Best Apps for Anxiety: See Our Review Here

In addition to professional health care, smartphone apps can help you manage your anxiety. Here’s Belly Brain’s guide to the best of the best. 

smartphone apps that help with anxiety

Top 4 Apps that Can Help With Anxiety

While professional care is always best if you’re experiencing anxiety, there are also many tools available on the market that can help you manage it.

In this article, we review four smartphone apps below to provide you with some tools that can help you improve your mental well-being.

The Prevalence of Anxiety Disorders

When we talk about health, more often than not we’re referring to physical health. However, it’s important to remember that mental health plays an important role in our holistic well-being as well, and that neglecting your mental health may be detrimental to your quality of life on the whole. 

MindShift CBT

Best for Budget
mindshift cbt app anxiety
  • Designed to help you quickly obtain anxiety relief through CBT
  • Also offers short breathing & meditation guides and a journal feature
  • Completely free to use

Headspace

Best Overall for Mental Wellness
headspace app anxiety
  • Tackle your anxiety through meditation & mindfulness training
  • Includes meditation guides & sleep exercises
  • Both free & paid subscription plans available

Apps that Help with Anxiety

Given the prevalence of anxiety and anxiety disorders among American adults2, being familiar with some apps that help with anxiety can be useful if you ever experience an anxiety attack or know someone suffering from an anxiety disorder.

Here are four of the best apps that might be beneficial for a person suffering from anxiety:

1. Calm

Calm is a meditation app that specializes in helping users enjoy better sleep, reduced stress, and lower levels of anxiety through guided meditation. The app has won numerous awards, including the Apple BEST OF 2018 award, and has received over 1.5 million 5-star reviews.

When you first download the app, it will prompt you to select the goals that you want to achieve. One of the available options is reducing stress or anxiety, and selecting this option will reveal a curated selection of meditations, music, and masterclasses that you can easily view on your device to help you reach your goal. 

Cost

Calm is a subscription-based app that offers a 7-day free trial. After the trial, it costs $14.99 per month, although you can save some money by purchasing an annual subscription for $69.99.

2. MindShift CBT: Best for Budget 

MindShift CBT is an app catering specifically to sufferers of anxiety or anxiety disorders.

The app aims to help users relieve their anxiety through cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT. CBT involves making significant changes to your behavior and your thinking, and it can be one of the most effective methods of improving one’s mental health. 

The app also offers short breathing and meditation guides that can help you quickly obtain anxiety relief as and when you need it.

Additionally, MindShift CBT encourages users to journal their thoughts and record their progress, enabling you to track how your journey in tackling anxiety has been thus far. The resources that the app provides makes it one of the most comprehensive tools you can have in your arsenal for tackling anxiety disorders. 

Cost

The app is completely free to use and is funded through donations. If you find that you’ve benefited from the resources that the app provides, you can consider making a donation to help others enjoy the same benefits. 

3. Betterhelp: Best for Therapy 

BetterHelp is an online therapy and counseling app that you can use to get in touch with a licensed therapist.

The app has over 25,000 active, licensed therapists to whom you can communicate with on demand. If you find yourself having an anxiety attack or if you’ve been experiencing more anxiety in recent times, you can consider engaging a therapist on the app to help you manage your mental health.

To connect with a therapist, you’ll need to first provide some information about yourself and answer some questions. This enables the app’s algorithm to match you to a therapist based on your specific needs and preferences. You’re then able to choose your preferred method of communication. You can communicate with your therapist via text, over the phone, or even through a video call. 

Additionally, you can contact your therapist whenever you need to, making BetterHelp one of the easiest ways to access professional help. 

Cost

The cost for therapy on BetterHelp varies based on several factors such as the therapist you’re working with and your personal preferences. Generally, you can expect to pay between $60 to $90 per week for therapy on BetterHelp, charged every four weeks. 

While BetterHelp may be more expensive compared to some of the other options on this list, it’s worth noting that it is also one of the one apps that connects you directly to a licensed therapist. 

4. Headspace: Best for Overall Mental Wellness 

Headspace is an app that you can use to tackle anxiety through meditation and mindfulness training.

The app provides professionally curated meditation guides that can help you improve your mood and mental health. Headspace also offers sleep exercises that are designed to help you get better rest. Through these mindfulness practices, you can reduce stress and tackle your anxiety.

In addition, the app has a dedicated set of meditation exercises that are designed to help users reduce anxiety. Meditation has been scientifically proven to help individuals improve their ability regulate their emotions3, and Headspace can help you maximize the effectiveness of your meditation exercises. While meditation may not be able to provide you with immediate relief, using it consistently over a prolonged period can help you become better equipped to deal with anxiety and improve your overall mental well-being.

Cost

Headspace offers a limited selection of meditations and sleep exercises to its users for free, although a paid subscription is required to access the app’s full library.

Users can opt for either a monthly or an annual subscription. The monthly subscription costs $12.99 per month, whereas the annual subscription costs $34.99 per year. 

Sources

  1. https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/learn/index.htm
  2. https://www.nami.org/About-Mental-Illness/Mental-Health-Conditions/Anxiety-Disorders#:~:text=Over%2040%20million%20adults%20in,develop%20symptoms%20before%20age%2021.
  3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1361002/
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Julie Reynolds is a licensed professional counselor who has been helping children, adolescents and women with their mental health for over 15 years. She has done extensive work both in her private practice and in the schools helping women of all ages gain a strong understanding of the mind-body connection. She’s passionate about helping ladies lead their best life.

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