Breathe for Anxiety

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 40 million adults in the US aged 18 and older (or 18% of the population) are affected by anxiety disorders.

Over four million of these Americans also suffer from panic attacks (5% of the adult population).

These are low numbers…after all, many anxiety disorders and panic attacks are never diagnosed as the sufferers "live with it."

This app exists as a tool for people who are "living with it."

I volunteer for an excellent organization called the Crisis Text Line, which you can learn more about by tapping the button in the menu.

One way we help people currently experiencing a panic or anxiety attack is by instructing them to breathe, even sharing animated images to assist with this. But I know when I personally struggle with anxiety, the last thing I can think to do is google an image on the Web, download it to my computer or phone, and view it.

So I thought…what if there was an app that could help to regulate your breathing and calm you down that was only a single button push away? Wouldnt that be great?

I found out that this didnt exist, so I decided to build it myself.

The instructions are simple enough…simply open the app, and start breathing along with the on-screen animation. Note that this will, in many cases, NOT stop a panic attack. What it should do, however, is regulate your breathing to calm you down faster and stop some of the common symptoms of panic attacks (like light-headedness, etc).

Just keep breathing,
Collin Stover
Developer