There are tens of thousands of commercially available mental health apps on the market, many hugely popular. But how do these apps portray mental health and how does this suggest mental health problems should be managed?

Research led by the University of Sydney aimed to identify how the advertising materials for popular mental health apps frame mental health, and what the apps offer around diagnosis and management.

They assessed the advertising material of 61 prominent mental health apps available in the USA, UK, Canada and Australia during late 2016, focusing on apps that explicitly referenced mental health diagnoses or symptoms and offered diagnosis, guidance or made health claims.

Two dominant messages about mental health were identified: poor or fragile mental health is ubiquitous and individuals can easily manage their own mental health problems with apps.

Published in the Annals of Family Medicine today, the research extends work by the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre’s Evidence, Policy and Influence Collaborative, and was conducted with the University’s School of Pharmacy, Western Sydney Local Health District and University of Adelaide.

The findings are cause for concern for a number of reasons says lead author Dr Lisa Parker, a Postdoctoral Research Associate with the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre and School of Pharmacy.

“Implying mental health problems are present in everyone promotes the medicalisation of normal states,” Dr Parker said.

“The apps we assessed tended to encourage frequent use and promoted personal responsibility for improvement.