Every so often there are inquiries on apps for mental health. As I have stated before this is not at all an area of expertise of mine, but as it goes with any OT or individual working with individuals requiring rehabilitation or habilitation, we all deal with flavors of mental health of the client or families we deal with. It seems inevitable that we are when the The National Institute of Health statistics indicate one in four adults (18 years and older) have a diagnosable mental health disorder in a year and one in five children have a debilitating mental illness. I see that in the school system and this infographic gathered from Candida Abrahamson’s blog tells all:
(Infographic Source: http://msw.usc.edu/mswusc-blog/shedding-light-on-americas-homeless-veterans-infographic/ )
So I decided to do a search for app lists of mental health apps to answer the question asked. I was surprised what I did not find (perhaps I did not search deep enough). Although this certainly was not an exhaustive search but here are some links to mental heath app reviews I found that might support some of the 25% of individuals that we work or deal with:
http://www.zurinstitute.com/mentalhealthapps_resources.html – This list is from the Zur Institute and offers lists of apps for Mental Health Professionals, Mental Health apps for the General Public and for Psychology students
http://sylvainroy.blogspot.com/2011/02/iphone-apps-for-psychologists.html – Technology for Psychologists offers a comprehensive listing of apps by disorders. Posted in February 2011, it is not the recent apps list but may offer worth while apps if they have been updated by the developers.
http://sylvainroy.blogspot.com/ – Blog with regular mental health app review.
http://choicesmhc.com/?q=phone-apps – A behavioral health apps for Android listing
http://id4theweb.com/appreviews/ – App review to help individuals with brain injury and other cognitive challenges.
http://www.brainline.org/content/2011/05/23-lifechanging-iphone-ipad-apps-for-people-with-brain-injury.html – 27 Life Changing Apps for People with Brain Injury.
http://candidaabrahamson.wordpress.com/2012/06/21/theres-a-bipolar-app-for-that-part-i-tracking-your-moods/ – Check out Part 1 and 2 reviews of apps for Bipolar and Mood Disorder
As this list is primarily focused on apps for adults, we do know there are numerous apps for children that focus on the many aspects and interventions for mental health. Some of those were previously reviewed are included in Emotions Apps post. Other apps are listed in the OT iTool Kit under the categories of:
- Relaxation
- Mental Health
- Sensory
- Social Skills
Another resource is too check in the Autism App app under the category of Behavior and Social Skills also at https://autismapps.wikispaces.com/ .
Any recommendations for other resources for mental health apps for adults and children?
Carol
OT's with Apps & Technology 
Considering you start off with a disclaimer, this is still surely an excellent piece, with enough helpful information to get people just where they need to go. Your blog is so versatile, and serves so many functions. It’s such a pleasure.
The ability to label and categorize something (or someone) implies a certain degree of power and mastery over them. In the domain of psychiatry, several groups or movements have rebelled against not only labels, but against current treatments designed to “normalize” the problematic thoughts and behaviors.
Nathan,
Again, mental health is not my area of expertise, but having worked with individuals that may feel like they are challenged by a physical disability, a cognitive or emotional disability, it may not be about normalizing (what is normal?) but rather reducing barriers, challenges or problems. That may all be dependent on whose perspective it is. Perhaps it is about being successful with what they want to do?
Provocative topic- that is for sure!
Carol