Today, anxiety disorder is the most common mental health issue facing North Americans. In the US alone, 1 in 5 adults — 40 million adults – deal with anxiety.
Seeking help from a mental health professional is often costly, with the price of therapy in Canada ranging from $125-$200 per hour or more. Unless you have a very good benefit package, this can be a very expensive solution. For the rest of us, we tracked down three of the best apps for anxiety based on cost, platform accessibility, ease of use, and results.
1. Calm
The free version of Calm includes timed meditation options, the Breathe Bubble, and a sleep story called Blue Gold. The app also offers a good number of free scenes users can select from to play nature sounds and/or music in the background, on both the guided and unguided meditation. We really like this app due to its wide range of offerings and affordable price. There is also an option to unlock all of the app’s features by paying an annual subscription fee of $69.99. Available on iPhone and Android. Visit Calm’s website here.
2. Insight Timer
Insight Timer gets the best rating overall among the free apps for managing anxiety. We like this one because it offers a variety of guided meditation styles of numerous different lengths, led by real mental health professionals – including top meditation and mindfulness experts, neuroscientists, psychologists and instructors from Stanford, Harvard and the University of Oxford. With 1,500 meditation styles, close to 400 music selections and nearly 200 anxiety talks all offered for free. Users can opt for the premium version for $9.99/month or $59.99/year. Available on iPhone and Android. Visit Insight Timer’s website here.
3. iBreathe
This app is best for beginners who are just starting out exploring tools to deal with stress, anxiety, insomnia or are looking for new ways to meditate and relax. iBreathe has an easy-to-use user interface perfect for novices. You can sync this app with your Apple Watch to set customizable reminders to breathe periodically throughout your day and also include pre-sets designed to help you deal with stress and anxiety. Available on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.
Anxiety can often feel debilitating and can severely impact your daily life. But you are not alone. Millions of people each year are affected by different types of anxiety. The good news is, there are tools available to help you learn how to bring your anxiety under control (and you won’t have to spend an arm and a leg on them). If you would like to explore tools on how to better manage anxiety, check out these three apps and let us know how they worked for you!