It will have been hard to notice that in recent years the development of mental health apps has grown enormously and now on the market are hundreds of readily available apps to support you with your mental health and wellbeing. A quick search easily finds apps for support with a wide variety of mental health and wellbeing problems and lots of exciting promises about how they can help. As such, we thought we would do a series of blogs on mental health apps exploring apps for different needs and today we begin by exploring whether mental health apps actually work.
Research into the efficacy and effectiveness of mental health apps has been steadily growing in recent years and a quick search in google scholar will certainly demonstrate this. Understandably research such as this is extremely important at a time when there is a high demand on mental health services and an increasing number of consumers looking to alternative ways to support their mental health; this is particularly true in the context of COVID-19 and the limited access to face to face services that people have been confronted with. Two examples of interesting research into the efficacy and effectiveness of apps are below.
In 2018, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences conducted an analysis of research into the efficacy of smart phone apps for the treatment of depression, anxiety and schizophrenia. They discovered that mental health apps helped users with sub clinical anxiety symptoms, diagnosed anxiety disorders and mild to moderate depression to experience a reduction in their symptoms and to improve their self-management of their symptoms. The review of mental health apps for schizophrenia also showed that it was an effective adjunct to standard treatment whereby user engagement was high, and users reported improved capacity for self-management of symptoms, although the results about clinical benefit for this population were more complicated and need to be researched further. Overall, they found that mental health apps are a great form of treatment because they’re easy to use and form good habits with, users can experience some benefit from even low amounts of effort, and they positively influence a person’s motivation to stay engaged.
Similarly, Vic Health in conjunction with Deakin University (2019) explored the effectiveness of mental health apps across two domains: 1) their functionality and whether the app is user friendly; and 2) whether the app affects user behaviour and helps the user to change their behaviour to achieve a healthier lifestyle. In their study they had users use a variety of apps and rate them on functionality and capacity to affect change, which was then used to provide each app with an average rating out of 5. The researchers reported that the highest score achieved by apps was 4 out of 5, many scored 3 out of 5 but a lot scored lower. The researchers reported that while many received high functionality scores many didn’t deliver on their promise to influence change, receiving lower change scores. The apps they reviewed, and their ratings can be found here: https://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/media-and-resources/vichealth-apps/healthy-living-apps
The general consensus from the research seems to be that apps are a promising treatment modality and with more research and development could become an affordable, easily accessed treatment for mental health and wellbeing difficulties. At the moment however, the research is telling us that apps, when used alone are most effective for people with only subclinical or mild difficulties. For individuals with moderate to severe difficulties, or more than one diagnoses, apps are better considered as a way to enhance the benefit of more traditional treatment methods such as individual or group therapy.
If you’re interested in experimenting with mental health apps for your wellbeing, consider choosing apps from larger and more reputable organisations like mental health institutions or universities because they are better positioned to test their app for effectiveness and to be up to date with current research. Also be wary of apps that make treatment promises or that provide you with a diagnosis; this kind of information is best when it comes from a treatment professional who has come to know you and your difficulties through an assessment. Also, explore several apps and so that you can find the ones that you find the most user friendly and that most effectively helps you to make changes in your behaviour. In short - experiment, have fun, play around and if your symptoms persist see a mental health specialist for more support.
Should you wish to see one of our practitioners at The Melbourne Wellbeing Group our administration team is here to help. Please feel free to give our administration team a call on 9882 8874 or visit our website at melbournewellbeinggroup.com.au.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5897664/#r1
https://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/media-and-resources/vichealth-apps
This blog was written and prepared by Dr Victoria Miller - Principal Psychologist here at MWG.