Psychiatry Investig.  2024 Jun;21(6):551-560. 10.30773/pi.2023.0339.

A Review of Current Digital Mental Health Care Applications for Anxiety Symptoms and Future Prospects

• Kwon H
• Choi IY
• Kim DJ
• Yoo JH

• KMID: 2556610
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.30773/pi.2023.0339

Abstract

Objective
Since the impact of the coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic, the need for efficiency in medical services has become more urgent than ever. The digital treatment market is rapidly growing worldwide and digital therapeutics (DTx), a major part of the digital medical services, is also emerging as a new paradigm for treatment, with its industry growing rapidly as well. Increasing research is done on the effectiveness of mobile DTx in improving mental health conditions such as insomnia, panic, and depression.
Methods
This review paper investigates 1) the functions and characteristics of mobile digital mental health care applications for the treatment of anxiety symptoms, 2) extracts common attributes of the applications, and 3) compares them with existing traditional treatment mechanisms.
Results
Among the 20,000 mental health management applications that have been developed so far, 8 applications that are relatively widely used were selected and reviewed. Check-in, self-help tips, quick relief, journal, courses for practice are common features of the digital mental health care applications for anxiety and are also widely used feature in the cognitive behavioral therapy.
Conclusion
Based on this review, we have proposed the essential elements and directions for the development of a Korean digital mental health care applications for anxiety disorders.

Keyword

Anxiety disorder; Panic disorder; Digital therapeutics; Digital mental health care applications; Mobile applications; Cognitive-behavioral therapy.