Below you will find a selection of mobile apps that may be helpful for both coping with the mental and emotional toll of coping with grief, as well as managing the academic responsibilities of being a medical student.
Have any additional recommendations? Please submit them here.
Mindfulness & Mental Health
Breathe
The Breathe app guides you through a series of deep breaths, and it reminds you to take time to breathe every day. Choose how long you want to breathe, then let the animation and gentle taps help you focus.
Free, Available on Apple.
GoodGrief
GoodGrief is the social network for loss. It works by putting you in touch with others who lost their spouse, parent, sibling, child, relative, or friend due to a variety of causes. Create a private profile by answering questions related to your loss. Then, connect to other people through a one-on-one in-app texting service.
Free, Available on Apple and Android.
MindShift
MindShift helps users learn to relax, develop more helpful ways of thinking, and identify steps that will help them take charge of their anxiety. It includes strategies to deal with everyday anxiety, as well as specific tools to tackle: making sleep count, riding out intense emotions, test anxiety, perfectionism, social anxiety, performance anxiety, worry, panic, and conflict.
Free, Available on Apple and Android.
WeCroak
Find happiness by contemplating your mortality with the WeCroak app. Each day, we’ll send you five invitations at randomized times to stop and think about death. It’s based on a Bhutanese folk saying that to be a happy person one must contemplate death five times daily. When they come, you can view quotes about death from a poet, philosopher, or notable thinker.
$0.99, Available on Apple and Android.
Moodnotes
Capture your mood and improve your thinking habits through an innovative approach to journaling! Moodnotes empowers you to track your mood over time, avoid common thinking traps, and develop perspectives associated with increased happiness and well-being.
$4.99, Available on Apple.
Mayo Clinic Anxiety Coach
Mayo Clinic Anxiety Coach is a comprehensive self-help tool for reducing a wide variety of fears and worries from extreme shyness to obsessions and compulsions. Anxiety Coach helps you make a list of feared activities and then guides you through mastering them and increasing your confidence.
$4.99, Available on Apple.
HeadSpace
Headspace is your guide to health and happiness. It’s the simple way to let go of stress and get a better night’s rest. Learn to relax with guided meditations and mindfulness techniques that bring calm, wellness and balance to your life in just a few minutes a day.
10 days free then $7.99-$19.99/month, AMA members receive a free 2-year subscription, Available on Apple and Android.
TalkSpace
Text, audio, and video therapy & counseling from licensed therapists on your handheld device, no appointment needed! Get convenient and confidential help for depression, anxiety, stress and more. TalkSpace’s Unlimited Messaging therapy service allows you to work with a dedicated therapist anytime, anywhere without fear of being judged.
$59-79/week, Available on Apple and Android.
Sleep
Pzizz
Using the latest clinical research, the app's patented system plays you "dreamscapes"— a sleep-optimized mix of music, voiceover, and sound effects that change each night, to quickly quiet your mind, put you to sleep, keep you asleep, and then wake you up feeling refreshed.
Free, Available on Apple and Android.
Sleep Cycle
Track sleep using your phone and start your day feeling energized with our intelligent alarm clock and sleep tracker. Its unique design only wakes you up while you’re in your light sleep phase. Plus, you’ll get detailed reports as Sleep Cycle monitors your sleep patterns, from bedtime until you're waking up. Track sleep and use the data to help you sleep better today.
Free, Available on Apple and Android.
General Health
Organization & Time Management
Focus Matrix
Focus Matrix is a smart personal organizer based on the so-called Eisenhower box, a personal productivity strategy created by Dwight D. Eisenhower. The principle uses a special priority matrix that helps break your tasks into several groups depending on their urgency and importance, and work your way through your daily agenda in the most efficient way possible.
Free, Available on Apple.
Habitica
Treat your life like a game to stay motivated and organized! Habitica makes it simple to have fun while accomplishing goals. Input your Habits, your Daily goals, and your To-Do list, and then create a custom avatar. Check off tasks to level up your avatar and unlock features such as armor, pets, skills, and even quests.
Free, Available on Apple and Android.
Wunderlist
Organize and share your to-do, work, grocery, movies and household lists. No matter what you’re planning, how big or small the task may be, Wunderlist makes it super easy to get stuff done.
Free, Available on Apple, Android, Kindle, and Web.
Note-Taking
Drawboard
Markup and annotate any PDF with the ease of pen and paper. Drawboard PDF is popular for its smooth and natural pen inking, uniquely intuitive and easy user interface, pen and touch compatibility and an impressive array of markup and text review tools.
$11.99, Available on Windows.
iAnnotate PDF
iAnnotate is all new and better than ever. It’s the best way to read, annotate, and share PDFs, Microsoft Office files, images and web pages! Over 1 million people turn to iAnnotate to take notes, sign agreements, highlight documents, insert stamps and more.
$9.99, Available on Apple.
Medical Apps
MDCalc
MDCalc Clinical Decision Support is created exclusively by board-certified physicians for use by physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and medical students. The simple yet sleek app provides access to more than 270 easy-to-use clinical decision tools including risk scores, algorithms, equations, formulas, classifications, dosing calculators, and more.
Free, Available on Apple and Android.
Read by QxMD
Read by QxMD provides a single place to keep up with new medical & scientific research, read outstanding topic reviews and search PubMed. The app provides a simple interface that drives discovery and seamless access to the medical literature by reformatting it into a personalized digital journal.
Free, Available on Apple and Android.
