Anxiety and depression can make you feel like you're out of control. Sometimes, it can completely ruin things you were once excited about. But, what if there was a way to help calm yourself just by using a simple app on your phone? Some of those most popular apps like Calm, Moment, and hundreds of others can help you have a tool to use to get a hold of your anxiety and depression.

There's An Abundance Of Good Apps Right Now For Anxiety & Depression

There really are hundreds of apps out there to help you with this. They all have a little bit different flavor and a different take on how to calm you down. Some are as simple as giving you simple daily motivation to others that help you work and focus your energy in the midst of the attack. Let's take a look at some of the most popular ones.

Moodpath: Depression & Anxiety – Free - Offers a mental health assessment that helps you explore professional treatment that will work for you.

TalkLife – Free – Community support for those with depression and anxiety.

Daylio Journal – Free - Understand your mood better with reminders to keep up with your journaling activity.

What’s Up? – Free - A diary and habit tracker that offers suggestions for techniques and activities to negate bad habits.

Sanvello: Anxiety & Depression – Free – An easy mindfulness app.

Happify – Free – Game based activities to help boost your mood.

CBT Tools for Healthy Living, Self-Help Mood Diary – Free – Cognitive Behavior Tool dairy to help you monitor your habits and thoughts.



Colorfy – Free – A coloring tool for focused meditation.

Dare — Break Free From Anxiety – Gives you audio recordings to help sit comfortably with anxiety.

Breathwrk – Free – A series of breathing exercises to reduce anxiety and help you sleep, relax, or calm.

How Apps Help You Get Back Control

The nice thing for most people about these apps is that they're right on your phone and can go anywhere with you. Many of them are fun and easy and take a humorous twist to the day-to-day needs of people with depression and anxiety.

The most significant benefit comes from your ability to have a focus, a tool for you to use and practice different techniques. Learning from those techniques can move the control from your phone to internally, meaning you are getting real control over your depression and anxiety.

Learning to self-control and self-mitigate yourself when under an anxiety attack or depression, can get you out of that state faster and better.   

The important point that's so important for you is to move the techniques from the app to internal self-regulation.

Imagine if you left your phone somewhere? If you're relying on the phone to help keep you calm, forgetting your phone can be catastrophic.

Additionally, apps do not last forever. You may get a new phone that eliminates your progress, the system might not be supported anymore, or it might disappear altogether. Relying on an external tool can help teach you the technique, but you should not rely on it in the long term.

How To Use The Apps To Help You Get Control of Your Anxiety and Depression

The first big thing is to find something that works for you. Not all apps work the same, and you will find one technique works better for you than others. You may have to explore several different apps before you find something that truly works for you.

Before you even start looking, you should plan ahead to know the best way to bring yourself out of an anxious or depressive state. Does motivation work? Does meditation work? How about soothing statements and focused attention? This will determine which type of app works best for you.

Next, start using it. Some of the apps report that nearly half of all downloads get used just a few times and then forgotten about. Many people who download the apps fail because people don't use them. If you find something that does work for you, be sure to use it often, so you really get the benefit.

Once you're used to using the app and consistently use it, figure out the lesson that it teaches. Is there a specific way of breathing or thinking that it pushes you into? Is it something you can replicate?

Once you know what it's teaching, start applying it to your everyday life. How can you use this technique without your phone? What can you do to bring the activity from the electronic world to the everyday world?

Apps are a fantastic way to get started in the realm of anxiety control. For people with mild depression, they can provide motivating statements and direction to help bring you out of that state. We recommend trying it because many can work for you if you learn how to apply it to your life as a beautiful technique rather than a crutch on your phone.