How to develop a feature-rich mental health solution
The first app-based mental health solutions were designed for people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and those with mental and behavioral disorders. Today, apps are also designed for healthy users who simply want to stay mentally fit. As long as these apps meet the felt needs of their target audience, they can be successful.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the market demands mental health apps. Check out the statistics below to see why there are over 250 of these apps in the major app stores.
You may say that it’s more reliable to find the right therapist. However, it takes time to find a professional therapist. And once you do find one, covering the cost can take a significant part of your budget. Other reasons for the rise of mental health apps are inadequate insurance and a lack of available treatment options (like individual therapy). An app for emotional health, if well-designed and properly used, can prevent mental health issues and mitigate their negative effects.
In this article, we discuss medical mobile applications for dealing with issues of mental health. You can check out the list of mental health app features we think would work great for these applications and look through a list of solutions already available on the market. And finally, you’ll learn the ins and outs of how to develop a mental health app that will be useful for patients and beneficial for your business.
Six types of mental health solutions
- General mental health apps help users be aware of their emotional health. This is accomplished with a set of features that help users maintain good habits, break bad habits, and control their mood — along with exercises for relaxation and positive quotes.
- Education and assessment apps are designed to provide information on mental health disorders. For the most part, they share materials commonly used by mental health practitioners to identify mental health disorders.
- Mental disorder apps are designed specifically for people with depression, schizophrenia, or anxiety. If correctly developed, they offer programs that resemble traditional forms of treatment, using techniques like mood monitoring, cognitive behavioral therapy, and cognitive skills training.
- Self-improvement apps help users understand and improve their mental health. They also work for users who are mentally fit and want to stay that way. The majority of self-improvement apps offer breathing techniques, meditation, and audio relaxation.
- Treatment adherence apps support patients that can manage their conditions on their own. These apps offer reminders about taking medications and allow users to journal their feelings in order to recognize and prevent crises.
- Peer connection apps connect users to those who share the same mental health diagnoses for communication and support.
Mental health mobile apps have an advantage over traditional forms of mental health treatment since they guide users without making them leave their comfort zone. These innovative mental health solutions are the choice of users who don’t want to face anyone initially but prefer to slowly begin to heal through an app’s guidance.
Features to include in a great mental health app
There are no secrets to managing mental health. The advice is all the same: eat well, sleep well, exercise, stick to a routine, and try to analyze your thoughts. Since you are seriously considering launching a mental health startup, here are some features you should include in your app to help users manage their mental health.
Calendars and checklists
A calendar and a checklist can help users keep their lives in order. As a bonus, you can add a reward system for completing tasks. This way, users will feel motivated to do a little more the next day, and even more the day after, keeping up their progress and continuing to improve.
Sleep trackers
A sleep tracker or a sleep analysis feature can help those working on their sleeping habits. Designed for manual input or synced with a sleep-analyzing device, these features provide users with insights about their sleep patterns and help them maintain stability and productivity throughout the day.
Trigger checkers
A feature for marking down triggering situations can help users analyze them and devise a set of appropriate responses. Users can then discuss these situations with a therapist and figure out the best ways of dealing with them.
Reminders
Some people have to take medicine at specific times throughout the day. A set of reminders with alerts can help them stay on top of that.
Relaxation techniques
Mindfulness is a great way to improve everyday life. Breathing techniques, guided and unguided meditation, prayers, and positive affirmations are just a few of the features you might incorporate into your app.
Like-minded communities
Dealing with something is easier when there are others around you who are also dealing with it. Incorporate a community feature into your application — offer text or video chats, let people share progress and set goals, and so on. This can help users know they’re not alone and can pull them through hard times.
Journals
Journaling helps people sort out their thoughts and understand what’s going on inside. As not everyone is comfortable physically writing down their thoughts and feelings, a journaling feature in your app could be a portable and secure solution.
Sharing data
A mental health mobile app can allow users to share their moods on social media, directly with family members, or with healthcare providers. It can also allow users to export data or send it by email in different formats.
Matching users and therapists
After gathering a user’s medical data through a set of questions, a mental health app can use an algorithm to recommend suitable therapists.
A mental health app with all the features listed above can be lightweight and easy to use.
Mental health mobile app data security
If a mobile app is insecure, users’ mental health data is at risk of being exposed. HIPAA, the GDPR, PIPEDA, and other laws and standards exist to prevent this and ensure that user data is secure.
Not all mental health mobile apps must comply with regulations, however.
- Apps that don’t contain any personal or medical data and are tailored for personal use don’t fall under these regulations.
- Apps that collect medical data along with payment details and allow for sharing records do fall under these regulations.
For an app to comply with HIPAA, the GDPR, and PIPEDA, stored and shared data must be encrypted at all stages. Plus, secure login to personal accounts must be ensured with facial recognition, fingerprint scans, voice scans, or other biometric authentication techniques.
