Why do I suffer from mood swings? Common causes and possible diseases

Mood swings are part of human existence and, in most cases, they do not have to be viewed with concern or be the symptom of a disease.

However, it is also true that within this concept both the day-to-day experiences of a person no mental health problems who are just a little strained by their work, such as manifestations of a physical disorder or psychological.

That is why it is optimal to know, even above, the main causes of mood swings. Although the diagnosis is made solely and exclusively by health professionals, knowing them will help to react in time in those cases in which the emotional swing is more pronounced or gives more problems.

So, let's see what are the most common causes of mood swings.

• Related article: "Emotional psychology: main theories of emotion"

Possible causes of mood swings

As I mentioned before, the term "mood swings" is broad and abstract enough to give a name to a normal experience in certain circumstances. transitory and more or less frequent (for example, preparing for an important exam or being very tired after going for a run) or one of the symptoms of a pathology.

That is why we will distinguish between habitual causes and non habitual causes, which more or less correspond to the triggers associated with lifestyle, on the one hand, and a disease, on the other.

1. common causes

Within this category we find situations in which our emotional side is affected by specific events that have to do with how we interact with the world and with others. With one exception: premenstrual syndrome, which, despite being almost 100% biological, is also relatively frequent (although fortunately in most cases it does not give much problems).

1.1. Lack of sleep

Lack of sleep makes us more vulnerable to everything we do not expect, and also limits our ability to focus our attention on what we want. This means that when we feel sleepy our mind is more "dispersed" and it is difficult for us to manage and channel our emotions.

• You may be interested: "Insomnia: what is it and how it impacts our health"

1.2. Consumption of drugs

Since there is a wide variety of drugs, it is not surprising that many of them affect the regulation of emotions. After all, these substances are by definition elements that interfere with normal brain function thanks to its ability to cross the blood-brain barrier and to interact with neurons generating psychoactive effects.

• Related article: "Types of drugs: know their characteristics and effects"

1.3. Premenstrual syndrome

PMS is the product of a slight imbalance in normal (statistically) levels of hormones of the woman's body. Specifically, progesterone and estrogen. This "uneven" segregation of hormones affects the nervous system a bit and makes the person somewhat more likely to experience emotions in a more intense way, sometimes without knowing what generates them.

1.4. stress buildup

Suffer wear and tear due to stress problems makes our nervous system more active than normal for a relatively long period, and this makes us react more intensely to stimuli that in other circumstances would hardly matter to us.

• You may be interested: "6 easy relaxation techniques to combat stress"

2. unusual causes

All the causes of mood swings that we will see below have to do with a pathology. It should also be noted that while some of these diseases tend to only produce changes in significant humor but not very pronounced or abrupt, some do generate emotional ups and downs very pronounced; in cases like this one speaks of emotional lability.

2.1. major depression

Obviously, mood disorders are closely related to mood swings because their main symptomatology revolves around emotions. This group of mental illnesses includes major depression, one of the most frequent psychopathologies in the western world; one of its characteristics is emotional lability oriented towards emotions linked to sadness and hopelessness, as well as crying spells (although the latter does not occur in all cases).

That is, the person with depression can change moods relatively quickly but without experiencing positive emotions associated with joy or pleasure, you can only go from feeling relatively bad to feeling very badly.

• Related article: "Major depression: symptoms, causes and treatment"

2.2. Bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder is another mood disorder; Unlike depression, here mood swings can go in all directions. Of course, here the state of high emotional activation tends to last weeks or months.

• You may be interested: "Types of Bipolar Disorder and their characteristics"

23. Cyclothymia

Cyclothymia is a mild version of bipolar disorder; also here you can go from sadness to a state similar to euphoria, but once you have entered into one of these emotional states does not pass to the other in a matter of minutes or hours, but of weeks.

2.4. hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism

Among the medical root diseases most associated with mood swings are pathologies that affect the thyroid gland located in the neck of people. In all cases, this phenomenon is accompanied by other physical symptoms, such as fatigue, weakening of the skin and hair, bulging of the neck, increased body weight, etc.

2.5. Autism Spectrum Disorders

Within the great variety of alterations grouped in Autism Spectrum Disorders, some of them go hand in hand with the tendency to experience sudden mood swings.

Now, these do not have to be entirely biological in root (the way in which the people around the person react to the symptoms of autism greatly influences this). Also, in some cases what really happens is that the person does not adjust his way of expressing emotions to social norms and conventions, so that some of their behaviors can be seen as "inappropriate" simply because they are not accepted in a given culture.

2.6. Borderline personality disorder

Borderline Personality Disorder is a rare psychological disorder. which is associated with problems establishing solid and lasting relationships, and emotional instability especially linked to the perception of oneself and self-esteem, as well as to the evaluation of others (friends, relatives, possible lovers, etc).

• You may be interested: "Borderline Personality Disorder: causes, symptoms and treatment"

Are you interested in having professional psychological support?

If you want the help of a psychologist to overcome problems related to the management of emotions, contact me.

My name is Thomas Saint Cecilia and I specialize in cognitive-behavioral psychology applied to adults, adolescents, teams and companies. I offer my services both in person at my office in Madrid and online by video call.