Emotional instability: effects of unresolved emotional problems.

Let's look at how unaddressed psychological problems cause mood swings to emerge.

Experiencing unpleasant emotions is part of life and cannot be considered a psychological problem. In fact, it is part of what allows us to avoid situations capable of harming us, and it is also part of what motivates us to improve our situation in times of crisis. That is why no one should go to a psychologist for the simple fact of feeling bad from time to time.

However, when mood swings are very abrupt, very frequent and very pronounced, this is an indication that there is a bad dynamic of emotional management. This is the case, for example, with emotional instability caused by the accumulation of unresolved emotional problems.Let us see what this phenomenon consists of.

• Related article, "What is trauma and how does it influence our lives?"

Why does emotional instability arise?

Experiencing unstable emotionality, prone to rapidly shifting into states of well-being and discomfort in the face of situations that do not warrant such a reaction, is a psychological phenomenon that occurs for a number of reasons. For example, it is one of the characteristics of mood disorders such as bipolar disorder, and can also be triggered by the consumption of certain drugs.

However, it can also be However, it can also be caused by anxiety disorders, or even by psychological complications that do not quite fit the diagnostic criteria of any particular psychopathology. of any particular psychopathology. In fact, it is relatively common that the root of the problem has to do with unresolved emotional problems, which may have accumulated over months or even years.

Why is this? Emotional instability is one of the consequences of dysfunctional stress and anxiety management. When our nervous system enters into the dynamic of keeping us always alert and paying attention to possible signs that something is wrong around us, this predisposes us to fall into psychological rumination and obsessive-type thoughts.

In other words: it makes us more vulnerable to intrusive thoughts which, in a very short time, put us "on the defensive" about what might happen to us. It leads us to constantly revisit our memories and explore worrisome hypotheses through our imagination. This can anchor us in a mixture of self-feeding anticipatory anxiety on the one hand, and on the other, generate fear of making decisions and taking the wrong action at key moments.

Thus, emotional instability makes us very sensitive to ideas and mental images that can cause our anxiety levels to skyrocket.. And from this psychological state, we can move on to a mixture of anguish and sadness (if we think about the difference between how we would like to feel and how we feel), guilt (if we assume that the discomfort we suffer and/or have caused is entirely our responsibility), fear (if we believe that not acting quickly can lead us to suffer much more), etc.

Emotional instability and unresolved psychological problems.

As we have seen, this tendency to suffer sudden mood swings is due to a dynamic of accumulation of problems, a "snowball effect".. When we feel vulnerable because of something that has happened to us and has left in us an emotional imprint that produces discomfort, it is easy that many things that happen to us make us think of that which has made us suffer.

In this way, those emotionally painful memories are reinforced and associated to our way of thinking about the world and about ourselves, so there are more situations that can lead us to evoke those contents of our memory (even if it is automatically and without us intending it).

From this vicious circle, we become trapped in psychological rumination. As we find it difficult to manage the negative emotions produced by these memories, we gradually give up interacting with our environment in a way that allows us to stop feeling bad, and we focus on fighting the discomfort. we focus on combating the discomfort through introspection.We try to suppress anxiety, stop thinking about what makes us sad, and so on.

But this is not an effective way to overcome unresolved psychological problems, since it is impossible to fully control our emotions. And at the same time, we miss opportunities to take steps to improve our situation through concrete actions that allow us to attend to our responsibilities, ask for help, foresee the accumulation of tasks and manage time properly, etc.

In short, psychological or solved problems attract more unresolved psychological problems, as they lead toThey lead us to:

• Focusing our attention on how bad we feel, rather than on possible solutions in the here and now.
• Trying to avoid certain anxiety-generating memories, postponing our responsibilities.
• Not asking for help when we need it, as we become obsessed with trying to feel better from introspection and not from interaction with the environment.

As a result, the stimuli capable of making us think about what worries us and generates anguish are multiplying, and therefore, in a matter of minutes we can go from feeling good to feeling bad.As a result, in a matter of minutes we can go from feeling good to feeling very bad.

• Article related: "Anguish: symptoms, causes and possible treatments".

What can be done in psychotherapy?

In psychological therapy it is possible to learn the necessary skills of emotional management in order that the emotional instability by psychological problems not taken care of stop wearing down our quality of life.. The main ways to try to achieve this are the following:

• Training in time management and task sequencing.
• Anxiety management training based on acceptance and non-avoidance of emotions.
• Cognitive restructuring so as not to feed excessively blaming belief systems.
• Learning of techniques that allow us to move from guilt to a proactive and constructive problem-solving mentality.
• Social skills training to express discomfort in an appropriate way and to know how to ask for help.

Do you want professional psychological support?

If you are looking for psychotherapy services, contact our team of professionals.

Since 2012, in Despertares Psychologists we have helped more than 5,500 people of all ages to overcome and manage problems such as anxiety disorders, relationship crises, family conflicts, depression, low self-esteem, bereavement, trauma, ADHD, and more. You can count on our services both in our psychology offices in Madrid, Getafe, Móstoles and Leganés, as well as through online therapy by video call.