Thinkladder

What is Thinkladder app?

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy underpins a great deal of the help mental health professionals provide to people who consult with them. It is a drug-free therapy that has wide-ranging peer-reviewed scientific papers to inform it.

It is a complex approach, and anyone who is experiencing mental health issues should consult a professional rather than rely on self-help, but cognitive behavioural therapy is an approach that we can all consider to help shape how we deal with life.

Thinkladder asks new users to look at a set of themes to identify where they might need help. These themes aren’t visual as you might expect from the typical use of this word in apps but a collection of symptoms. For example, there are themes called ‘People Pleasing’, ‘Anxiety’, and ‘Self worth’. Each of these has a set of symptoms, limiting beliefs, and insights associated with it.

A symptom is a habit, emotion, or something else that causes negativity. Limiting beliefs are those aspects of your core personality that lead to the symptom. Without reflecting and external suggestions, you might not even notice these beliefs.

The insights are ways to see, feel, and think differently and break out of the pattern leading to negative feelings. They also incorporate journal prompts for exploring and recording your thoughts and feelings concerning the symptom and insight.

This review is based on the full iOS app, which differs from Android by including a Thinkladder practices section. On iOS, these include audio-based guides and prompts to think about the good in your life.

What we love about Thinkladder app.

There are many self-help apps available, and many make claims of scientific foundations, but Thinkladder is one of the few that go into its underpinnings in detail. Its website has an excellent introduction to cognitive behavioural therapy.

Remember, it is only an introduction to CBT for a general audience, not an exhaustive analysis, but it will leave you informed and, crucially, provide you with independent links and sources to look further if you choose. We certainly applaud an app that treats its audience as self-thinking individuals rather than empty vessels to be moulded by marketing.

Thinkladder fits in with how its users want to use the app rather than forcing them into a pattern that might not suit them. The app will remind you to engage with it based on time or location.

Each person may have a preference for what triggers their reminders, but their situation might also influence which is best. For example, if your theme is ‘Workplace’ which may not be too unusual for teachers, then having the app prompt you to reflect based on location could be useful. When triggered, the app will remind you of insights you have decided are helpful to keep in mind at the chosen place.

Finally, mental health is something that everyone should be aware of, in themselves and their family. Thinkladder helps build this awareness and provides practical ways to improve mental health.

What skills does it improve?

Thinkladder’s developers have made it to support its users’ as they make long-term changes to how they deal with events, emotions, and feelings.

What age is it appropriate for?

Thinkladder’s guidance is sensible regarding the age of those who should use it. The app is not for those under the age of 13.

Kids’ mental health is the concern of parents, schools, and health care professionals; communication between these is vital to help detect problems and support kids through them. For kids aged 13 to 17, Thinkladder should be used under the supervision of a guardian or mental-health professional. There is always a risk with kids that they are hiding underlying problems.

Is Thinkladder app easy to use?

An app for personal reflectivity is not the place for complexity or flamboyant graphical effects. Thinkladder is simple to navigate and has a visually gentle theme. Structuring the help it provides into themes and symptoms is a very intuitive way to help users understand how to use the app best.

How will teachers benefit?

Teachers are encouraged to be self-reflective regarding their teaching. Noticing where they were strong in a lesson and where they need improvement helps teachers make that lesson better next time. Doing this for a series of lessons helps them become better teachers whatever the lesson.

This is what Thinkladder encourages its users to do within their lives. The professional life of teachers often blurs with their home life, and it is too easy to become entirely reactive to events, situations and feelings. You deal with each one as it arrives and then move on to the next without reflecting on how you felt or dealt with it. Next time you’ll do the same.

Thinkladder provides a handy ‘pause button’ in the form of prompts and structures to stop, think and reflect. Many people have read books and guides to help them do this, but the problem with those is that you have no support and structure once you have put the book down. Having Thinkladder redirect you to its methods and give you the scaffold to make the most of them makes it much easier to build into a coherent wellness routine.

Teachers who feel overwhelmed, dissatisfied, or unhappy are not at their best for their students. Thinkladder won’t solve your problems, but its methods will provide you with the tools to look at them differently and gradually change your instinctive approach to one that contributes to your wellness.

How will parents benefit?

As we’ve mentioned, under 14s are not the intended audience for this app. However, parents are. You might find the help provided by Thinkladder invaluable in helping you deal with life. You can also use what you learn to support your kids and guide them towards being more reflective. You’ll also be setting a great example by showing your kids that taking care of your mental health is a natural and valuable thing to do.

If your child is over 13, Thinkladder is very much worth considering to help them form healthy habits and beliefs that will minimise their chances of developing mental health problems. It may also be useful in support of any other counselling or therapy they might receive, and you should discuss this with the appropriate health care professional.

What can Thinkladder app improve on?

New users can begin exploring Thinkladder without creating an account, but when they reach the insights section it will prompt them to create one if they have not already done so. This is common for apps so that users can see how it works before they have to create an account.

In Thinkladder, it feels like a bit of a break in the user’s first journey into reflection. An option to sign in or create an account in advance would be a good option so that if users want to, they can avoid the break in their flow.

The app should describe how users’ journal entries are stored; is it on the device or the app’s servers? While there is no reason to suggest the data is not safe, as these might be private thoughts, it would be reassuring for users to know how much control they retain over them.

How much does Thinkladder app cost?

You can download Thinkladder for free with a restricted set of options.

What is included with the free version vs. paid?

The free download of Thinkladder comes with a single theme so that you can see how it works. Use this to see if its approach might suit you. If it is, you should then consider the in-app purchases to unlock the themes relevant to you.

You can buy the themes singly or all for a reduced price. We’d recommend the latter as when browsing through the themes, you might realise that some of them apply to you that you may not have considered otherwise.

Is Thinkladder app safe to use?

Thinkladder’s user guidance takes a sensible approach to its use. It does not claim to work miracles. It directs anybody in the midst of a mental health emergency to seek professional help. It also makes it clear that while the app could be used in association with professional therapy (do mention you are using it to your therapist), it should not be used as a replacement for it.

There are no advertisements in Thinkladder, whether using the free download or when you’ve paid for an in-app purchase.

The app’s notifications can be geographically based, in which case you will need to allow the app to track your location.

Overall rating of the app.

Thinkladder’s features, ease of use, and value make it a five-star app. It is grounded in realism rather than making unsupported claims and takes a responsible approach to how it might be used. The app’s structure makes the app easy to use and conveys the principles that inform its methods very well.

It is easy to feel that we are dealing with things as well as we can, but just as a draft piece of writing is usually rewarded with further thought and reflection, so are we. If we don’t stop and think about how we meet life’s challenges, we won’t see the opportunities to improve. Thinkladder is an excellent app for prompting you to assess and improve your wellness.

You can download Thinkladder on your iOS or Android devices from the app stores. Download the Thinkladder app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.