Causes of stress, Mechanisms of stress, For specialists Irina Vasilyeva How often have you observed bright emotional outbursts of other people? Have you ever thought that this could be a sign of mental illness? After all, psycho-emotional instability occurs quite often. In some cases, it may be characteristic of absolutely healthy people, in others it can be a symptom of certain mental illnesses. How to distinguish one from the other? I will answer these and other questions for you today, dear reader.
When emotional instability is normal
Children and teenagers
If we talk about human life, then any of you will agree that childhood up to 5 years is a period of constant changes, including in mental life. Even the calmest children have periods when parents simply clutch their heads.
The fact is that only closer to four years do most children develop a feeling of shame, thanks to which the child tries to control his physiological and psychological reactions. The complete assimilation of social norms is still far away, therefore sharp transitions from crying to joy, from delight to grief are a feature of age.
The period of primary school age, as a rule, is characterized by a slight calm, after which a storm comes again. Everyone knows that in a teenage child, symptoms of emotional instability are present in most standard everyday situations.
Unstable behavior of a teenager is a fairly common reason for turning to a psychologist. However, with the exception of rare cases, psycho-emotional lability is a normal sign of growing up. In this case, the psychologist works not only with the teenager. Parents of an unexpectedly matured person also have to restructure their views on upbringing.
Adults
In an adult who does not have mental disorders, emotional lability can be expressed in three cases.
- A pronounced demonstrative personality . Such people are actors. It doesn’t matter at all whether acting is their profession or not. They don't care where to play. The main thing is that the audience applauds. Surely, each of you has met such a person in your life. The richness of emotions and their rapid switchability are the constant character traits of a demonstrative personality.
- The so-called cyclothymic personalities. These are people who have their own special rhythm of changing good and bad moods. Some days they flutter like butterflies, while on others literally everything irritates them. Moreover, you will not be able to trace any pattern in this process.
- Infantile personalities. Emotional immaturity, attempts to avoid responsibility, inability to make decisions are symptoms of mental infantilism. The most common reason for this phenomenon is overprotection on the part of parents. Dear dads and moms, if you do not allow your child to show independence and make decisions, then know that you are taking the right steps towards developing infantile character traits and emotional immaturity in him.
What should you do to help your partner?
Psychology experts believe that the behavior of a fickle man can be corrected, but both must want it. You can’t put in effort on only one side and hope that your partner will follow you by inertia. A man must himself realize the tragedy of his situation and do everything to change this situation.
In my opinion, at least a couple of sessions with a highly qualified psychologist will benefit your man. These psychotherapeutic sessions will set a vector of development that can only be supported through joint efforts. I tell you, girls, what to do to achieve harmony in the “Secrets of Women’s Happiness” course and other trainings by Pavel Rakov, as well as in the articles in the “Happily Married” section.
Tell me, have you encountered unstable partners? How were you able to influence their behavior, and did it work for you?
Emotional lability as a symptom of emotional disorder
Today, not all emotional disorders arise due to the presence of a mental illness. Many of them are cured thanks to competent psychotherapeutic influence. I talk about how to work correctly with an unstable emotional state in my online training. The training will be useful not only for those who suffer from emotional instability. I also recommend that young professionals who work in the helping professions take it. I am sure that with the help of the techniques contained in the training, specialists will be able to expand their tools for helping other people.
Interaction with other people
A little attention needs to be paid to this topic. Building emotional stability depends not only on awareness, reflection and acceptance of your feelings. It is also important to learn to detect all similar manifestations in other people.
Of course, reading other people's emotional reactions is much more difficult. But this is just the beginning. It is enough to remember that we are all human. If one person somehow definitely reacts to a particular situation, why can’t another respond to it in the same way? It is enough to show a little observation and empathy, and over time the skill of understanding other people will come.
Communication will become much clearer and clearer. A person will notice how his connections with people (especially loved ones) are transformed. After all, it is emotions that connect us to each other.
And relationships with other people, it should be noted, directly affect the notorious stability and social success. How exactly? It's simple. The more strong, well-established, high-quality connections a person has, the more stable he is. He simply has people with whom he can share his impressions, be sad or happy, and ask for participation and help. This is support. It strengthens and makes you stronger. And, accordingly, more stable.
Emotional lability as a symptom of mental illness
As described above, psycho-emotional instability is not a separate mental illness, but as a symptom it is included in the symptom complex of many of them. Let's talk about the most common ones.
- Schizophrenia. At the same time, a positive and negative attitude towards a person, thing, or phenomenon can cause violent emotions, ranging from intense to depressed. In addition, delusions, hallucinations, and disorders of cognitive functions (perception, attention, thinking) are often observed in the symptoms of schizophrenia.
- Bipolar affective disorder. It is characterized by alternating “bright” life periods without any signs of illness and phases of mental disorder. The disorder manifests itself as a change in manic and depressive states.
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder. The pursuit of obsessive thoughts, ideas that torment a person so much that he is ready to do anything to get rid of them. Also in this state, anxiety, fears, and phobias often arise.
Many disorders accompanied by an unstable emotional background are caused by chronic alcoholism, drug addiction, trauma or organic damage to the brain, and some somatic diseases. Making a diagnosis and the corresponding consequences (admission to exams, obtaining the right to drive a car, work permit) - in each individual case, a professional doctor analyzes the manifestation of a group of symptoms and prescribes appropriate treatment.
And certainly no one has the right to draw conclusions about your psychiatric status solely on the basis of emotional instability.
Definition
First you need to understand the terminology. It is believed that emotional stability is a human property that manifests itself in varying degrees of sensitivity in relation to psychological stimuli.
