Top 6 Phone Apps for Those Who Struggle With Mental Illness

As someone who has struggled with mental illness for over half of my life, I'm always looking for innovative ways to help myself cope. More recently, I've been using different apps that I've found on the app store and offer different things. If you're interested in or curious about apps that can help those with mental illness, I've written a little something about my favorites and those which have helped me, personally.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER!!!!!
I am NOT a mental health professional! These opinions are mine and my own. These apps do not substitute getting professional help, rather they can compliment and accompany whatever professional help you are using. 

Happier
This was one of the first apps I downloaded to help manage my anxiety and cultivate a grateful attitude. The tagline of the company is "Celebrate the Good Around You", which I think is super cute. You can put moments and memories into the app that, well, made you happier! I like putting in when I have lunch or coffee with friends at school and what specific moments made me happy in our fellowship. It also reminds you of them via notifications, so every once in a while, a "Remember when..." will pop up and give you a nice memory. You're even able to categorize the moments by different things. My most frequently used ones are family, friends, and faith, but you're able to personalize them in any way you want. Check out the website here

Pacifica

Pacifica is my all-time favorite app. I love it so much that I actually pay a fee for full access, although the free version is great, too! The makers are also always updating the app and improving it. It's based off of CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), and you can track your mood anywhere between "awful" and "great". You also are able to do various activities that are guided by the app, including "relax", which has various meditations paired with calming soundscapes, and "thoughts", which acts as a journal of sorts.You can also join various communities based off hobbies and lifestyles and communicate with others similar to you. You can also track your health habits, such as hours slept, if you took your medication and showered, and, time spent outside, with friends, or exercising. A new feature is that you can add your own healthy habits, so I added the rosary to mine. You can then track your progress, and see how different things, like the activities offered and health habits, affect your overall well-being. It's great if you know there are certain "signs" that you're not in a good place, or if specific things can help you out. For example, when I'm really depressed or anxious, I don't do well with basic things like showering or brushing my teeth, and I notice that the more time spent with people, outside, exercising or praying, the happier I feel overall. You can download Pacifica here.

Color Therapy
Adult coloring books are all the rage nowadays. They have coloring books for almost anything imaginable, including Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, Donald Trump, Harry Potter, The Psalms, New York City, Frozen, and much much more. Coloring is super helpful when you're feeling anxious or stressed, and I have a pretty impressive collection of adult coloring books in my dorm to prove just how enticing they are. However, lugging around all our coloring tools and books is difficult to do, and sometimes you don't want to do it while you're on a train or waiting in a doctor's office. Enter the color therapy app. It has a variety of things that you can color in, and every color imaginable. Now you can relax by adding color to a beautiful image anywhere! You can download Color Therapy here.

Mood Track Diary




This was one of the first apps I used to handle my mental illness. My therapist suggested that I start tracking my moods and the events/people surrounding them, so I did some research on the handy dandy App Store. This was the best one I found. I like how it tracks your emotions on a graph-like thing, and you can also share with others, which creates a nice community. It lets you put in whatever emotion you want, and then you can rank it as the "best" to the "worst" with five options. I love that it tracks your emotions over time with the option to write in whatever comments you'd like. You can also share the diary with others, which is really helpful if you're in therapy or on medication. You can download Mood Track Diary here.

ThinkUp
This is one of my newest discoveries. It's an affirmation app that comes pre-loaded with tons of positive affirmations for various aspects of life, including (but not limited to) body image, fitness, spirituality, studies, pregnancy, relationships and creativity. You also have the ability to enter your own positive affirmations, so I like to use some from The Littlest Way. You then say the the positive affirmation and record it in your own voice. You can play it back a few times with soundscapes in the background. I think it's super helpful. I've fallen out of the habit of daily affirmations, but I want to get back into them, and then will probably write a post about the power of them in our lives and the difference it made in my life. 'Till then, download ThinkUp here

Stigma

This is another app I found relatively recently. It markets itself as a personal and gratitude journal. You put an entry in and you can put important key words in the entry so that you can see trends in how specific people, places, things, events, and even weather has an effect on your emotional well-being. I've only used it a few times, but so far, I really like it. They just added an "anonymous penpal" option, which I don't think I'll use, but if something like that will be helpful for you, by all means, give it a try! You can download Stigma here.

Lenten Observances For Those Who Suffer From Mental Illness

Maybe it's just me, but whenever Lent comes around, I always seem to fail at my plans and sacrifices, and later feel like I set myself up for failure. This time of year is always pretty hard for me, I know that it is for other people, so I thought I might make a list of Lenten observances that are ideal for those who suffer from mental illness(es). Feel free to comment with your own on this post or on the Facebook page!

1. Start praying on your morning commute. 
Brandon Vogt shared 6 ways to make your morning commute into a retreat.

2. Pray a novena. 
Some suggestions are St. Dymphna, the patron of those who suffer from mental illness, St. Therese of Lisieux, who is believed to have struggled with mental illness herself, and Our Lady, Undoer of Knots. This is by no means an exhaustive list!

3. Spend time cultivating good and solid relationships. 
Open up to your family and friends about your struggles (while recognizing their boundaries), pray with and for them, and spend quality time with them.

4. Try Lectio Divina 

5. Spread hope and love through your witness. 
Think about submitting your story of hope, healing and journey with mental illness here (I'm always looking for guest bloggers, too)!

6. Unfollow/unfriend anyone you don't need/want in your life.
If someone is a roadblock in your journey with Christ, maybe now is the time to stop following them on social media. Think of this way: is this a person that you see/want to see outside of your phone screen. If no, why do you want to see them ON the screen?

7. Take up prayer journaling.

8. Begin the practice of positive affirmations. 
I LOVE the app ThinkUp . It lets you record your own voice saying the affirmation of your choice. You can enter your own, or they also give you suggestions. They don't have any faith-based affirmations on the app, so I'm super glad they give you the option to enter your own. The Littlest Way has some great reflections on the power of affirmations and some ideas for biblical-based affirmations. 

8. Pray the Rosary daily. 
This page on Facebook is encouraging folk to pray the Rosary daily using the Sorrowful Mysteries for those who are affected by mental illness, if you want a specific intention.

9. Read a spiritual book that will positively impact your life! 
Right now, I'm reading The Way of Serenity and I Believe in Love. Both of them are changing my life and utterly spectacular.

10. Give counseling a shot.
If you aren't going to counseling, see if you can find someone you like. If you already regularly go, continue to go regularly!

11. Take time daily/weekly to pamper yourself! 
Self care is so so important, and if you begin to treat yourself well, you will inevitably begin to think higher of yourself, too.

12. Fast from isolating yourself. 
Try to spend time with at least one person each day.

13. Cultivate a grateful heart.
Write down three things your grateful for every night, and thank God for those things.

14. Fast from comparing yourself to others. 
Theodore Roosevelt once said that "comparison is the thief of joy", and the more I've reflected on it, the more I've found it to be true. There are no two people out there that can be compared. We are our own people with our own struggles, backgrounds, and stories.

15. Fast from watching TV during the week. 
Jane the Virgin can wait till Sunday.

16. Donate to a charity. 
Don't just discard of your old items, go out and choose new items to donate to a homeless shelter, unwed mothers' home, or other organization that helps those who need a little extra.

17. Pray for the people in your life. 
And tell them that you're praying for them via a text, or even (**gasp**) snail mail!

18. Fast from social media at specific times, certain social media, or social media as a whole. 
Instead of scrolling through Instagram or Facebook the first time you wake up, how about praying a rosary or reading the daily readings? Even sending a friend a text to say good morning would be an improvement!

19. Use your talents to make something and donate it to someone. 
You can crochet a blanket for a friend, make baby hats for the local hospital, or even make dinner for a grieving family in your community.

20. Begin the practice of regularly praying the St. Michael Prayer. 
It is so powerful.

21. Try at least one new positive coping skill. 
(check out this cool "adult" coloring book with beautiful bible verses to color in!)

