What’s your go-to track when your mind turns crazy? Do you prefer music that mirrors the intensity you’re feeling or soothes it instead? Over the years, I’ve found that a creative mix of both is best when it’s “go time” for PMDD. 

Music truly is medicine—sometimes, the only kind that seems to help. We all have songs that feel more like old friends and keep us company through life’s highs and lows. Based on scientific studies, we can even say that music is a powerful antidote for crisis in its stunning ability to help us connect, express, process, regulate, and heal. 

A few years ago, I made a Spotify playlist about what it’s like having PMDD. I know I’m not the only one. The playlist follows a narrative arc, spotlighting the kaleidoscope of feelings that hit during the luteal phase: rage, sadness or grief, anxiety, irritability, and hopelessness. But it doesn’t leave you there. Instead, it resolves to a resting state again.

What started as a fun idea turned into a collection of songs I’ve returned to time and again. There’s something about the order and narrative structure that brings comfort when my mind is so chaotic and out of control. It’s the one thing I feel like I can control. The playlist provides a safe “container” for my anxiety and emotional distress, to use a word borrowed from the yoga world. 

The 5 Stages of Storytelling 

You may have heard of this thing called Freytag’s Pyramid in English class. It’s a way to organize storytelling into five stages:

• Exposition 

• Rising Action 

• Climax

• Falling Action (the French word is Denouement) 

• Resolution 

PMDD loosely follows these stages. In the days leading up to your period, you’re feeling balanced, and then something triggers you (the inciting action) and rising action builds from there. Have you ever screamed, thrown something, or sent a text you regret? That’s your climax. Once rage gives way to sadness—or vice versa—and you work through those feelings, there is less intensity and maybe some exhaustion. This is the falling action. Finally, we reach a place of emotional equilibrium again, and all is well. Peace reestablished. 

Funny enough, this also resembles the sexual response cycle (minus a stage). Life is metaphor, isn’t it? 

A PMDD-inspired Playlist

So, here’s a PMDD-inspired playlist for you. Freytag’s Pyramid helped guide me as I added tracks that fit well into each stage, or at least the general arc since everyone’s symptoms vary. But don’t just stream mine. Use this playlist as a template to build your own with artists and styles you love. And if you don’t have Spotify, I’ve listed each track below so you can find them on YouTube or another streaming platform.

Exposition 

First, we’ve got Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day and Sweet but Psycho by Ava Max. These are upbeat but with an edge. Usually, I feel highly motivated, even hyperactive, during the luteal phase until two to three days before my period hits. If you’re the same, high-energy pop or rock tracks will energize you to finish those final projects or workouts before things turn ugly. 

Rising Action

Next, three songs that build tension: Don’t Let Me Down by the Chainsmokers, Heavy (feat. Kiiara) by Linkin Park, and Believer by Imagine Dragons. Or you can insert your favorite breakup song here. 

Climax

Hope by NF is our climactic moment, a classic wrestling match with your inner demons. Note: If you want a more hardcore track, try Popular Monster by Falling in Reverse. I admit, I had to solicit the help of my husband’s listening habits for this one. He’s the metalhead. My nervous system usually can’t handle that level of stimuli. As a classically-trained pianist, my musical taste is pretty chill: film scores, indie-folk, or the mesmerizingly moody Nocturne Opus 72 No. 1 in E Minor by Chopin. But I wanted to go big here for our playlist since PMDD is a war for your soul.  

Falling Action (Denouement) 

Then we pause, taking a deep breath with an instrumental piece: Spacewalk by Andrew Osenga or Wilora Lake by All the Bright Lights. These melodies are hauntingly beautiful, and the second has a light rainfall in the background.

After this interlude is Older Than I Am by Lennon Stella, a tender confession of fragility. This one always gets me. It feels like a great exhale. 

Next is Be Kind to Yourself by Andrew Peterson, Better Days by Noah Gundersen, and You Can’t Rush Your Healing by Trevor Hall. This is the contemplative stage of our musical journey, reconnecting us to the softer places in our hearts and inspiring us with fresh hope.  

Resolution 

We close the playlist with The Perfect Morning by Milton Lainey, a gentle piano track featuring birdsong. Birdsong is a calming sound that signals peace and safety since birds in the wild only sing when there are no active threats. Enjoy this final piece as your parasympathetic nervous system kicks in and you find well-being again. 

Final Thoughts 

Now it’s your turn! Feel free to use this as a loose template for building your own PMDD-inspired playlist.

When you listen, try pairing it with a movement-based activity (rather than, say, driving). When we’re this vulnerable, our judgment gets impaired, and exercise is a constructive way to relieve stress. It’s good to sweat. We detox that way, physically and emotionally. Even walking briskly will help.  

Be well + happy listening!

MEET BAILEY

Bailey is a writer and musician from Northern California. She’s also a former massage therapist and loves talking about all things writing, wellness, and spiritual formation.

Follow Bailey on Instagram @bailey_bluebird and subscribe to her lifestyle podcast, Listen to Your Life.

Other pieces by Bailey: Writing as a Healing Practice | Dating with PMDD