Overview
Articles tell us what to do, but apps help lead us and remind us to practice self-care every day. Find apps we recommend below. These high-quality apps have been made available to UCSF, with some also free to the general public.
Meditation and relaxation
The Stress Free UC Study found that Headspace, used daily for just 10 minutes, reduced stress in a meaningful way and the benefits lasted for two months after stopping use. Headspace can be done in the morning or evening, alone or with family, or anytime you need to take a break. Two-week free trial for the general public.
Always free. Meditation and mindfulness skills.
Seven-day free trial. A meditation, sleep, and relaxation app.
Free and paid options available. (Seven days free, then $99 per year).
Free. Meditation by Diana Winston.
Mindfulness Coach 2.0 was developed to help veterans, service members, and others learn how to practice mindfulness. The app provides a gradual, self-guided training program designed to help you understand and adopt a simple mindfulness practice.
Coping with anxiety and depression
A program for reducing stress and treating anxiety and depression that includes a coach or groups.
A program for clinical anxiety or depression that uses an app and therapist, and biofeedback monitor is optional. Referral from a health care provider is necessary.
Some free content, including stress reduction and cognitive techniques to address anxiety.
Free content, including cognitive behavioral therapy strategies to address general worry, social anxiety, and panic.
Created by VA’s National Center for PTSD and the Department of Defense’s National Center for Telehealth & Technology. This app provides you with education about post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), information about professional care, a self-assessment for PTSD, opportunities to find support, and tools that can help you manage the stresses of daily life with PTSD.
In conjunction with PTSD Coach, the PTSD Family Coach app is for family members of those living with PTSD. The app provides extensive information about PTSD, how to take care of yourself, how to take care of your relationship with your loved one or with children, and how to help your loved one get the treatment they deserve.
A web-based intervention for depression prevention (available in both English and Spanish) for pregnant individuals and new mothers. The online study course is based on the evidence-based prevention of postpartum depression group intervention developed at UCSF/Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, the Mothers and Babies Course.
Created to support self-care and overall mental health.
Emotional brain training (EBT) turns toxic negative emotions into positive feelings in 1–2 minutes based on a new technology of emotion science (summary at ebt.org). The method’s free app is available at spiralup.org or at your app store as Spiral Up!
Download Spiral Up! Stress Overload App by EBT.
Insomnia
Free cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, available for iOS and Android.
Download CBT-i Coach
Additional apps
If you are interested in finding mental health information, please consider using PsyberGuide — a helpful non-profit site developed by UCSF alum and UC Irvine professor Stephen Schueller, PhD, that provides expert reviews on mental health (both credibility and user experience) and offers solid recommendations.