22. Start (or continue!) doing daily devotions. 
For women, I love Blessed is She and She Reads Truth.

23. Stop by a church just to pray at least once a week.

24. Fast from negative thinking. 
Towards yourself and others.

25. Use social media as a way to evangelize! 
Post quotes, pictures, links, etc. about the Church and God's Love.

26. Volunteer at a soup kitchen or homeless shelter helping the less fortunate. 
You will be able to see and love God's forgotten people face to face, and helping others can also increase your self-esteem and lessen depression and anxiety.

27. Spend at least 15 minutes exercising every day.
Go on a walk, run, jog, do yoga, lift, whatever. Exercise is extremely beneficial for those of us with mental illnesses, and if you start treating your temple with kindness and love, you will have an increase of feelings of self-worth, too! I love using Sworkit, an app that lets you choose different types of exercises for different lengths of time.

28. Go to adoration. 
Bask in the savior's love for you!

29. Give up using technology in bed. 
Pray the rosary while trying to sleep instead of scrolling through Instagram.

30. Drink at least 8 cups of water daily. 
Did you know that dehydration can cause anxiety?

31. Get to know the saints! 
You can choose a saint every week, or just focus on one saint for the entirety of the season. Ask them to pray for you!

32. Consecrate yourself to the Blessed Mother! 
I've used 33 Days to Morning Glory and loved it. If you want to consecrate yourself on Easter, start on February 23rd.

33. Bask in the mercy of God! 
It's the year of mercy, read The Diary of St. Faustina, pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, ask for God's help in forgiving someone who wronged you, forgive yourself.

34. Do 46 "random" acts of kindness.
One for each day (including Sundays!) of Lent.

35. Fast from negative self talk.

*NOTE
do not try to attempt all of these at once! Choose one or two, and go for it! Have a blessed Lent!

Guest Post - A Letter to My Future Therapist

To my future therapist,

Hello. To answer the question I know you will inevitably ask, I honestly have no idea how you can help me.

I do not that I need help and I'm hopeful that you can be a part of that. I know that I need healing and I need to know what is within me. I know a diagnosis won't fix everything, if anything, but all that I know isn't helpful if I am trying to face the unknown. I have seen its outline, and I have felt its presence for so long that it seems like forever, but I don't know what it is. I know I can't control what happens in my head or heart or whatever body part houses the darkest parts of our being, but I can shine light on it.

Right now, I am hiding from it just as much as it may be hiding within me. I know with time, I can work to understand it and live with it. It is a part of me, and no matter how much I may dislike myself at times, I love myself more. But right now, I don't know where to start.

I would start from the beginning, but by now, everything seems to be smeared together. There have been moments in my life that stand out, but I don't know what came first anymore. I can't tell you whether the events happened and then I started feeling the way I do, or vice versa. How do I feel? Well, that is another complicated question. The best, and most honest, answer I can give you is, I don't know. I have been too afraid to address that question with an open heart and mind. Being honest is scary. Being honest with something like this, that is terrifying.

This isn't my first counseling session ever; however, it is the first I feel strong enough (well, determined enough) to be as honest as I can about everything. I have lied to myself and others for so long that I almost started believing the lies. I lie(d) because I thought it would be easier to lie than face the truth. That in itself was a lie. Although, my theory may have been true in the moment, I now know it only hurts as it continues on.

I don't want to be ashamed of myself or my past anymore. I refuse to allow darkness to be my identity, but it is a part of me, and I am now choosing to address it and be my true self again. I have no idea if I am truly "ready" to face all of this, but I'm going to anyway because I doubt I'll ever be fully ready for such a thing.

_____________________________________________________________________

Stephanie Townsend is a 22 year old who has traveled a path of her own, which eventually lead her to God. She received the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and First Communion in April 2015. Stephanie believes wholeheartedly in God's mercy and love, and strives every day to show others the beauty God places in the lives of all. Life has proven to be a day to day struggle for her; however, focusing on the beauty all around and maintaing hope even when it seems gone is how she is able to continue the path God has created for her.

"No matter the difficulties in life, God will always be there to carry you, love you, and show you just how priceless you are."

A Prayer for Trust in Jesus