5 FREE Apps To Help Anxiety | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Health and Wellness

5 FREE Apps To Help Anxiety

The best iPhone apps for mental health and wellness.

55
5 FREE Apps To Help Anxiety
Instaconsult.net

From connecting people around the world to extending the human lifespan, technology is rapidly changing our world in extraordinary ways. Often overlooked, however, is how technology can help individuals on their mental health journeys. There is actually quite a wide variety of websites and apps that are designed to improve health and wellness. I've compiled a short list of my favorite iPhone apps to deal with anxiety.

1. Pacifica

Pacifica Highlights:

--record and track mood

--set long term goals and daily challenges

--set target goals for daily activities

--guided and unguided meditations

Pacifica is a great app for tracking your mood and health habits. Its most prominent feature is its mood tracker which allows you to rate your mood, add feelings (anxious, overwhelmed, calm, etc.), and write about how you're feeling. For this reason, Pacifica could be especially helpful for people with anxious depression or other mood disorders in addition to anxiety. Pacifica also allows you to set goals for the amount of time or the number of times per day you do an activity. For example, I set my "sleep" target for seven hours and my "water" for six glasses. There are also several meditations and breathing exercises that can be downloaded. Unfortunately, most of the specialized meditations are only available to paying users who upgrade to Pacifica Premium.

2. SAM

SAM Highlights:

--anxiety tracker

--anxiety tools and toolkit

--resources for anxiety

SAM stands for Self-help Anxiety Management and is an app developed by the University of the West of England. I love its anxiety tracker because it allows you to rate and track specific symptoms of anxiety: "Feelings of anxiety and tension," "Worrying thoughts," "Unpleasant physical sensations," and "Avoiding things I fear." SAM comes packed with lots of activities and resources to help treat anxiety and allows you to save your favorites in "My anxiety toolkit." One of my favorite activities is called "Positivity practice" and works by helping you focus on your positive thoughts rather than negative ones.

3. GPS for the Soul

GPS for the Soul Highlights:

--breathing guides

--wellness articles

--create your own guides

GPS for the Soul is an app developed by the Huffington Post and their wellness section that goes by the same name. The app includes articles from this section as well as relaxation guides. The guides combine calming photos and phrases with a breathing marker to regulate your breath. It also allows you to create your own guide by uploading photos and writing sentences to go with them. I like using this app when I'm on the go in public and feeling stressed. The breathing guide especially allows me to relax and refocus.

4. Grid Diary

Grid Diary Highlights:

--easy-to-use grid format

--daily reminders

--customizable grids

Positive psychology has shown us that journaling and practicing gratitude help rewire the brain and lead to happiness. Unfortunately, for many of us, daily journaling is far too time-consuming to keep up in practice. The Grid Diary app provides a super easy, convenient, and non-intimidating way to reflect on the day without spending too much time or energy. I like to set a reminder for every night at 9:00 pm to complete my grid diary. The app lets you note the weather and your mood for the day then fill out however many grids you would like. The grids are completely customizable, and the app comes with lots of ideas for potential grids. I would recommend having at least one grid every day that has to do with gratitude or reflecting on a positive memory from that day.

5. Stop, Breathe & Think

Stop, Breathe & Think Highlights:

--guided meditations

--mental, physical and emotional health tracker

--track your progress

Stop, Breathe & Think is probably the best app I've ever downloaded. It provides dozens of guided meditations for all types of purposes. The app even recommends meditations based on how you feel mentally, physically and emotionally. It also rewards you with stickers as you meditate more and more. I've found that I enjoy this app a lot more than other similar meditation apps because the meditations require more thinking. While some of the meditations are more traditional, others are a lot like thought experiments mixed with breathing exercises. This app may appeal especially to people who aren't experienced meditators but who want to try it out for the mental health benefits.

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
Entertainment

Most Epic Aurora Borealis Photos: October 2024

As if May wasn't enough, a truly spectacular Northern Lights show lit up the sky on Oct. 10, 2024

2908
stunning aurora borealis display over a forest of trees and lake
StableDiffusion

From sea to shining sea, the United States was uniquely positioned for an incredible Aurora Borealis display on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, going into Friday, Oct. 11.

It was the second time this year after an historic geomagnetic storm in May 2024. Those Northern Lights were visible in Europe and North America, just like this latest rendition.

Keep Reading...Show less
 silhouette of a woman on the beach at sunrise
StableDiffusion

Content warning: This article contains descriptions of suicide/suicidal thoughts.

When you are feeling down, please know that there are many reasons to keep living.

Keep Reading...Show less
Relationships

Power of Love Letters

I don't think I say it enough...

449400
Illistrated image of a letter with 2 red hearts
StableDiffusion

To My Loving Boyfriend,

  • Thank you for all that you do for me
  • Thank you for working through disagreements with me
  • Thank you for always supporting me
  • I appreciate you more than words can express
  • You have helped me grow and become a better person
  • I can't wait to see where life takes us next
  • I promise to cherish every moment with you
  • Thank you for being my best friend and confidante
  • I love you and everything you do

To start off, here's something I don't say nearly enough: thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You do so much for me that I can't even put into words how much I appreciate everything you do - and have done - for me over the course of our relationship so far. While every couple has their fair share of tiffs and disagreements, thank you for getting through all of them with me and making us a better couple at the other end. With any argument, we don't just throw in the towel and say we're done, but we work towards a solution that puts us in a greater place each day. Thank you for always working with me and never giving up on us.

Keep Reading...Show less
Lifestyle

11 Signs You Grew Up In Hauppauge, NY

Because no one ever really leaves.

21626
Map of Hauppauge, New York
Google

Ah, yes, good old Hauppauge. We are that town in the dead center of Long Island that barely anyone knows how to pronounce unless they're from the town itself or live in a nearby area. Hauppauge is home to people of all kinds. We always have new families joining the community but honestly, the majority of the town is filled with people who never leave (high school alumni) and elders who have raised their kids here. Around the town, there are some just some landmarks and places that only the people of Hauppauge will ever understand the importance or even the annoyance of.

Keep Reading...Show less
Lifestyle

Moana's Top 10 Life Tips

"Moana" is filled with life lessons that involve far more than finding true love as many other Disney movies do.

44650
Animated image of a woman with long dark hair and tattoos
StableDiffusion

1. It's easy to be fooled by shiny things.

Digital image of shiny gemstones in cased in gold. shiny things StableDiffusion

Tamatoa created a liar filled with shiny things simply for the purpose of tricking fish to enter and become his food. He too experiences a lesson in how easy it is to be tricked by shiny things when Moana distracts him by covering herself in glowing algae so Maui can grab his hook.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments