobile applications, which have been specifically designed to combat mental health issues.

1. Calm

Calm is a meditation app designed to help people sleep better and have a relaxation time. Calm takes care of his subscriber’s mental wellbeing and keep calm. Calm holds many features, such as a 10- minute Daily Calm Program is added to the list, and more than 30 peaceful and soothing sounds are accessible that help the individuals to lie down and relax before their bedtime to have a peaceful sleep. The music helps them to become mindful and focused on their daily activities. Calm is beginner-friendly as well as for advanced users. There is also Calm Masterclass, where a world-famous expert teaches you how to change your life better. There are over 100 adult bedtime stories that ensure a good sleep. The app was rated five stars, and it was awarded the best app of 2018. The app is free to download and use.  

2. Mood path

Mood path is specifically designed to support people who are struggling with their mental health. It helps people to manage and control their stress, anxiety and depression issues. The app gives you a series of questions every day, and by answering them, it will be able to assess your physical, emotional and mental wellbeing. The app goes through the people’s information and provides them with a weekly report of their wellbeing and progress. They can show this to professionals’ therapists and counsellors for better insight. The app allows the users to understand what triggers their mental health and understanding their mental illness. Mood path ensures that you learn how to release negative feelings and thoughts then devastating emotions. There are also a series of daily exercises available, such as stress management, mindfulness, and sleep improvement. 

3. Simple DBT Skills Diary Card

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy is an essential form of therapy to treat mental disorders. It heals excessive substance use and personality syndromes. The DBT Skills Diary Card app helps the subscribers to control their emotions and reactions during hard times. It allows you to stay alert and focus on yourself. It also has descriptive reminders about your feelings and behaviours. The DBT app can test your anxiety and depression level and any progression so far. This app also provides a report based on your weekly performance.  

4. Youper 

Youper is an Emotional Health Assistant app that helps to have a stabilised mental health. Youper is designed for talks on therapy and mindfulness to improves an individual’s emotional and mental health. The app has a journal, where the users can quickly fill in their feelings and emotions of the day, and reports are available at the end of the week to show yourself the progression you have made. There is also an inbox feature, where the users can have a convenient conversation for a better insight into their mental health. Youper uses cognitive behavioural therapy techniques to improve mindfulness and better meditation.  

5. Sober time 

Sober time is an app that is planned to make the users stay motivated and inspired in their life. This app offers more than ten different ways to display your progress with other individuals using this app. It enables the users to share and discuss their experiences and learn about others stories. The sober time app tracks down your setbacks and shows you what was wrong. It also has a fantastic feature which is saving; it helps you to save your money by planning your expenditure and not spend recklessly. The users can put their goal, and once the aim is achieved, they will be notified with inspirational messages to stay motivated and healthy mental health. 

6. Balance 

Balance is an app that is designed mainly for meditation that adapts to you. This apps helps the subscribers to have well-maintained mental wellbeing. Balance put forward a set of questions for the users daily and share their meditating experiences and challenges. There is an audio library that is available to soothe your mental illness. Balance gathers the data you have input, the time being spent on the app and provide you with a personalised meditation. This app gives you customised training on how to stay focus, keep away from distractions and find new deep relaxation techniques in moments of stress and anxiety. Animated breathing exercises are available for busy people; single bite-sized meditations are accessible, rapid and easy. There are professionals coaches present that guides you during a time of distress. The app asks you to set your goal, and once it is achieved, badges are gained as rewards to the next level. Lastly, because of the covid-19 situation, the app has decided to offer the year 2021 free to existing and new users. This app is rated 4.8 stars out of 5. 

7. Talkspace therapy  

Talkspace is an app meant to improve people’s mental health. This app asks questions about your feelings, emotions and behaviour and gets you matched with a licensed therapist in your country from the comfort of your phone itself. You can talk to a therapist either by messages, audio and calls or book live sessions to better vision. The daily exercises available help you build your mental health and set particular goals to get guidance throughout your progression. There is also clinical progress general that helps you understand yourself and invest in yourself better. 

8. Sanvello 

Sanvello is an app designed to make you feel better when you feel depressed, stressed or overwhelmed. It is a feel better toolkit that includes therapy, meditations, coaching, coping techniques, mood tracking and set your goals to improve your mental and emotional wellbeing. Sanvello has personalised programs and meditations for its users. The app checks on your emotions throughout the day and progressions over time. Sanvello community is where you can share your experience and learn from others in active discussion groups while being anonymous. This app is rated five stars out of 5. 

9. Happify 

Happify is an app based on activities and games to help you overcome anxiety, stress and life’s challenges. The app is developed by experts who have been treating mental disorders for decades. Fun activities are planned to reduce daily stress and feel happier. The app helps you to track your progress on a graph and compare your skills for better. The app offers more than 65 tracks to support your emotional and mental wellbeing. 

10. Headspace

Headspace is the guide to mindfulness in everyday life. Headspace is suitable for busy people as it offers daily 3 minute sessions that can fits easily in your busy schedules. This app helps you build resilience during challenging times by learning how to control your anger, cope with sadness, and adapt to change. Experts give training on home workouts, exercises and mindful fitness courses. There are over 100 guided meditations and programs that are available for a better-balanced day. This app is rated 4.7 stars out of 5.  

The above discussions emphasise ten free and easy mobile apps to help you have stable mental health and keep you away from mental illness. From this article, we can deduce that investing just a few minutes daily might help you with a healthier emotional and mental wellbeing leading to a better life.       

Narmeen Nasari, Student of Middlesex University (Mauritius) and YUVA Intern