Don't panic

Don’t Panic‘ is a free app which offers psychological first aid.

The app has sevenbasic modules: depression, anxiety & panic attacks, self-harm, suicidal thoughts, mood monitoring, eating disorder and professional help resources.

The module DEPRESSION contains the WHAT CAN HELP ME feature, including suggestions that could help the user feel better (e.g. exercise, meditation, listening to music, watching videos, drawing, guided relaxation). ACTIVITY PLANNER, which motivates the user to create a to-do list of tasks (check off, edit or delete the accomplished goals anytime) and WHAT MADE ME HAPPY to help the individual focus on the positives of the past day.

The module ANXIETY & PANIC ATTACKS aims on helping the user overcome intense feelings of anxiety and panic attacks. It includes two types of breathing exercises, designed to immediately help the individual to calm down. The first exercise focuses on deep breathing only – switching between inhaling and exhaling. The second exercise is focused on the ‚box breathing‘ technique– full inhale, holding your breath, full exhale and again holding your breath.

Another feature included in this module is COUNTING of simple mathematical equations to help the user focus on something other than the anxious thoughts and physical reactions that accompany each panic attack. The equations are automatically generated and include addition, subtraction and multiplication of numbers 0 to 9, and are immediately corrected. The last feature in this module includes more suggestions on what to do when feeling anxious (e.g. breathing exercise, count from 100 to 0, watch your favourite film etc.)

The module SELF HARM tries to distract from the urges. Once again it provides two breathing exercises. The feature WHAT CAN HELP ME includes suggestions what to do instead of hurting yourself (take an ice-cube or red marker and move it across your skin where you would usually hurt yourself, write down your emotions and describe how you feel and then destroy the piece of paper, scream, exercise or try to diffuse the intense emotions through painting or guided relaxation).

The SUICIDAL THOUGHTS module provides a list of reasons and activities and which could prevent the thoughts or at least show the value of one‘s life. The users create their own EMERGENCY PLANS. The app enables the user to make list of safe activities as an alternative scenario to follow in crisis. The plan includes: who will I contact, what will I say/write, what will I do or where will I go in case of an emergency. It is ideal to create the plan when one is able to think rationally or with the help of another person. This feature also includes a list of people who care about the individual and would potentially be hurt by his actions.

In the REASONS TO STAY ALIVE section, users can create a list of people, things and activities they like or care about enough to stop them from committing suicide. There are a few default entries in the list for users to have an idea what kind of reasons they might put in. And again – the breathing exercises are included in the SUICIDAL THOUGHT module.

In the last module – PROFESSIONAL HELP RESOURCES – there is a list of phone numbers with the option of directly calling the ambulance, hot lines and crisis centres. We also included links to chat rooms in case anyone prefers typing over speaking.

Thank you to Nevypusť duši for supporting our app.

The app is open-source with source codes available here: https://github.com/cesko-digital/nepanikar