However, this definition is not the only one. It is also believed that this term refers to the non-susceptibility of emotional processes and states to the destructive influences of external and internal conditions.
Accordingly, this quality minimizes the negative impact of strong emotional upheavals, prevents stress, and also contributes to the emergence of readiness to act in any tense situations.
It is important to note that although the topic concerns psychology, it directly affects the physiological aspect. Because emotions practically at one moment unite all the functions of the body into a single whole. They are a signal of harmful or beneficial effects. And emotions are triggered before the localization of influences and the response mechanism are determined.
Train your mind
No, we do not encourage you to play a couple of logic games on your phone. Diehard people learn throughout their lives, constantly enrich their minds, and strive to adapt to new information about the world around them.
In our experience, resilient people constantly seek opportunities to maintain and develop their mental abilities.
"Unbreakable: The Science of Confronting Life's Challenges"
By the way, in addition to perseverance, developing the mind has many more advantages.
Cathie Hammond, in her 2004 study at the University of London, concluded that lifelong learning has multiple positive effects on mental health: well-being, the ability to recover from psychological trauma, the ability to cope with stress, and a developed sense of self-esteem. and self-sufficiency and much more. Continuous learning developed these qualities through the expansion of boundaries, a process that is central to learning.
"Unbreakable: The Science of Confronting Life's Challenges"
Imitate strong personalities
What supports children who grow up in miserable conditions, but continue to live normal, fulfilling lives? They have role models who provide positive examples and support them.
Emmy Werner, one of the first psychologists to study resilience, observed the lives of children who grew up in poverty, in dysfunctional families with at least one parent who was an alcoholic, mentally ill, or violent.
Werner found that emotionally stable children who became productive, emotionally healthy adults had at least one person in their lives who was truly supportive and a role model.
Our research found a similar connection: Many people we interviewed said they had a role model—someone whose beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors inspired them.
"Unbreakable: The Science of Confronting Life's Challenges"
Sometimes it is difficult to find among your friends someone you would like to be like. This is fine. Southwick and Charney found that it is often enough to have a negative example in front of you - a person you never want to be like.
Dr. Harry Barry's Key Findings
With over 35 years of experience as a therapist and psychologist, Dr. Barry brings us his thoughts on depression, anxiety, and other psychological conditions . However, this book on building emotional resilience is his greatest contribution to the field of mental health.
Dr. Barry has divided his book, Emotional Resilience: How to Protect Your Mental Health, into three parts. All of his findings are based on three skills that he believes are key to building emotional resilience. These skill sets include:
Personal skills
The skills needed to manage our personal lives are vital elements such as self-acceptance, empathy, self-esteem, thinking, reasoning, problem solving, managing anxiety and frustration.
During his extensive career as a therapist, the author has encountered numerous cases of anxiety, depression, low productivity and stress disorders, and he attributes all of these anomalies to the lack of these personal skills. Unconditional self-acceptance, according to Dr. Barry, is key to building emotional resilience and strength.
Social skills
Social skills have been defined as successful interactions with oneself and the environment. This is the ability to initiate and maintain long-term interpersonal relationships.
"Man is a social being."
Aristotle
Thanks to communication, contact comfort and cooperation, we coexist with other people in a close society.
Harry Barry mentioned that improving the way we interact with others, perceive their problems and adapt to them can help build our emotional resilience and allow us to positively resist exhaustion.
His activities to improve social skills include:
- Developing and practicing empathy in everyday life—at work and at home.
- Reading and understanding social cues—both verbal and nonverbal communication.
- Office of Social Anxiety .
- Harnessing the power of self-expression.
Life skills
Life skills are a seamless combination of all the social, personal and cognitive skills with which we are endowed. It includes the ability to resolve conflict peacefully, the ability to cope with stress, and the ability to develop an ideal work-life balance.
By refining the skill sets that fall under this category, Dr. Barry provided a degree of emotional stability and civility. This is a relatively broader area, covering much of our personality, and Barry, with simple and relevant examples, has made it easy for his readers to apply in their daily lives.
Dr. Barry's Suggested Actions
To improve the above-mentioned life skills that directly increase emotional resilience, he mentioned activities such as:
Self-acceptance
With practical examples that readers can relate to more easily, self-acceptance teaches us how to be more compassionate, considerate, and respectful of ourselves.
Eliminating Procrastination
Dr. Barry recognizes procrastination as one of the main enemies of emotional stability.
With simple tips like letting go of the desire to be perfect, using regular intervals when working long hours, and breaking down goals into smaller sub-goals, this set of actions is specifically designed for those who struggle with it.
Adoption
The manifestation of anxiety, stress and depression is often physical in nature - with symptoms such as unexplained headaches, insomnia, palpitations, etc.
Through Acceptance, we can directly face our problems and try to change them. There are no restrictions and no barriers to acceptance, every thought that we perceive as disturbing is welcomed and considered.
All that is required is unconditional acceptance and a willingness to fight them.
Finding balance
Emotional resilience is the trajectory of healthy functioning following a highly adverse incident.
In the section on developing life skills, Dr. Barry noted that once we have acquired the skills to cope with the stresses of everyday life, we are more emotionally resilient.
To find the perfect balance in life, we can:
- Keep a daily schedule where we can write down our tasks for the day and act as per the plan.
- Keep a list of priorities and see what the essence of our partners, work, parents, personal hygiene and social life are.
- Come back and reset priorities as often as we need.
- Spend some quality time on those on your priority list.
- Engage in active communication with your partner from time to time to discuss life's challenges and confront problems rather than avoid them.
