Anxiety disorders are extremely common. Many people continue to struggle with overwhelming anxiety. Yet anxiety symptoms are very treatable.
With the creation of the smartphone and interactive apps, we now have more resources at our fingertips than we ever have before. Although these resources are not a replacement for therapy, these are great resources that can be used between sessions or if therapy is not an option for you right now.
I focused on apps that are available for Android and iPhone and are free to use. Here is a list of 5 apps that you can try to decrease your anxiety symptoms this year.
Smartphone Apps for Anxiety Symptoms
Smiling Mind: This app focuses on mindfulness. However, unlike many apps out there, it is completely free. If you struggle with anxiety, you know that it can be very difficult to get out of your head. To decrease your anxiety symptoms, you need to be able to get into your body and be present in the moment. Mindfulness exercises can help with that. However, the process of learning to meditate is a skill. So, this app features hundreds of different meditations that start at 5 mins in length up to a few that last 45 minutes. Most meditations range in time from 5 to 15 mins. You can also tailor your needs with programs specific to sleep, relationships or work.
Self-Help for Anxiety Management (SAM): This app, which is usually referred to as SAM. It was developed by a team at the University of the West of England. This is a great app to try if you are looking for suggestions to replace or supplement meditation activities. This app is recommended for anyone 10 years or older and is very user friendly. SAM allows you to monitor and track your symptoms and build your own anxiety toolkit. It does a great job of walking you through 25 different self-help symptom reduction techniques
Sleep Time: Sleep is integral to the body to process information, while improving mood and regulating emotions throughout the day. Do you struggle with sleep at night either because of excessive worry or because things just keep going around and around in your head? This app allows you to track the amount and quality of your sleep to help you wake and feel rested. It also includes soothing sleep sounds, white noise, an alarm clock and an algorithm to wake you up during the lightest level of your sleep cycle.
Breathe2Relax: When working with a client, especially for anxiety, I often talk about how important relaxed breathing is to regulate the body. However, since we all need to breath to live, this can be confusing. There is a difference between involuntary breathing we do all day and focused, purposeful breathing that help us stay calm. Breathe2Relax teaches diaphragmatic breathing. This is a great tool when trying to return the body to a relaxed body state.
Calm: I included this app last because it is a great app, but it is not completely free. Calm includes guided meditations, nature sounds and sleep stores to lull you to sleep. It also includes a free trial to try out the premium features. However, some of the content is completely free. This app has been downloaded more than 1,000,000 times and offers lots of features that could be worth checking out.
Are you interested in Anxiety Treatment?
I hope you find some of these apps helpful in managing your distress. If you would like additional information on anxiety treatment, call or contact me for a free consultation or to schedule an appointment.
To find out more about my services, click here: Anxiety Treatment