Scalability and Reach

Digital mental health apps have the potential to reach hundreds of millions of people suffering with various mental health issues. Smartphone access and internet availability is increasing rapidly, allowing more people than ever to access treatment for free. Even people in the most remote areas, who would have no other means of accessing treatment, now have a viable and effective medium to receive treatment.

Cost-Effectiveness

Apps are orders of magnitude cheaper than traditional talking therapies and medications, without compromising efficacy. This provides an enormous opportunity to treat as many people as possible, for almost nothing. Considering the negligible sum spent by government's on mental health care, free digital apps are the only feasible method to address the scale of the global mental health problem.

24-Hour Access & Convenience

Mental health symptoms can manifest at any time and at any location. Fortunately, mental health apps can be used anywhere, 24/7. It's not uncommon to have symptoms at night, when nobody is available to help. However, most people have their phones with them at all times, allowing them to open up an app and engage in an exercise to help treat these symptoms. Anxiety symptoms and panic attacks often occur when in a public area. Digital apps offer a means of immediate and easily-accessible treatment, reducing the time spent suffering from symptomatic expression.

Anonymity

Stigma towards mental health is a significant barrier affecting the will of individuals to seek treatment. Mental health apps provide a completely anonymous method to receive treatment, which should increase the number of people willing to get help.

Many people struggling with their mental health find it difficult to talk to people about their problems, which often impedes their ability to leave the house - leaving them without treatment. These steps often induce too much anxiety and stress for the individual. Apps provide a discreet method of treatment for those who would otherwise be reluctant to seek help or find it difficult to leave their safe space.

Engagement

Perhaps surprisingly, some digital interventions have been shown to be more appealing than traditional therapies, particularly for youth and adolescents. This may encourage the user to continue to their treatment. Many apps offer games and storytelling-scenarios, which entice people to continue learning more about their own mental health. Self-monitoring features, which allow users to report their thoughts & behaviours, can increase emotional self-awareness. Increased emotional self-awareness has been found to reduce symptoms of various mental health problems and improve coping mechanisms.

Supplementary to Therapy

Even if you can afford psychotherapy, there can be long waiting lists and you still have to schedule weekly sessions. In the meantime, there are very few options to treat symptoms. Technology can be used to supplement traditional therapies, by consolidating learned behaviours and tracking progress in the time between sessions.