5 Apps For Anxiety
Anxious? You aren’t alone. The truth is almost everyone has experienced anxiety. Here are five apps to help you manage and work with the messages your anxiety is trying to tell you.
It is interesting to think about what anxiety actually is, why we tend to hide ours, and how virtually everybody has anxiety to some degree (yes, even meditation teachers.)
In her wonderful book The Wisdom of Anxiety, author Sheryl Paul writes:
“One of the strange and fascinating elements about anxiety is that it’s not actually a feeling. We feel the manifestations of anxiety in our bodies and minds through physical symptoms and intrusive thoughts, but anxiety itself isn’t a real feeling, but instead a placeholder for the vulnerable feelings that we’re too scared to feel.”
You are not alone in experiencing anxiety, and some really helpful apps have been created that may help you manage yours.
Here they are in no particular order.
Best Apps for Anxiety
Free; offers in-app purchases
This women-led app helps you work on finding relief for anxiety and panic attacks. It has really neat features including lessons to teach you about your body and why anxiety may be happening, a tool to practice daily deep breathing, guided body scans and visualizations, and an emergency contact person where you can immediately call a loved one or nearby help center. (Download for Apple here, and Android here.)
2. Unwind Your Anxiety
Free; offers in-app purchases
This is a step-by-step program developed by Dr. Jud Brewer, a neuroscientist, addiction psychiatrist and meditation researcher. The program is delivered via smartphone or tablet and includes lessons to teach you about your brain, community support, mindfulness techniques to stop panic attacks and calm the mind, daily check-ins and journaling. (Download for Apple here, and Android here.)
3. Shine
Free; offers in-app purchases
This company is the #1 self-care app created by women of color and their team is 80% BIPOC, too! You can log your mood and get specific advice on how to work with your feelings, get inclusive meditations from their “Compassion Coaches” for such topics as navigating anxiety or building confidence, see suggested takeaways or actions for users, connect with a diverse digital community, and receive daily self-care advice. (Download for Apple here, and Android here.)
4. Moodfit
Free; offers in-app purchases
This app helps you track your moods to help you better understand what types of things, such as sleep and exercise, influence your mood. It also seeks to provide different tools for you such as mindfulness meditation, breathing exercises, a gratitude journal, and CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) thought records to help you dispute distorted thoughts. (Download for Apple here, and Android here.)
5. Sanvello
Free; offers in-app purchases
The Sanvello app offers “Guided Journey” master classes that teach skills such as meditation and journaling through video and audio. It also has tools for you to calm your mind, has a way to record daily mood tracking, offers assessments to track your progress, and provides a community available via group conversations to add support. Sanvello also can connects you with a licensed therapist for a live therapy session over the phone. (Download for Apple here, and Android here.)
What are some apps or practices you like to use for anxiety? If you feel comfortable sharing we’d love to hear from you in the comments of our latest Instagram post.
Take care!
oxo,
Katrina
〰️ Related blog posts 〰️
