If you’re a journalist covering mental health, you’re bound to come across some new digital tool claiming to combat anxiety or encourage healthier self-talk. But reporting on them — whether as a news article about a buzzy new product or in a roundup of resources in a service piece — can be tricky.
As I wrote for an article in the American Psychological Association’s Monitor on Psychology magazine, studies suggest there are tens of thousands of mental health apps on the market, and their safety and efficacy range widely. A few apps have undergone randomized controlled trials and have received FDA authorization. Others make bold claims and can compromise patient safety and privacy. Some may pose relatively low risk, but they also aren’t a substitute for traditional mental health care.
How are consumers, mental health professionals and journalists supposed to keep up with the good, bad and in-between? One way is through two relatively new programs from professional psychological and psychiatric organizations. Here’s an overview:
The American Psychological Association’s Digital Badge Program
This system provides “independent, evidence-based evaluations of digital mental and behavioral health technologies,” the APA said. “Each evaluation is grounded in evidence, clinical insight, regulatory alignment, and user safety.” To search for various tools and see how they stack up, explore the program’s Digital Badge Solutions Library.
The American Psychiatric Association’s App Advisor
This is a series of questions you can go through when trying to decide whether an app is an appropriate choice for a certain person or situation. The goal, the APA says, is “to provide a hierarchical rating system with content-specific questions that guide a thoughtful approach to app selection.”
This process aims to help people “understand the key information that should be considered when choosing an app, and how this differs from selecting traditional therapeutic interventions.”
Media contacts
Journalists interested in learning more about either program or speaking with an expert in digital mental health can contact the organizations’ media departments:
- American Psychological Association: public.affairs@apa.org
- American Psychiatric Association: Erin Connors, econnors@psych.org
