Our featured service this month is MoodMission, an app designed to help people cope with stress, low moods, and anxiety. The app is evidence-based and aims to empower users to overcome feelings of depression and anxiety by discovering new and better ways of coping. By engaging with coping strategies to prevent everyday mood disturbances MoodMission hopes to prevent users from developing mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety disorders.

About MoodMission

MoodMission is an app for low moods and anxious feelings that teaches users new and better ways of coping by suggesting ‘missions’, which are short, easily achievable coping strategies. Based on cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and other evidence-based psychological therapies, the app learns a user’s unique coping style and tailors future mission suggestions based on past successes.

When users tell the MoodMission app how they are feeling, it provides a tailored list of 5 simple, quick, effective, evidence-based ‘Missions’ to improve their mood. These missions are mental health strategies backed up by scientific evidence including:

• Mindfulness meditation
• Relaxation
• Exercise and fitness activities
• Affirmations and coping statements
• Behavioural activation
• Yoga
• Gratitude
• More proven mood-boosting activities

Completing missions earns users rewards in the app, providing motivation to take steps towards becoming healthier, happier, and more confident. The app learns which types of missions users prefer, tailoring the suggestions over time as well as providing a mission log to help users track their progress.

Tailored workshops and presentations can be arranged for MoodMission personnel to visit organisations and practices where service providers can learn about how to best use MoodMission with their patients, clientele or consumers. For enquires visit https://moodmission.com/

What are the benefits of using MoodMission?

There are several benefits to using the MoodMission app including:

• Improving mood and confidence.
• Getting a deeper understanding of your own psychology and emotions.
• Learning which coping strategies work best for you.

A randomised controlled trial has shown that MoodMission can improve mental health and wellbeing. These results have been published and can be accessed in the papers listed below.

Who is MoodMission for?

MoodMission is for use with people of all ages, with a focus on late adolescence and early adulthood, and all mental health statuses – not just those with a clinically diagnosed issue.

What is the aim of MoodMission?

MoodMission aims to empower people to change the way they feel by providing easily accessible, evidence-based mental health and wellbeing support. The app aims to achieve this by:

• Showing people new and better ways of dealing with mood and anxiety problems.
• Educating and enlightening people about their own psychology and the importance of practicing self care.
• Linking people in with professional or clinical supports.

Is there a cost to use MoodMission?

The app has a small, one-time cost of $7.99 to download.

How to access MoodMission

MoodMission can be downloaded from the iTunes App Store and the Google Play Store.

MoodMission Evidence

Surveys for data collection and outcome research are built in to MoodMission. Users complete measures of anxiety, depression, positive well-being, emotional self-awareness, mental health literacy, and coping self-efficacy at the start of use and 30 days after.

MoodMission is built using evidence-based principles developed in a recent literature review (Bakker, D. R., Kazantzis, N., Rickwood, D., & Rickard, N. (2016). Mental health smartphone apps: Review and evidence-based recommendations for future developments. JMIR Mental Health, 3, e7. https://dx.doi.org/10.2196/mental.4984

MoodMission Publications

Aizenstros, A., Bakker, D., Hofmann, S. G., Curtiss, J., & Kazantzis, N. (2021, Sep). Engagement with smartphone-delivered behavioural activation interventions: a study of the MoodMission smartphone application. Behav Cogn Psychother, 49(5), 569-581. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1352465820000922

Bakker, D., Kazantzis, N., Rickwood D., & Richard, N. (2018, 2018/11/01). Development and Pilot Evaluation of Smartphone-Delivered Cognitive Behaviou Therapy Strategies for Mood- and Anxiety-Related Problems: ModdMission. Cognitive and Behavioural Practice, 25(4), 496-514. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpra.2018.07.002

Bakker, D., & Rickard, N. (2019). Engagement with a cognitive behavioural therapy mobile phone app predicts changes in mental health and wellbeing: MoodMission. Australian Psychologist, 54(4), 245-260. https://doi.org/10.1111/ap.12383

We recently spoke to David Bakker, Founding Director of Mood Mission, on the Digital Mental Health Musings podcast to take a deeper look at the MoodMisison app, how it can be used by health professionals and more. Listen to the full conversation to find out more at https://www.emhprac.org.au/resource/s2e2-spotlight-on-moodmission/