General Resources on Well-Being or Therapy

Here are some of my favorite psychologically-oriented content that is easy to understand. They would also help to provide a good foundation for therapy.

• General

  • Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown (Book & TV series). While feelings and emotions are nuanced and sometimes culturally-bound, this is a helpful resource on emotions and that provides good working definitions to begin with.

  • Daring Greatly by Brené Brown (Book). Brené Brown writes about the power of vulnerability. 

  • Rising Strong by Brené Brown (Book). I recommend reading this after Daring Greatly as it builds on what that book describes about vulnerability. "Rising strong after a fall is how we cultivate wholeheartedness. It's the process that teaches us the most about who we are." - Brené Brown

  • How We Feel (App). This app helps users to understand their emotions by tracking them and obtaining patterns. You also have the option to share the information with friends. You can input an emotion when you feel something, or you can also have the app prompt you to input something in the moment.

  • This Is Us (TV Series). Very cliché/cheesy at times but I feel this series is psychologically-minded/-informed and can be thought-provoking and cathartic.

  • On Being by Krista Tippett (Podcast). https://onbeing.org/our-story/. “Every surface of fracture in our world notwithstanding, all of life is being revealed in its insistence on wholeness: the interplay between our bodies, the natural world, the lives we make, the worlds we create. It is the calling of callings to make that vivid and practical and real, starting inside ourselves and with the lives we’ve been given.” - Krista Tippett

  • Inside Out and Inside Out 2 (Movies). I find these movies very helpful resources on emotions, the roles emotions play in our lives, and the work it takes to embrace and regulate them. 

• Mindfulness/Meditation

  • Headspace (App). Their meditations are so helpful as they provide a lot of different tips that might work better for your body. I also highly recommend their sleep content! 

  • How We Feel (App). See “General” section above. 

  • Pema Chödrön’s books. Chödrön is an American Buddhist nun, teacher, and author. In her books, she shares different Buddhist concepts and how they relate to topics, such as fear, suffering, compassion, and mindfulness. 

  • Soul (Movie).

• Mindful Self-Compassion I highly recommend Kristin Neff’s content at https://self-compassion.org/

  • I recommend starting with the Self-Compassion test so you know your baseline: https://self-compassion.org/self-compassion-practices/

  • I love these recorded practices or guided meditations that you can listen to at:  https://self-compassion.org/self-compassion-practices/

• Trauma, PTSD, Complex PTSD

  • What Happened to You by Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey (Book). This is an equally valuable and less jargony alternative to The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk (which is the recommendation in a lot of circles right now).

  • What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo. This is a memoir by Stephanie Foo on her experience of living with complex PTSD. Similar to the book above, I find that she describes a lot of neurobiology/neuropsychology and psychological terms in an understandable way. I don’t want to spoil it, but I highly recommend her audiobook as well! It is so heartening to hear her talk about mental health issues from an Asian and Asian American perspective as she navigates a lot of complex dynamics with her parents and extended family.

Last modified: August 2024.