I am working on an App (web and phone-based) that aims to encourage this sort of change in thinking with a focus on depression. If you, or someone you know, are interested in being a Beta tester drop me an email - me@alexmuir.com - it's a couple of months off being ready for testing.
Speaking as someone who once felt the same way, and has been paying lawyers the equivalent of a mortgage payment for the last three years, do yourself a favor and look in to insurance. At least some basic form will give you something to throw at a plaintiff should the day arrive. Attorneys working on contingency are incredibly difficult to convince that your start-up has no assets, and they seem happy to drag the suit out until you do.
There are plenty of "mood chart" apps, which are used with self-guided Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. There are self-guided apps, websites, and books for CBT too.
Not really. If the company is successful enough to be worth suing then brilliant. If the app does any harm to people (pretty unlikely I think) then a lawsuit will be the least of my worries.
Alex, I wouldn't be worried of the app harming someone so much as someone hurting themselves and their family blaming it on you or your app in a search for a cause of their loved one's suicide.
Add in a lawyer who smells a case, and you could wind up in legal trouble quickly without actually harming anyone. Don't give up on it, just shield yourself appropriately.
As far as waiting until you are successful to do this, there's really no way for you to tell what mental state a purchaser of your app is in, and however unlikely it may be, a tragic scenario similar to what I described above could happen to one of your first users. I think in your case it would be wise to protect yourself now instead of waiting.
