RUTH'S STORY
THE TOOLS IN YOUR POCKET
11.03.2019
By Lauren Burns
@laurenamyburns
With exam season fast approaching, it’s important to remember to take care of your mental health. One in three young women experience psychological distress in the run up to exams.
There are many different ways to help manage your stress, and right now people seem to be turning to mental health apps. To find out if they actually work, I tested the top 5 free apps according to psych.com. I used each for a week, testing whether or not your phone really can do anything.
WHAT'S UP?
USE FOR: DEPRESSION
What’s Up? uses cognitive behavioural therapy to help manage things such as stress, anxiety and depressive episodes. CBT is based on the concept that your thoughts, feelings and physical actions are interconnected, and looks at how your negative patterns can be managed by breaking them down.
On my first use, I was sceptical; there are some formatting issues and a few pretty obvious typos, but I pressed on.
I tested the diary entry system, tracking my positive and negative habits. I found I was picking up on things I hadn’t noticed before, like how I was smoking more and biting my nails. When I set goals to overcome them, the app would remind me to work on them.
I also turned to the self-help section if I was in a particularly bad place. My favourites were ‘get grounded’ which distracted me when I was feeling angry or lacked focus, and the ‘catastrophe scale’ that helped to put things into perspective. However, I wouldn’t recommend ‘taking your hand off the horn’ for managing your worries - not studying might not help your cause!
What’s Up? was useful, mostly because it was able to get me out of my head.
What's Up app logo
MINDSHIFT
USE FOR: ANXIETY
From the get-go, this app wasn’t what I had hoped it would be. I knew I would have to tailor the app to my preferences but I was confronted with instructions that turned out to be tons of small type all squeezed onto a 5.5-inch screen. It was definitely not user friendly.
It seemed to be taunting me, daring me to work through all the information without getting stressed. For an app that is supposed to help anxiety, it is the opposite of calming.
MindShift is designed to help you cope with worries. I really wanted to like this one as rather that trying to distract you from anxiety, the app helps you to make an important shift in your mind-set so you can face it. The information it provides caters for a wide variety of circumstances and the ‘riding out intense emotions’ active steps came in useful when I needed them. Unfortunately, I found it too medical-like to be a quality stress reliever.
Mindshift app logo
HAPPIFY
USE FOR: POSITIVITY
With national happiness day right around the corner, I felt that this was a suitable one to test.
Happify is a mood-adjuster tool. When you first sign up it asks questions to establish what you can get out of using the app. It lets you choose between private and community mode– which is great- and suggests a tailored track to follow.
It mainly helps you to stop overthinking all the small things and do something instead, such as playing games like the ‘power of positive’ (even if it is a little odd). The happy news segment works too, giving you positive affirmation when everything might feel quite dull.
When 85 per cent of what we stress about never actually comes to fruition, it’s good to occasionally distract yourself and look at the brighter side.
I loved the personality assessment too. It’s a nice change to take a comprehensive test that gives you only positive feedback, picking you up when you might feel that your strengths are lacking.
I don’t like using the iOS 6 keyboard - flashback to 2012 - but I got over it. The Happify app really was a pick-me-up on the days that I needed it.
Happify app logo
nOCD
USE FOR: OCD AND COMPULSIVE BEHAVIOUR
My opinion on nOCD is conflicted as it isn’t suitable for all anxiety subtypes. nOCD is built on the understanding of obsessions and compulsions, but it doesn’t help with intrusive thoughts.
The app uses exposure therapy. You identify your ‘hierarchies’ - these being the different obsessions you may have. You then select your ‘exposures’ - the compulsions your obsessions cause.
Based on your exposures and hierarchies, nOCD sets out a plan. It tells you to face your triggers for a certain amount of minutes each day. Somehow, I don’t think washing your hands for 10, then 14, then 20 minutes a day will help.
I’m sure this technique works for some people, but in not addressing the destructive thoughts, like the thought that if you don’t perform a weird ritual there will be serious consequences, doesn’t help the route of the problem.
There is something good to be said in the SOS section if you’re experiencing extreme anxiety, and the fact you can put a lock on the app.
I’d like to say that I tried it for the whole week, but after three days I was done. This one isn’t for everyone.
nOCD app logo
HEADSPACE
USE FOR: MEDITATION
I thought I’d save the best for last- each day of my final week using the Headspace app made me feel more balanced and content.
Headspace provides guided meditation sessions on a range of things such as self-esteem, restful sleep, coping with cravings, and even pain management. In light of upcoming exams, I chose to focus on managing stress with a plan that was tailored to my use. I opted to meditate every morning after breakfast, and occasionally used sessions to prompt better sleep when I was finding that I was obsessing over deadlines.
If you’re a student, you can get a discounted Spotify Premium package that grants you unlimited access to Headspace. If not, the app offers a large amount of free content anyway.
I felt that Headspace connects to you; by taking a much needed moment to step back, my thoughts were clearer. Initially, I struggled with meditation. I found that my mind would wander, thinking about how I have clothes to wash, emails to respond to, deadlines to meet, but the app grounds and calms you.
When you’re so overwhelmed with life’s noise, the quiet moments are blissful.
Headspace app logo