Emotional instability: what is it and in what signs can it be detected?

This psychological characteristic is associated with the idea of having sudden mood swings.

Emotions are the foundation of our mental activity. Without them, we would not be able to orient our behavior towards any particular goal, nor would we know in an approximate way what we want and do not want in our lives.

However, having such a resource as a Wide range of emotions has a not so positive side: the possibility of experiencing emotional instability.. Let's see in what it consists and in what ways it can appear.

What is emotional instability?

Emotional instability is a personality trait that belongs to the spectrum of neuroticism, and it is expressed through the expression of relatively abrupt changes in a person's emotional state..

In some cases, emotional instability can be practically innocuous, if the context is propitious; but in other extreme cases, psychological phenomenon linked to the discomfort of both the first-person experience both of the person who experiences it in the first person and of the people close to him/her.

Characteristics of emotionally unstable people

Among the typical characteristics of people with emotional instability, the following stand out.

1. Bias towards discomfort

It may seem that in certain aspects emotionally unstable people live life with intensity, but the fact that they are so sensitive to the changes that occur with each situation makes them often focus their attention on those experiences that make them feel bad. those experiences that make them feel bad, whether out of anger, sadness or fear..

This is due to a bias aimed at trying to get away from discomfort, as a priority objective, more important than enjoying those moments of happiness.

2. Rapid mood swings

Emotional instability makes the stimuli of the present easily prevail over emotional states derived from experiences that have happened recently, even though the new situations that trigger those emotions are apparently less important than what has happened before and has left us with a good or bad taste in our mouths.

For example, someone with emotional instability who passed his driving test a few hours ago may feel very sad when watching a TV commercial with a sad message.

3. Low frustration tolerance

Emotionally unstable people tend not to assimilate well the moments in which their expectations are frustrated.They see these situations as added problems simply because they are unexpected.

4. Complex personal relationships

In general, people with pronounced emotional instability find it difficult to have a broad social and support network. difficulties in having a broad social and support network, as their social skills sufferTheir social skills suffer as a result of low control over emotions.

The extreme case: affective lability

When emotional instability becomes so pronounced that it can be considered a symptom of an it can be considered a symptom of a mental disorderis known as affective lability. This is a frequent phenomenon in psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia, cyclothymia or bipolar disorder.

In these cases, the situation is serious and can even go hand in hand with other symptoms that strongly affect emotional states, such as hallucinations.

Is it possible to learn to control emotions?

In non-pathological cases of emotional instability, it is often possible to train the ability to regulate emotions in a useful and adaptive way. the capacity to regulate the emotions in a useful and adaptive way.. However, this usually requires psychological intervention with the help of professionals in this discipline.

The field of Emotional Intelligencein particular, is an area of intervention that points to promising discoveries. It is known that this mental aptitude is related to general intelligence (measured by IQ) without being exactly the same, and that it has to do with the ease with which we become happy.

In order to enjoy a better emotional balance, it is therefore necessary to go through a series of practical situations that help us to develop life habits that promote a joint and coherent vision of our experiences, as well as a modification of our fundamental beliefs through what is known as cognitive restructuring. In this way, tremendist interpretations of reality, which make us prone to sudden mood swings, will lose strength in favor of a more realistic perception of things.