Menstruation and Mental Health Resources

Find helpful resources for understanding menstruation and mental health, including books, blog posts, PMDD and menstrual health apps, peer support groups, podcasts, and TED or TEDx Talks.

Books

Blog Posts

• Menstrual Cycle Self-Care: Best Practices for Each Phase
• How to Manage Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD)?
• How Menopause Impacts Your Mental Health?

PMDD & Menstrual Mental Health Apps

• PMDD Tracker
  Click here
  A dedicated PMDD symptom tracker for recording menstrual-cycle information, emotional symptoms, physical symptoms, treatments, and daily notes. It can generate reports that can be brought to medical or mental-health appointments and helps reveal whether symptoms consistently follow a cyclical pattern.
• Belle Period & PMDD Tracker
  Click here
  Specifically designed for PMS and PMDD tracking. Users can monitor mood, energy, sleep, pain, periods, and other symptoms and look for patterns across multiple cycles rather than relying on memory of how they felt the previous month.
• HealCycle — PMDD Tracker
  Click here
  Combines cycle and symptom tracking with tools for emotional difficulties associated with PMDD. It allows users to monitor anxiety, depression, mood swings, fatigue, physical symptoms, triggers, and symptom severity throughout the cycle.

PMDD Peer Support & Support Groups

• IAPMD Peer Support
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  A central directory for free PMDD and PME peer-support options. It includes online communities and live support opportunities for people who want to speak with others who understand the monthly emotional and functional changes associated with premenstrual disorders.

PMDD & Menstrual Mental Health Podcasts

• The Sirona Health Podcast: PMDD, Hormones & Mental Health — Dr. Georgina Standen
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  An evidence-focused podcast hosted by a physician specializing in women’s health. It covers PMDD, PMS, reproductive hormones, mental health, perimenopause, treatment, and the relationship between the menstrual cycle and the brain.
• PMDD Pep Talk
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  A podcast entirely focused on living with PMDD. Episodes address symptom patterns, difficult luteal phases, relationships, travel, stress, diagnosis, treatment, and practical strategies for managing everyday life.
• Living Well With PMDD
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  Combines lived experience with discussions about mood, relationships, parenting, health, work, and everyday life with PMDD. It also includes explanations of conditions such as PME.

Specific PMDD & Menstrual Mental Health Podcast Episodes

• PMDD and Mental Health: What’s Really Going On? — The Dr Louise Newson Podcast
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  A doctor discusses her own experience of PMDD, including severe mental-health symptoms and difficulty obtaining the correct diagnosis. The conversation explores how menstrual-cycle changes can affect mental health and why those patterns are sometimes missed.
• How Your Menstrual Cycle Can Impact Your Mental Health: PMS, PMDD + PME — Peace of Mind
  Click here
  Clinical psychologist Dr. Jaclyn Ross explains the differences between PMS, PMDD, and PME and how menstrual-cycle-related changes can affect anxiety, depression, mood, and everyday functioning.
• Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder — CPD eLearning Talks To…
  Click here
  A clinically focused discussion of PMDD involving mental-health professionals. It covers common presentations, stigma, psychological symptoms, social consequences, and treatment options.
• PMS vs. PMDD: When Your Hormones Hijack Your Brain — Hump Day Hormones
  Click here
  Explains differences among ordinary PMS, PMDD, and PME. It also discusses mood changes, anxiety, depression, irritability, brain fog, symptom tracking, and why understanding the timing of symptoms is so important.
• What Is Premenstrual Exacerbation (PME)? — Living Well With PMDD
  Click here
  A useful introduction to PME for people whose mental-health symptoms exist throughout the month but become noticeably worse before their period. It explains why PME can sometimes be mistaken for PMDD.
• Extreme PMS Symptoms: Are They Normal? — Fempower Health
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  An interview with an IAPMD educator covering PMDD symptoms, possible triggers, diagnosis, finding knowledgeable healthcare professionals, and treatment options.

TED & TEDx Talks About Menstrual Mental Health

• The Good News About PMS — Robyn Stein DeLuca
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  Psychologist Robyn Stein DeLuca examines myths and assumptions about menstruation and women’s emotions. It is useful for separating genuine menstrual-health problems from stereotypes that dismiss women’s emotions as simply “hormonal.”
• Why Can’t We Talk About Periods? — Jen Gunter
  Click here
  Gynecologist Dr. Jen Gunter challenges menstrual shame and misinformation. The talk explains why understanding menstruation as a normal biological process matters for recognizing genuine health problems instead of hiding or dismissing symptoms.
• We Need to Talk About Menstruation — Henriette Ceyrac
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  Looks at how cultural attitudes surrounding menstruation can affect emotional health and self-esteem. It is particularly relevant to the broader mental-health impact of menstrual stigma.
• A Menstrual Mindset — Isobel Marshall
  Click here
  Introduces the menstrual cycle and encourages greater understanding of changes that can occur across different phases. It can provide useful background for people beginning to track how mood, energy, or functioning changes throughout the month.