Emotional lability: what is it and what are its symptoms?
If something characterizes emotions, it is that they come and go without having, many times, a specific cause that triggers them.. For example, a person may feel sad at a time when everything seems to indicate that he should be happy, or the opposite may also be the case.
To put it in some way, each person has a range of emotions that they usually express relatively independently of their context. Some tend to experience more emotions with joy, and others less. However, sometimes the variation of emotions can be very significant. In these cases we speak of emotional lability.
What is emotional lability?
The concept of emotional lability refers to a tendency to change quickly and abruptly in terms of emotional state.
When this psychological phenomenon occurs, emotions vary almost as if they followed the movement of a pendulum, although not necessarily with that regularity between periods.
Duration of mood swings
Emotional lability can be expressed in variations of emotion that are noticeable in a matter of hours, but it can also be If this change appears after several days of expressing the same emotion or a sequence of emotions very similar between Yes.
In the same way, sudden changes in emotions can happen to each other for days until there comes a time when emotional lability returns to its normal levels where there are no such abrupt changes.
Emotional lability as a symptom
Emotional lability can be a useful propensity when it comes to approaching problems from different points of view. In fact, a certain degree of emotional lability is present in almost all people, since they all have a range of habitual emotions.
However, in other cases it becomes so intense and sudden that beyond being a characteristic of the personality may itself be a type of symptom of a mental disorder.
The mental disorders in which emotional lability is more frequent are the following:
1. Major depression
In the major depression It is possible to go from phases of emotional flattening and anhedonia to others in which a deep sadness appears that is experienced in a very intense way. In these cases, mood swings can generate relational problems, especially when associated with intense outbreaks.
2. Bipolar disorder
It is a mood disorder characterized precisely by sudden changes in emotional states. Classically, in the Bipolar disorder episodes of mania alternate, in which a feeling of euphoria and joy is manifested, and episodes of depression. In short, in this disorder, emotional lability is one of the typical factors (as long as there is mania and depression.
3. Cyclothymia
Although emotional lability is the quintessential symptom of Bipolar Disorder, the milder version of it, the Cyclothymia, also presents it as a symptom. In these cases, the symptoms are not as intense as in other depressive disorders, they remain for a longer period.
The causes of emotional variation
When emotional lability is very intense and interferes with the person's quality of life, it may be a symptom of a mental disorder or neurological disorder. Although the causes depend on each case, it is understood that the very intense emotional lability associated with psychological problems appears when the limbic system (located in the brain) begins to function abnormally.
Patients with epilepsy, for example, they can present emotional lability, since the attacks are born from an alteration in the global functioning of the brain.
Treatment
It must be clear that emotional lability is not in itself a mental disorder, but a symptom, and that is why it is not treated directly from psychological or psychiatric interventions. The sanitary measures that can reduce it go through a diagnosis of possible mental disorders.
When the causes are not related to a diagnosed mood disorder, treatment will be more difficult to establish. In addition, the use of psychotropic drugs that can be used to reduce the intensity of the phases of emotional lability is something that depends on the specialized medical personnel who handle each case.
