Quieting an anxious mind can sometimes be a challenge. It’s especially difficult if you’re unsure of where to start! Mindshift is an app that can help you learn to relax, stop anxious thoughts and develop strategies to help you overcome anxiety. This free app, available for both Android and iOS, was developed to help teens with anxiety, but can also benefit adults.
How it works
After downloading, you have the option of going through a tutorial to help you learn how to navigate the app. You are able to skip it if you don’t think you’ll need it, but we recommend going through to understand how the app works.
When you’re ready to start using the app, choose a situation from the list of “My Situations.” This will help the app develop a personal plan to help you with your anxiety. There are several to choose from including managing worry, tackling social fears, dealing with conflict, letting go of perfectionism and more. You can have multiple situations in your My Situations tab. Once you select the situation on which you would like to focus, you can read through the introduction to understand the situation in more detail. It will explain background facts then allow you to “Check Yourself.” This feature allows you to explore how the situation you chose specifically affects you. Next you’ll have the opportunity to change your thought patterns. The app provides you with different ways to reframe your situation. You can save those you like to access easily at another time. The second to last step is to choose activities you think will help you to add to your “Chill Out Tools.” These tools feature audio recordings of guided meditations and visualizations. Finally, you will choose from a list of “Active Steps” to help you put your plan to action. After personalizing your situation, you can always review and change things, as well as reflect on the situation to see if it is helping you improve. You can easily access your selections from the homepage.
If you want information quickly, you can sccess the “Quick Tips,” “Inspiration,” and all of the individual components of the situations from the home screen. Accessing the “Check Yourself” section from the homepage gives you a little more freedom to really track and journal how you’re feeling in comparison to using this feature by creating a situation.
Pros
- You’re able to access the tutorial at any time should you skip it after downloading.
- While you don’t need to register for the app, you have the ability to set a password to prevent others from seeing what you input into the app. You can set a password through the settings tab.
- The quick tips and inspiration features are great for people who need assistance getting through their anxiety in the moment they’re experiencing it.
Cons
- The app could be organized better. There is a lot to select from, which can make it confusing.
- While the design is decent, it isn’t very engaging.
- Some of the fonts are small and thin, making it difficult to read, and there doesn’t appear to be a way to enlarge it.
Overall consensus
This app has a wealth of information to help you manage and cope with anxiety. It can be helpful for people who don’t know where to start in dealing with anxiety as well as for those who may have been struggling for a while, but need a little extra support.
