Description: This app can be used by both a person struggling with an eating disorder and their treatment providers. The app lets people log their meal and snack completion as well as their emotions. This app offers tips and skill reminders when needed. It is very interactive and allows you to send “gifts” to other users as encouragement. Because this app can be used by both patient and providers it gives real time information so that the provider knows going into the session how the patient is doing throughout the week.
Description: Rise Up + Recover uses the principles of cognitive behavioral therapy to help folks struggling with eating disorders. You can track your meals and the emotions that accompany them. You can also set inspirational alerts and find images and affirmations to keep you in a positive mindset. There’s the option to export your files, allowing you to share your progress with anyone on your treatment team.
Positive Body Image for Women: A Hypnosis Guide
Cost: Free starter; Pay for additional tracks
Availability: iOS
Description: This is essentially a hypnosis app so don't listen to this as you're driving or operating heavy machinery. The tracks are written by trained therapists and focus on self image and acceptance and there are daily "boosters" to give you a quick fix of body-positivity.
Mindshift
Cost: Free
Availability: iOS & Android
Description: This app is more for general anxiety than eating disorder recovery but it's great if your worries and fears prevent you from doing things day-to-day. Through coping strategies this app helps you face challenges head on rather than put things off.
Kissy Project
Cost: Free
Availability: iOS & Android
Description: This app is based on Kirsten Hertog’s recovery after suffering from anorexia and binge eating disorder and is geared towards teens in recovery. Her app offers motivational quotes daily, access to her blog, help lines for eating disorders and depression. She also gives challenges and weekly tasks out on the app for users to do.
Booster Buddy
Cost: Free
Availability: iOS & Android
Description: This app is aimed at children and teens wanting to improve their general mental health through daily quests and tasks. It allows you to check in with your mood and and keep track of your appointments and medication. It's not specifically for eating disorders, but it's a great way track and improve your coping skills and self-care.
iCBT
Cost: $5.99
Availability: iOS
Description: Perhaps the most comprehensive app out there to utilize cognitive behavioral therapy, iCBT will help you monitor your moods and emotions in an effort to control destructive coping methods such as binging and purging. You can log moments and incidences that caused you stress, as well as chronicle how it is you coped, and track your moods and how they affected you throughout the day.
Breathe2Relax
Cost: Free
Availability: iOS & Android
Description: This app is for stress management. It walks the user through breathing exercises to lessen anxiety, anger and heighten mood. It uses diaphragmatic breathing.
Jourvie
Cost: Free
Availability: only for Android at the moment, but it's expected to be availaible on iOS soon
Description: This app lets you keep track of a food diary, your coping strategies and printable archives that will allow you to bring diary excerpts into therapy sessions. The app is less about what you eat, and more how you feel about your food.
My Gratitude Journal
Cost: $1.99
Availability:iOS & currently in development for Android
Description: Throughout your recovery there's a lot to track and write down, but this app makes it easy to remember the positive things about your day. It makes journaling your best moments really simple and easy to look back on if you're in need of a pick-me-up.
Positive Thinking - The Key to Happiness
Cost: Free
Availability:iOS & currently in development for Android
Description: It’s difficult to stay positive when you feel bad about your situation, your health, or how you look. Positive Thinking is designed to help you change your thought patterns and look at the brighter side of life. There are daily exercises, motivational quotes, and the ability to organize those that helped you the most in a favorites section.
Description: The app aims to be a digital happiness coach, giving you the tools to stay in the moment and think positively. You can voice record positive moments and access 10-second pause tasks so you don't forget to take a breather.
Description: Rings a beautiful Tibetan Singing Bowl at a specified interval - or random intervals - throughout the day. At the beginning of your day, just set it up and then exit the app. The bell will ring in the background, whether the app is running or not.
Optimism
Cost: FREE
Availability: iOS & Android
Description: The physical act of eating is only a small part of an eating disorder. The psychological aspect — how you think about food, your body, and your emotions — those are where the key to wellness reside. Optimism focuses on mental health, and helps you manage your eating disorder by monitoring your thoughts and feelings. By tracking how you sleep, eat, exercise, and feel throughout the day, you can better learn how to manage the feelings that can trigger a relapse.
DBT Diary Card and Skills
Cost: $4.99
Availability: iOS
Description: This app was created by a DBT trained and licensed psychologist. It offers DBT skills, emotions and behaviors to choose from, coaching on skill use, the ability to customize, emergency contact use within the app, listen to music, you can also send your personal therapist your diary card on a weekly basis.
Cognitive Diary
Cost: FREE
Availability: iOS
Description: Cognitive behavioral therapy is a type of mental health treatment that helps you understand why you do certain things in response to your thoughts. It is designed to help you better process the flawed thoughts that can lead to unhealthy behaviors. Cognitive Diary is a tool that can help to facilitate this therapy method by tracking your moods and feelings.
PTSD Coach
Cost: FREE
Availability: iOS & Android
Description: This was developed by the Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Center for PTSD. This is intended to be used by those suffering from PSTD or PTSD symptoms. The app gives education around sign and symptoms of PTSD, self-care, how to find support and emergency access to the suicide hotline or personal contacts. This app offers relaxation skills, positive self-talk, anger management and other coping skills for symptoms of PTSD. You can add your own pictures and music to the app and users have the ability to track how their symptoms have been progressing.
Happily
Cost: FREE
Availability: iOS & Android
Description: This app uses activities and games to train your brain to worry less and embrace positive thinking. Through goals and fun tasks you can learn how to disrupt negative thoughts and manage your stress.
