Do you find music therapeutic when you're having an episode?

i'm wondering what kind of music people find helpful to calm down, or what they like listening to (if anything) if they're having a bit of a moment.

I like to listen to a lot of downtempo things to help me stay calm. Things like Tycho, Tim Koch, Proem, Tipper, as well as classical music.

The Cure usually uplifts my spirits but if I'm feeling like my mood is teetering,

If I'm already in a bad mood, I really love intently listening to (on loud decent speakers!) a track called Kétsarkú Mozgalom, which roughly translated from Hungarian means "Bi-polar", or "2 poles" movement.

It's here if anyone wants to check it out but be warned, it's a very intense piece, as well as challenging, if you've not listened to anything like this before, but I honestly think it's a masterpiece! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX7rjy-qFcI. It changes quite a lot so if you can sit through it, kudos to you

My boyfriend finds it surprising that a track like this would be helpful instead of acting as a trigger, but as it goes faster than racing thoughts do during an episode, it allows me to feel the anger and kind of release so for me it's therapeutic. It has strong contrasts between speedy highs and chaos (although a somewhat ordered), with more and crushing lows and moments of calm (the strings). Lyrics: "I remember being happy here. I remember being sad here".

My boyfriend isn't BPD but has depression issues - if I hear him play stoner rock, I know he's on a downer, otherwise he mainly listens to progressive house!

I mostly listen to artists who write about their pain. So-called uplifting music depresses me because it has no soul. Nick Drake, Damien Rice, Portishead, The Cure, Radiohead - their music speaks my language.

Yes, completely agree with you - been meaning to check out Nick Drake for a while. I also like Portishead and Damien Rice. A few others include Kate Bush (particularly that 50 Words for Snow album that I got into recently - makes me cry at times!), Nick Cave, Sigur Ros, Alice in Chains, Philip Glass, Nine Inch Nails and occasionally a bit of blues.Sometimes when I'm in more of a spiritual kind of mood, I listen to Amazonian or Eastern world music or psy-ambient like Bluetech.

I think you have to be at a certain part of your life to be receptive to certain kinds of music. I used to hate a lot of things that I love now - I used to just consider them to be "noise", but I remember a particular difficult time back in 2009 when my then boyfriend was in intensive care and found myself showing a deeper appreciation for "darker" lyrics and sounds.

Hi updown_14,
I love R&B, soft rock, so whenever i needed to calm down i just play them, then i found a great song that i believe has helped me to accept things that has made me change my ways for "ME"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGs8vtjDxxY
Made my piece, my acceptance of my own mistakes to

When I'm in a bad way I listen to Morrissey, Joy Division, How to Destroy Angels and NIN and stuff like that. In fact, the last time I was really depressed I listened to Nine Inch Nails so much that I can't bear to hear them again. It sucks as I used to really like Trent Reznor.

I listen to things like Tipper, Tycho, The James Taylor Quartet, Ninja Tunes stuff, Squarepusher and jazz when I'm not depressed.

Music has always been a huge part of my life. Maybe it's because I can experience the different emotions in the music (from what I understand, BPD's emotions change a lot)

I find that sometimes it helps me calm down if my emotions didn't take over, but sometimes it will drag me down so much more.

Goes well with drugs too.


I listen to Trip hop/Breakbeat usually, so yeah Portishead is really good and I'm glad it's been mentioned

By the way, I think Kendrick Lamar may have BPD. I relate to his album "To Pimp a Butterfly" and really understand what he's saying.
I also recommend you listen to it if you like hip hop. The production is amazing!