An app can collect and process personal data even if that data is not shared with physicians or on social media:
- An app may collect real-time location information to inform users about mental health practitioners working nearby.
- An app can use information on a user’s location to deliver targeted ads.
- An app can use personal information to build an individual consumer profile.
In these cases, the application is subject to regulations like HIPAA, the GDPR, and PIPEDA. App providers should be transparent about how their mobile applications collect, share, and use data. Also, they must ensure that collected data isn’t misused.
Examples of the best mental health apps
Depending on their severity, mental disorders require professional psychological or psychiatric assistance. Mental health technology companies build feature-rich apps that can be helpful in addition to an existing line of treatment, but these apps cannot and should not be used as a substitute for professional help.
Coping with bipolar disorder
Source: iMoodJournal
iMoodJournal
Price: $2.99
iMoodJournal is a personal journal that lets users record their moods, symptoms, sleep patterns, activity levels, and medication intake. This lets people follow their behavior patterns on summary charts, see what might have caused any distress, and work to resolve such situations in the future.
eMoods
Price: Free with in-app purchases
eMoods is a mobile charting journal that allows a user to log in, graph and report symptoms related to mood disorders, and manage Bipolar I and II disorders. With eMoods, users can easily chart daily medications and track sleep, mood, and mental health-related symptoms. The app can also help users notice triggers and learn how to control them.
Tackling obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
Source: NOCD: Effective care for OCD
nOCD
Price: Free
The nOCD mobile application helps mitigate the negative effects of obsessive-compulsive disorder by combining two approaches: mindfulness and exposure and response prevention (ERP). Patients can quickly receive clinically-supported guidance, take weekly tests to assess changes in their disorder, and receive motivational support from the app.
Worry Watch
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Worry Watch helps users figure out their anxiety triggers, mark mood trends, reflect on episodes from the past, and incorporate this information into their professional treatment. Worry Watch serves as a personal diary, providing a place to track and analyze moods and worries.
Addressing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Why do people suffer from PTSD? Among the main causes are domestic violence, childhood neglect, bullying, the death of a loved one, burglary and robbery, etc. Applications for PTSD can help with such stressful situations and are useful tools for re-building social networks, boosting mood, managing relationship problems, and more.
Source: PTSD Coach
PTSD Coach
Price: Free
PTSD Coach was created by the VA’s National Center for PTSD. The application offers PTSD self-assessment, positive self-talk, anger management, and support. Users can customize tools based on their preferences and integrate their contacts, photos, and music playlists to create a safe and stable environment for when they might need one.
Breathe2Relax
Price: Free
Breathe2Relax is an application developed by the US National Center for Telehealth and Technology. It works for people suffering from PTSD by helping them breathe and reminding them that they’re okay. It’s a great immediate solution in response to a sudden PTSD episode.
Managing schizophrenia
Schizophrenia HealthStorylines
Price: Free
This mental health mobile app was developed in partnership with the Schizophrenia and Related Disorders Alliance of America. Using this mobile application, users can easily track moods and symptoms, receive pill reminders, import data from other health apps, and connect with support groups.
Combating eating disorders
Source: RR: Eating Disorder Management
Recovery Record
Price: Free
Recovery Record helps people recover from eating disorders and perceive their bodies in a more positive way. The app lets users keep records of what they eat and answer questions to assess their mood and track their recovery over time.
Lifesum
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Lifesum is an application for establishing and following a healthy lifestyle regimen. Users can set goals to eat healthier, exercise more, walk more, and so on. It can be life-changing for those with a distorted self-image, showing them that there are more ways of being healthy and beautiful than they might think.
Overcoming addictions
Source: Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Price: $5.99
Twenty-Four Hours a Day is based on a book by Richard Walker. It offers 366 meditations from the book to help people take their minds off addictions and shift to a more constructive mindset.
QuitNow!
Price: Free with in-app purchases
QuitNow! is an iOS application for people who try to quit smoking. Users can track how long they’ve managed to stay away from smoking, how much money they've saved, and how many cigarettes they've avoided. QuitNow also establishes 70 goals based on the cigarettes users have avoided, the days since their last cigarette, and the money saved. So, people will start celebrating achievements from day one. In addition, there's a list of health indicators to explain how a person's body improves day by day, and a community for ex-smokers.
AA Speakers
Price: $3.99
AA Speakers is a mobile application that allows users to listen to addiction recovery speakers, workshops, and audiobooks. It includes more than 300 different speakers, an audio recording of The Big Book, The Joe and Charlie Big Book Study, and The 12 Steps and 12 Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Tackling depression
Source: Talkspace Online Therapy
Talkspace
Price: Free
Talkspace is a mobile application that makes therapy portable and affordable. For $49 per week, users can discuss their issues with a licensed therapist as often as they need. There’s also an option for couples therapy for the same price.
