Best mental health apps for ADHD

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best helper

Best Aid Highlights:

• Cost: $60 to $90 per week for unlimited weekly messaging, phone, and video sessions
• Switch between communication methods (live chat, phone, video) as you wish
• Matched with a therapist, on average, within 24 hours
• Simple all-inclusive fixed costs

An online therapy website and app, Better Help connects adults, teens and couples to licensed therapists for help with depression, anxiety, relationships, trauma, grief and Other problems. The pricing structure is simple and straightforward (price depends on your location) and includes unlimited messaging and weekly video sessions. ADDitude readers said they liked the convenience of online therapy and appreciated the level of access they had to their provider through unlimited messaging. “I like having my psychologist check up on me throughout the week,” one reader said. Another advantage: you are not limited to one way of communicating with your supplier, but you can switch between text, telephone and video.

2 out of 6

Discussion area

Chat Room Highlights:

• Cost: $69 per week for unlimited messaging, $99 per week for live sessions
• Choose your therapist from three options
• Works with some insurers
• Has a psychiatry program (different rates apply)

Talkspace is an online therapy site and app with licensed providers who provide services for all of the conditions listed above, as well as sleep therapy and psychiatry services. Users choose one of several service plans: unlimited messaging only (video, text, or audio), weekly live sessions, or a combination of the two services. Although Talkspace tends to be a bit more expensive than Better Help, it does work with some insurers. ADDitude users told us they liked choosing their provider from three matches, and they praised the flexibility of unlimited messaging. Explained a ADDitude reader: “When I used Talkspace, it was a relief to be able to type something as I went rather than trying to memorize everything on any given day.”

(Read: Forget the lotus position – How to meditate, ADHD style)

3 out of 6

Head space

Headspace Highlights:

• Cost: $69.99 per year
• Choose from different voices for many guided meditations
• “Move” section with a large selection of workouts and exercise videos
• Great for beginners, with lots of little meditations

Created by a former monk, Headspace is a meditation and relaxation app that offers a wide selection of recordings and videos categorized by topic, from stress, anxiety and focus to mindful eating and navigation. in injustice. There are “SOS” recordings to help with specific emergencies like fear of flying and climate anxiety, as well as breathing exercises, targeted music playlists, sleep shows and exercise videos. Every time you open the app, you’re greeted by a daily schedule, curated just for you, which is organized by morning, afternoon, and evening exercises and classes. This clear organization and the app’s plethora of brief meditations make Headspace ideal for beginners. “I have found the Headspace app invaluable in helping me calm my mind and fall asleep,” said one. ADDitude drive. Another offered, “It was a tool I had on hand when I felt overwhelmed.”

4 out of 6

Calme

Quiet Highlights:

• Cost: $69.99 per year
• Excellent mood tracking features
• Wide variety of sleep stories, some told by celebrities
• Lots of content for kids

Calm is one click away for all things relaxation. The calming begins the moment you open the app, which triggers nature sounds to play while you choose from tabs labeled Meditation, Wisdom, Music, or Sleep. “Sleep stories” are a particularly popular feature with a huge selection that includes celebrities like Harry Styles, LeBron James and Matthew McConaughy. The library of soundscapes is also impressive, including options ranging from alpine meadow to volcanic lava flow, and useful for focusing or relaxing. The app receives praise from ADDitude users with children, who appreciate the extensive library of sleep stories, meditations and movement videos for children as young as three years old.

5 out of 6

Preview timer

Insight Timer Highlights:

• Cost: $59.99 per year
• Large selection of breathing exercises
• Journal function, to record thoughts and goals
• Live events on a wide range of topics

Insight Timer offers more than just a meditation timer. It houses an extensive collection of meditation tracks, allowing you to choose between Spiritual, Zen or Transcendental meditation, an extensive library of breathing exercises as well as music and sleep recordings. Additionally, users enjoy using the journal feature to jot down goals, mantras, victories, and challenges, as well as the app’s community tools, including various discussion groups. If you enjoy a live element to your practice, there is a wide selection of live events available on topics ranging from yoga and Reiki to light language transmission and quantum healing.

6 out of 6

Do

Completed Highlights:

• Cost: free up to 3 habits; to track more, upgrade for $8.99
• Set daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals
• Can be used to break bad habits and create good ones
• Group habits by category

Meditation can be extremely beneficial – but, of course, it’s a practice that relies on repetition. For people with ADHD, this can be difficult, as impulsiveness and distractions often interfere. That’s where a habit tracker app like Done comes in. You pick the habits you want to work on building or breaking, group them into categories like Fitness, Organization, and Food, then suggest habits. weekly, monthly and annually. goals. Each time you successfully engage in the new habit, you get the positive reinforcement of seeing the color change on the home screen, and watching the days pile up will motivate you to continue your winning streak.

Mental health apps: next steps

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Sources

¹ Fried, R., DiSalvo, M., Farrell, A. & Biederman, J. (2021). Using a digital meditation app to alleviate anxiety and sleep issues in children with ADHD. Attention Disorders Journal. https://doi.org/10.1177/10870547211025616