Discord is a widely used instant messaging, voice chat, and social platform with thousands of unique communities—or servers—and programmed bots for specific purposes. Some of these bots and servers are great mental health resources that can help you manage day-to-day feelings while using the platform.
For example, if you’re an avid gamer who uses Discord for long hours, it can be difficult to prioritize self-care simultaneously. Having programmed bots remind you to take breaks, check up on yourself, and provide additional resources can be extremely helpful. Here’s a list of Discord resources that support your mental health.
1. Aphrodite
Aphrodite is a mental health support bot deployed on over 16,000 servers across Discord. It has a list of commands that provide helpful coping tools and resources. You can browse through all the commands by adding a forward slash (/) prefix. That displays all the free and premium commands available in Aphrodite.
For example, the /breathe command generates a GIF that prompts you to breathe along with the animation. A 2019 study has shown that deep breathing can help relieve stress and symptoms of anxiety. The One Deep Breath app uses deep breathing techniques and patterns to achieve this. However, a Discord bot can be helpful if you want to lower your stress levels relatively quickly and without switching to another application.
Other features of Aphrodite that support mental health are positive affirmations, a cute animal photo generator, a mood tracker, journaling and self-care tips, a list of resources, and more. The bot also has premium commands with more fun features that are accessible with a donation to the developers.
2. RTS Bot
Guardians MH, a 501c3 non-profit organization that promotes mental health awareness in the gaming community, developed the Real Time Support (RTS) bot. RTS is a resource-oriented bot designed to help you find nearby therapists and provide digital mental health kits. It also has a mobile app called GuardiansMH with more in-depth educational content about mental health.
Through the RTS bot, you can access condition-specific resources. For example, try typing the command /resource and an add-on keyword like anxiety. The bot will present anxiety-specific helplines, information links, and actionable resources. Having access to condition-specific resources is a great feature, especially if your Discord server has a lot of people.
Some more useful features of RTS include a crisis command for mental health emergencies, adding notices to a server, and country-wise resources. If you find the resources helpful, you can choose to support Guardians MH directly on their website or through the Discord bot.
3. Kai — Wellness Companion
Kai is an AI-infused wellness companion that is built to provide emotional support and improve your mental well-being. Kai relies on natural language processing (NLP) and natural language generation (NLG) algorithms. Its functionality is similar to ChatGPT but more focused on mental well-being.
You can use commands in your server for specific actions such as motivating members, sending them positive affirmations, or a virtual gift. However, what sets Kai apart is the one-on-one chat feature. Several chatbots such as Woebot have limited conversational functionality and rely on pre-defined answers. When chatting with the Kai bot, you can use a conversational tone and get a human-centric response.
Initially, Kai sends you a happiness quiz that gauges your satisfaction, mood, mental health, and overall happiness. Then, it understands your goals and suggests exercises and sessions to help you attain them. Therefore, this bot acts like a holistic AI companion that can have a lasting impact on your mental health. Kai’s chat is free for the first three days, after which you require a monthly subscription.
A study published in the JMIR Formative Research journal found a significant improvement in the mental well-being of over 2,900 Kai users. The more the users interacted with the bot, the better they felt by the end of the study. Kai’s ability to factor in your previous responses to customize the conversations is a game-changer for mental health bots.
4. Reminder Bot
One of the most common reasons for a decline in mental health is stress. Physical and mental stress is a common phenomenon when gaming for long hours without breaks. Therefore, using a simple reminder bot to notify you is a great way to relax.
X Bot is a reminder bot that can set custom reminders, play hangman, generate random images and quotes, create polls, and more. Its multifunctional usage can be used as a distraction from stressful tasks, too. For example, use X Bot to set customized break reminders. It uses the prefix “>” by default. Also, you can find all the commands listed in the X Bot’s Swamp community server.
For example, after installing the bot, you can set a break reminder such as >reminder add 60m take a break from gaming. The bot will then send you a break notification in an hour.
5. Public Servers for Mental Health
Joining a public server for mental health is a great way to share your experiences with other people. These servers provide a community experience where you can interact with like-minded individuals. Additionally, guidance and tips shared on some of these servers can help with self-care.
Servers such as Kai’s Haven and Huddleverse are great places to seek emotional support. Kai’s Haven is a server created by the developers of the Kai bot. Here, you can use the extended functionality of Kai or interact with the community. Huddleverse is an expansive server where you can access journaling prompts, mental health podcasts, and crisis hotlines for free.
Joining a public server provides you with a sense of community and belonging. For example, if you’re dealing with OCD, interacting with people in a similar situation can help with relatability. Thus, you can explore the vast library of Discord’s public servers.
Use Bots and Servers For a Positive Experience
The effectiveness of Discord bots depends on how you use them. They are simply sets of algorithms that are designed to assist you in your mental health journey. Hence, by implementing mental health tips and using the resources they provide, you can make the most out of them. Additionally, integrating bots with public servers can elevate your experience even further and provide emotional support to an entire community.
