Mental health refers to a person’s condition regarding their psychological, social, and emotional well-being.
According to UNICEF’s 2021 report on the burden of mental health affecting Europe’s children, 20% of boys and 16% of girls aged 15 to 19 suffer from mental health disorders.
In Europe, suicide is the second most common cause of death among young people following road injuries. According to varying statistics reports, approximately 10-19% of adults worldwide suffer from mental health disorders.
Though we blame social media, the modern way of life, unhealthy habits, trauma, environmental factors, addictions such as drugs and alcohol, and genetics, we, as a society, still are not doing much to tackle mental health disorders.
Unfortunately, the numbers are sobering and hard to swallow. The good news is that there have been great advances in the mental health space with gaming and mobile applications. We couldn’t agree more with the always relevant 2009 TV ad Apple’s slogan “There’s an app for that.” Many games and mobile applications are designed to improve patient engagement, experience, and results. For example, Find a helpline, HelpGuide, and Safe in our world are platforms that list helplines offering peer or professional support to anyone facing immediate danger.
What mental health management mobile apps bring to the table for patients?
While analyzing the Google Play’s list of mental health management mobile apps, we identified the most common features. Apps targeting people with mental health disorders usually offer the following:
- Access to HCPs (healthcare professionals) via text and/or videochat
- Symptom checker
- Mood tracker with recommendations of activities to improve mood
- Journals and diaries designed to transform daily routine
- Counselling
- Mindfulness (meditation, breathing techniques and sleep optimization)
- AI chatbot
- Inspiration stories and articles
- Encrypted data storage and transfer
Data below are from the top 32 apps with the highest number of downloads, ratings and reviews.
5 most popular mental health mobile apps
We collected and analyzed data to understand the mental health management apps landscape. Below, we present the five most notable apps due to their features, the high number of downloads, and ratings (on Google Play Store):
- Finch: Self Care Widget Pet (Finch Care Public Benefit Corporation) [4.8/5; 1M+ downloads]
- Ada – Check your health (Ada Health GmbH) [4.7/5; 5M+ downloads]
- Daylio Journal – Mood Tracker (Habitics s.r.o.) [4.7/5; 10M+ downloads]
- MindDoc: Your Companion (MindDoc Health GmbH) [4.6/5; 1M+ downloads]
- Fabulous Daily Routine Planner (TheFabulous Inc.) [4.5/5; 10M+ downloads]
Reasons behind mental health management apps’ success or failure.
Many mental health management apps have an unappealing interface to the end user, as mobile app creators try too much to make the app look serious and trustworthy. A digital tool to improve a condition should not be a reminder of the set condition itself and should provide a safe degree of escapism.
The Finch app, for example, does a great job at applying a user-friendly and almost gamified interface, which almost transports end users and patients to another realm. This is an excellent start to achieving higher engagement.
Also, successful apps allow patients a certain level of autonomy to manage their disease. At the same time, they provide access to HCPs if required. Finally, they come with a well-designed interface and incorporate impactful features from symptom and mood trackers to access to counseling.
Mental health management mobile apps. Too good to be true?
It is clear that almost more than any other therapeutic area, professionals must closely monitor mental health disorders. Thus, mobile apps and digital tools are only part of the solution.
The shortfall of most apps in the space is the lack of access to a community where people can interact with each other. Many youngsters turn to TikTok or Discord’s VoIP (voice over internet protocol) and instant messaging platforms seeking help. However, there are no professionals there overseeing. A simple solution is to provide links to official Discord chat rooms through mobile apps supervised by professionals trained to intervene at the right moment.
Αlso, the rise of AI (artificial intelligence) in managing mental health disorders through chatbots and algorithms cannot replace human-to-human interaction. And this raises the issue: Is it ethical to replace the duties and responsibilities of people with chatbots?
Usually, the negative app reviews include but are not limited to the interface, the need to keep a journal, limited integration with other tools, and excessive redirection to paid features or services.
Here lies the opportunity with mental health management apps.
As most top-performing apps have limited links to pharma companies and integration within the healthcare systems, mental health management through digital platforms has not reached its full potential.
We anticipate mental health management as one of the first healthcare areas featured within a metaverse and virtual reality digital therapeutic setting. For this to happen, the infrastructure, ethical implications, and financial compliance will have to be in place.
We should look closely at integrating mental health apps with other therapeutic areas where patients require support. Devastating news or difficulty in managing disease due to life pressures may deteriorate mental health, creating a need for collaborative efforts among therapeutic areas.
Mental health apps and other digital tools should complement treatment in areas such as diabetes, oncology, immunological disorders, and other chronic conditions.
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