Smartphone Apps: Which Are the Good Ones?

Author(s):

With over 10,000 mental health related smartphone apps out there, how can a psychiatrist determine which are useful and which may be harmful? Chair of the American Psychiatric Association’s Workgroup on SmartPhone Apps offers tips in this brief video.

There are over 10,000 mental health related smartphone apps out there (and over 250,000 health apps). How can a psychiatrist determine which are useful and which may be harmful?

John Torous, MD, Chair of the American Psychiatric Association’s Workgroup on SmartPhone Apps, offers tips in this brief video.

. What are the most important things to look for to make sure it is safe and secure?

. What is the evidence-based of the apps’ efficacy?

. How can you determine how user-friendly the app is? Will the patient stick with it?

. Data sharing: will data captured by the app get back to you or the healthcare team?

You can find more information on this topic at the APA’s website: Mental Health Apps - American Psychiatric Association.

Dr. Torous is a psychiatrist, clinical informatics fellow, and co-director of the digital psychiatry program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital in Boston. He is the Digital Psychiatry Editor for Psychiatric Times. Twitter: @JohnTorousMD

Further reading:

10 Digital Psychiatry Changes to Expect in 2017 Why Rate Mental Health Apps?