Happify
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Happify is a mood training application that helps users achieve a better state of mind. With different games, activities, and prompts, users can train themselves to overcome the darkness in their minds and cultivate a more positive view on life.
MoodTools
Price: Free with in-app purchases
MoodTools helps people recover from clinical depression. Users can take a depression assessment test, track their recovery over time, write down thoughts and feelings, and create a suicide prevention plan.
What's Up? A Mental Health App
Price: Free with in-app purchases
What’s Up mental health app helps people cope with depression, stress, and anxiety by implementing cognitive behavioral therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy methods. The app includes a positive and negative habits tracker that identifies what helps users recover and what is counterproductive. What’s Up offers different activities to pull users out of negative thinking patterns and help them think about the good parts of life.
MoodKit
Price: $4.99
MoodKit offers more than 200 activities that implement cognitive behavioral therapy to improve the user’s mood. It teaches people to change the way they think, develop self-awareness, and cultivate healthier attitudes toward life. Users can also reflect on their day by journaling, noting their thoughts, and documenting how they’ve overcome the day’s obstacles.
Relieving stress & anxiety
Source: MindShift CBT - Anxiety Canada
MindShift
Price: Free
MindShift was developed specifically for teenagers and young adults suffering from stress and anxiety. It helps users change the way they see anxiety, shifting their minds to a calmer, better place. It encourages people to take charge of their lives, face challenges upfront, and turn away from the intensity of their negative feelings.
Clarity - CBT Thought Diary
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Clarity lets users document their thoughts and negative emotions, evaluate them, identify the negative aspects, and see the world in a better light. This application helps people change their approach to anxiety gradually and work to improve their thinking for the future.
7 Cups
Price: Free with in-app purchases
7 Cups is an online chat where users can talk to trained active listeners, tell them about whatever is bothering them, and not be alone when trying to understand the complexities of life.
Achieving mindfulness through meditation
Source: Headspace: Meditation & Sleep
Headspace
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Headspace offers various types of meditation – both guided and unguided – to help users understand themselves better and tackle life’s obstacles more easily. It’s subscription-based but offers ten free sessions for the trial period.
Calm
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Calm helps users achieve a calm and mindful state of being. With beautiful backgrounds and a wide variety of meditations, Calm takes users away from the complexity of life and gives them a place to find peace of mind.
How mental health apps generate revenue
Most mental health apps are created to generate revenue. They use different strategies to do that.
- Paid downloads. Around 41% of mental health apps are available for purchase. The average cost is $3.03. Some providers offer a suite of related applications along with their paid apps
- In-app purchases. Around 79% of apps (free and paid) offer in-app purchases. Even when an app is advertised as free, the greater part of its features and content may only be available with an in-app purchase.
- Subscription. Subscriptions. Often, access to the full content and functionality of an app is provided via a subscription model. The monthly price for Headspace is $12.99, for example, and the yearly rate is $69.99.
- In-app advertising. Ads within a mental health mobile application generate revenue. In most cases, ads appear as full-screen banner images or widgets added to sidebars and footers.
- External links. Apps can also offer links to related services and products such as books, podcasts, and MP3 downloads.
According to data from multiple app store intelligence firms, the mental health apps market is growing. The global mental health apps market size was valued at $5.2 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 15.9% from 2023 to 2030.
Developing mental health mobile apps
The market for mobile applications focused on mental health is actively growing and developing. The cost of developing your own mental health mobile app mostly depends on two factors: the set of features you decide to add and the number of hours spent building the app.
The location of hired mental health app developers will largely determine the hourly rate.
- In the US, app developers charge from $50 to $250 an hour.
- The average hourly rate for web development in Australia is $50 to $150.
- Agencies in Western Europe and the UK provide their services at $35 to $170 per hour.
- Eastern European developers charge $25 to $150 per hour.
- Indian companies charge from $10 to $80 an hour.
The collaboration model based on hourly rates is called the Time and Materials model. Under this model, you pay for the hours spent crafting your mobile application. This model is flexible, allowing you to make improvements to your app along the way. You can choose what tasks your developers should prioritize and what features to cut to reduce the cost of the development of mental health services.
Source: Globaldev
It’s crucial that your mental health app development is handled by seasoned and knowledgeable developers because building a reliable, secure, and effective mental health app that meets ethical and professional standards takes experience. Working with professionals ensures that the app positively contributes to users' mental well-being while minimizing potential risks and issues.
At Globaldev, we build secure, compliant, feature-rich, and user-friendly healthcare solutions that are already revolutionizing the healthcare and wellness industry, by optimizing processes and making healthcare more accessible. Check out our expertise in full by clicking the link below.