5 Apps That Can Help in the Fight Against Depression

Depression can make you withdraw from people, a feeling of sadness, loss or anger that interfere with a person’s everyday activities. The American Psychiatric Association defines it as a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act.

Often times, they are either embarrassed to talk about it or they don’t even know they are going through depression until it hits harder. Depression affects an estimated one in 15 adults (6.7%) in any given year. Depression can strike at any time, but on average, first appears during the late teens to mid-20s, one in six people (16.6%) will experience depression at some time in their life.

While many argue that Technology has a lot to answer for as social platforms that connect us often create isolation, systems that make us more productive making us work longer hours and a whole lot of depressogenic technological achievements; it can also play a huge role in managing and preventing depression. As technology weaves itself into the fabric of our lives; health care, workplace, medicine, religion, communication among others—from digital tools to foster productivity, to social media platforms that helps in connectivity and interaction, to apps that either help us be on top of our ‘game’ or help us improve our way of living—there are various tools that can help fight depression at its early stage or help people get the necessary help they need.

New technological innovations are helping people connect with a therapist, get diagnosed, track moods, manage or mitigate symptoms, and stick to treatments. “There is an app for that” is becoming a reoccurring slogan in the complex world world of mental health care.  Although these apps may not be able to replace the physical human professional care people living with depression need, but they are made to be an additional source of support that provides tools that help manage mental and psychological disorders. According to a 2015 report by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics, there are more than 165,000 health-related apps worldwide, helping users track their diet and exercise, monitor their moods and even manage chronic diseases and nearly 30 percent of these apps are dedicated to mental health.

Below are a few depression apps to help with self-care:

DAYLIO

Daylio is more like a dairy app that enable the users to keep track of their mood without actually writing down those feelings. This app is an efficient way of planning the day, learning and understanding one’s habits and tracking activities. It offers videos and icons that correspond with a person’s mood, that way users can track their feeling ebb and flow. Daylio also has journaling tools for jotting down notes. Good thing about daylio is that anyone can use it, whether you are suffering from depression or not; it simply helps you to plan a better and cheerful productive day.

 

TALKLIFE

Talklife is an online community where people give or seek support. Talk has an anonymity policy—which allows people post anonymously— to give users freedom to openly participate. The app also allows users to chat back and forth with other users, make new friends and be a part of a community with people with similar problems. We all know that life is full of ups and downs; life can be choking, suffocating and all, so talklife is here for you if you want to talk about it. This app is a place where one can connect and talk about anything including depression; no judging, no criticism.

MONARCA

This is a self- assessment app that is designed to help patients with bipolar disorder assess their mood, sleep pattern, activity, stress level, medication adherence etc. It also allow userS have an overview of their past and present responses to those self-assessments, enter triggers and early warning signs and share those data/findings with clinicians. The monarca app also sends daily reminders of self-assessments to users, tracks passive data from users’ phone, sends users suggestions base on their responses and triggers which enable patients  complete self-assessment on universal warnings, tailored warning signs, alcohol consumption, stress and also add notes about the day.

7 Cups

If you are feeling lonely, sad, stressed, or worried, 7 Cups could be the perfect app for you. It provides online therapy and emotional support for anxiety and depression. There are more than 160,000 trained listeners and licensed therapists who are available to anonymously speak with 24/7. Speak your mind and confide in listeners without the fear of being judged.

 

Happify

 Happify is a space to overcome negative thoughts and stress and build resilience. Available on android and iPhone, it helps you regain control of your thoughts and feelings whether you are feeling stressed, anxious, or sad.

 

These apps can help to enhance mindfulness and cognitive behavioral improvement strategies. It either helps to learn more about moods or get you connected to others for support. According to researchers, combined with the traditional psychotherapy and pharmaceuticals, these apps could be standard protocol in an integrative approach to battling depression and other related disorders as most of them are showing promises.

Depression is treatable, get help when you feel you need one…as a community, we should also learn to be supportive and not stigmatize.

P.S: you can check those apps on playstore.