If you’ve had to wait for mental health treatment on the NHS, you’ll understand desperation. You’ll also understand frustration. It’s not their fault – blame privatisation and underfunding. But knowing that doesn’t help. You find yourself crawling through the mire of your brain mess, towards an appointment you’ve placed all hope on, while days draw into weeks. The date arrives and after concerned nodding and bunched brows, you’re put on the real waiting list that stretches onwards a bit like that Route 66 photograph everyone knows.

It’s not hyperbole, either, sadly. One in 10 people seeking treatment for a mental illness have waited more than a year to get help through the public health service. And during that time, you’ll be looking around hopelessly for something else on offer. Helplines. Medication, where appropriate. Talking to family and friends. And increasingly, apps. 

We carry out every life admin task on our phone, so why not make ourselves better with it? That’s even what the NHS themselves recommend. But with the increase of #content and apps and information, it looks like real gems of help are being washed away. 

According to a new study in the journal Evidence Based Mental Health, as many as 85 per cent of the apps it recommends for depression are not clinically proven to have any effect. Researchers surveyed 14 apps dedicated to depression and anxiety out of the 27 listed by the NHS for mental health issues, and only found four provide evidence of effectiveness. 

“It is quite hard for many people to get seen, and there are a lot of people who don't want to be seen face to face, so if you could find a good app or series of good apps it could help people who are struggling to be treated who have a high risk of self harm or suicide,” Simon Leigh, co-author of the report, said.

Unfortunately, the majority of apps out there might not be doing anything to help at all. One of the apps investigated actually asks users to put their hands in the air for extended periods of time to cure depression. Worryingly, Leigh said the NHS doesn’t offer any explanation why any of the 14 apps were included in the approved list.

If there’s any positive in this, at least the study has brought attention to four apps proven effective to some degree. These are WorkGuru, Happy Healthy, Big White Wall, and Moodscope, if you’re interested.

Significantly, the researchers are calling for the NHS to remove the apps from the library until they’re more effectively evaluated. As we move through an unstable time for the NHS, with more cuts under a Tory government and no sign of waiting lists decreasing, it seems inevitable that apps – and self-help generally – will be increasingly important to sufferers who can’t afford to go private.