Today, more people are talking about mental health such as stress, depression, and anxiety. This is due to the growing awareness about mental health among people. The stigma surrounding the mental health issue is slowly but steadily started to fade away.

There are multiple strategies to promote, protect and restore mental health but the most cost-effective, secure, and convenient way available today is the online therapy apps also called as mental health apps.

According to the UnivDatos Market Insights, the mental health apps Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 20.5% from 2021-2027 to reach the US $3.3 billion by 2027.

In this article, we will go through the details such as what is a mental health app, and how to build one with rich features.

So, without wasting further time let’s get started!

What are Therapy apps or Mental health app?

Facts about Mental health: If you think that “Mental health” is much important than “physical health”, it’s time to face the truth.

Here are some facts about Mental health:

• It is the foundation of your productive life and an integral part of overall health. • It is more than the absence of a mental disorder. • It is determined by the range of socioeconomic, biological, and environmental factors.

For people, it’s not easy to live on with the mental health challenges it is just like driving a speedy car which will surely hit anywhere sooner or later as you can not run away from it. The only way is to learn strategies to manage and control it in the best way so that you can thrive.

Mental healthcare apps: offer multiple possibilities to uplift mental health such as behavior monitoring apps, apps that connect you with the network of the mental health profession, apps that help to manage anxiety, and so on.

Based on these possibilities we can categorize mental health applications as,

1) General Mental Health apps

These apps are used to monitor individual behavior, good habits, and mood. Besides that its provides a guide to relax and calm your mind and helps to enhance positive emotions.

2) Self-improvement apps

Self-improvement apps are designed to understand and improve mental health using some relaxation techniques such as meditation, deep breathing, audio relaxation, and some app helps to quit addictions.

3) Dedicated mental health apps.

These apps are designed specifically for particular mental health conditions such as depression, stress, schizophrenia, and anxiety. The app provides features such as mood monitoring and provides therapy to manage and reduce the symptoms.

4) Educational apps

These apps are built only to provide educational information regarding mental health disorders. It helps to improve mental health awareness among the users.

5) Treatment monitoring apps

These apps help patients to manage their conditions, monitor treatment, record their feelings, ensure timely medication and help to recognize patterns to avoid major issues.

Now, you know about the different types of Mental health apps let’s learn how you can build one.

How to build an app for mental health with the rich features

If you want to build a successful mental health application there are certain things you need to consider.

Research and define your target audience and the problem.

First decide on whether to build a single or multiplatform application i.e for web, android, iOS, and other platforms.

Do the market research to choose the target audience according to age, gender, type of mental health issue(stress, bipolar disorder, or depression ). Also, you need to define the type of app whether it is for symptoms management, monitoring treatment track, or for educational purposes.

Try to find out the answer to the following questions:

• How to convert the target audience into regular users? • How to increase user engagement? • What things can annoy users? • How the app will help users to fight and manage negative emotions?

Add only the most essential features and try to keep the app unique

There are certain features that you need to know and focus on according to your target audience. However, you will find the following general features provided by mos mental health apps.

1) Personalize user profile2) Algorithm to match user requirement and the therapist3) Features for self-monitoring: • Sleep trackers • Trigger checkers • Mood trackers4) Calendar and checklist 5) Reminders6) Gamification and rewards7) Messaging8) Voice and video calls 9) Data sharing 10) Audio and video demo demonstrating relaxation techniques11) Connect to peer or like-minded community option12) Educational material13) Option to record session with a therapist 14) Emergency connect features

Other than the above features, you can add trending features such as,

1.Therapy Chatbots:

Therapy chatbots are a great tool to improve user satisfaction and engagement and it seems an effective way to instantly cater to patients suffering from depression, anxiety, bipolar and stress issues. These can be used in,

• For appointment scheduling • AI-powered chatbots to answer queries and improve engagement • Domain-specific chatbots to answer queries related to a particular scenario2.Integration with wearable devices:

Integrating mental health applications with wearable devices helps to access uninterrupted flux of critical data for patient stress monitoring, and behavior tracking.

3.Integrating AR and VR in mental health application:

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality can be integrated with the mental health app to provide therapy for depression, stress, phobias, and anxiety.

Other than the above, strict regulations must be there to keep confidential information secure. Also, the app must be transparent about what is formation is collected and shared with whom.

Wrapping Up

Good mental health is essential for everyone. Moreover, if you are building a Therapy app or mental health app make sure that it is feature-rich, engaging, and scalable.

Are you finding the best solution to build mental health or therapy app? Let’s connect to get the best hectare mobile app development service and unlock your potential to the digital ecosystem.