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

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

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

• Related article: "The 8 types of emotions (classification and description)"

What is emotional instability?

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

In some cases, emotional instability can be practically harmless, if the context is conducive; but in other extreme cases, it can become a psychological phenomenon linked to discomfort both from those who experience it in the first person and from those close to the previous person.

Characteristics of emotionally unstable people

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

1. Bias towards discomfort

Emotionally unstable people may seem in some ways to live life intensely, but the being so sensitive to the changes that occur with each situation makes them often focus their attention on those experiences that make them feel bad, either 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 override emotional states derived from experiences that have happened recently, even Although the new situations that trigger these emotions are apparently less important than what has happened to us before and has left us that good or bad taste of mouth.

For example, someone with emotional instability who passed their driving test a few hours ago may feel very sad when they see a television commercial with a sad message.

3. Low tolerance to frustration

Emotionally unstable people they do not tend to assimilate well the moments in which their expectations are frustrated, since they see these situations as added problems for the simple fact of being unexpected.

4. Complex personal relationships

In general, people with pronounced emotional instability have difficulties having a broad social and support networkas their social skills suffer due to low control over emotions.

The extreme case: affective lability

When emotional instability becomes so pronounced that can be considered a symptom of a mental disorder, is known as affective lability. It 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.

• Related article: "Emotional lability: what is it and what are its symptoms?

Can you learn to control your emotions?

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

The field of Emotional IntelligenceSpecifically, it is an area of ​​intervention that points to promising discoveries. It is known from this mental aptitude that it 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.

To enjoy a better emotional balance, then, it is necessary to go through a series of practical situations that help us to draw 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 What cognitive restructuring. In this way, tremendous interpretations of reality, which make us prone to sudden mood swings, will lose strength in favor of a more realistic perception of things.