Are Mental Health Apps Helpful For Anxiety?
There has been an immense level of excitement in the Regan household over the last 48 hours, with levels not far off those experienced at Christmas. And it’s all been because my daughter saved up and ordered herself a fitbit. From the moment the online order was placed she has was asking when it would arrive and whether it would come while she was at school the next day or whether it would be the evening. I reckon we were getting a dozen mentions, questions and references about it every hour!
The following evening, when it hadn’t arrived by the evening, she could be seen going and standing by the door to look out for the delivery driver, and then things moved into the realm of questioning whether the order had actually gone through ok. Perhaps it had been lost? Maybe the company had delivered it to the wrong house? Would it arrive? Would it ever arrive?!!!! (By this point I think we were all just hoping it would arrive soon!).
The no sooner had it been delivered than she was sprinting down the stairs to unbox it and get started (those running steps obviously wasted because they weren’t counted by the fitbit).
And the excitement didn’t stop because no sooner was she awake than she was wanting to look at the app to find out how she had slept (no more relying on guesswork about sleep from now on!). And then the joy of updates every ten minutes on the number of steps she had taken. I say every ten minutes but it seemed like a lot more!
Now I don’t mind all this excitement about walking and moving because it can only have a healthy goal of having her being more active. That can only be a good thing in the age of screen after screen.
And I think this is an example of technology and an app that serves people well if they want to improve their health and wellbeing.
But what about the ever growing multitude of mental health apps? Are they good for anxiety and other mental health issues?
A recently published study took a look at mental health apps to identify how they frame mental health, including who has problems and how they should be managed.