Mood swing

A mood swing is an extreme or rapid change in mood. Such changes can play a positive part in promoting problem solving and in producing flexible forward planning,[1] or be disruptive. When mood swings are severe, they may be categorized as part of a mental illness, such as bipolar disorder, where erratic and disruptive mood swings are a defining feature.[2]

Graphical comparison of mood swings, compared with bipolar disorder and cyclothymia

Overview

Speed and extent

Mood swings can happen any time at any place, varying from the microscopic to the wild oscillations of bipolar disorder,[3] so that a continuum can be traced from normal struggles around self-esteem, through cyclothymia, up to a depressive disease.[4] However most people's mood swings remain in the mild to moderate range of emotional ups and downs.[5] The duration of bipolar mood swings also varies. They may last a few hours - ultrarapid - or extend over days - ultradian: clinicians maintain that only when four continuous days of hypomania, or seven days of mania, occur, is a diagnosis of bipolar disorder justified.[6] In such cases, mood swings can extend over several days, even weeks: these episodes may consist of rapid alternation between feelings of depression and euphoria.[7]

Causes

There can be many different causes for mood swings. Some mood swings can be classified as normal/healthy reactions, such as grief processing, adverse effects of substances/drugs, or a result of sleep deprivation. Mood swings can also be a sign of psychiatric illnesses in the absence of external triggers or stressors.

Changes in a person's energy level, sleep patterns, self-esteem, concentration, drug or alcohol use can be signs of an oncoming mood disorder.[8]

Other major causes of mood swings (besides bipolar disorder and major depression) include diseases/disorders which interfere with nervous system function. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), epilepsy,[9] and autism spectrum are three such examples.[10][11]

The hyperactivity sometimes accompanied by inattentiveness, impulsiveness, and forgetfulness are cardinal symptoms associated with ADHD. As a result, ADHD is known to bring about usually short-lived (though sometimes dramatic) mood swings. The communication difficulties associated with autism, and the associated changes in neurochemistry, are also known to cause autistic fits (autistic mood swings).[12] The seizures associated with epilepsy involve changes in the brain's electrical firing, and thus may also bring about striking and dramatic mood swings.[9] If the mood swing is not associated with a mood disorder, treatments are harder to assign. Most commonly, however, mood swings are the result of dealing with stressful and/or unexpected situations in daily life.

Degenerative diseases of the human central nervous system such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, and Huntington's disease may also produce mood swings.[13] Celiac disease can also affect the nervous system and mood swings can appear.[14]

Not eating on time can contribute, or eating too much sugar, can cause fluctuations in blood sugar, which can cause mood swings.[15][16]

Brain chemistry

If a person has an abnormal level of one or several of certain neurotransmitters (NTs) in their brain, it may result in having mood swings or a mood disorder.[17] Serotonin is one such neurotransmitter that is involved with sleep, moods, and emotional states. A slight imbalance of this NT could result in depression. Norepinephrine is a neurotransmitter that is involved with learning, memory, and physical arousal. Like serotonin, an imbalance of norepinephrine may also result in depression.[18]

List of conditions known to cause mood swings

Treatment

Cognitive behavioral therapy recommends using emotional dampeners to break the self-reinforcing tendencies of either manic or depressive mood swings.[24] Exercise, treats, seeking out small (and easily attainable) triumphs, and using vicarious distractions like reading or watching TV, are among the techniques found to be regularly used by people in breaking depressive swings.[25]

Learning to bring oneself down from grandiose states of mind, or up from exaggerated shame states, is part of taking a proactive approach to managing one's own moods and varying sense of self-esteem.[26]

See also

References
  1. Peter Salovey et al, Emotional Intelligence (2004) p. 1974
  2. "BBC Science - When does your mental health become a problem?". BBC Science. 19 April 2013. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  3. Sigmund Freud, Civilization, Society and Religion (PFL 12) p. 164
  4. Otto Fenichel, The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis (1946) p. 406
  5. Daniel Goleman (1995). Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More Than IQ. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. p. 57. ISBN 978-0747528302. ASIN 0747528306.
  6. S, Nassir Ghaemi, Mood Disorder (2007) p. 243-4
  7. Hockenbury, Don and Sandra (2011). Discovering Psychology Fifth Edition. New York, NY: Worth Publishers. p. 549. ISBN 978-1-4292-1650-0.
  8. "Bipolar Mood Swings, Stabilizers, Triggers, and Mania." WebMD. WebMD, 3 May 0000. Web. 29 Feb. 2012.
  9. "epilepsymatters.com - Home of the Canadian Epilepsy Alliance". Epilepsymatters.com. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  10. "Autism spectrum disorder". Nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  11. "Chat for Adults with HFA and Aspergers: Mood Swings in Adults on the Autism Spectrum". Adultaspergerschat.com. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  12. Donna Williams. "Donna Williams: Autism, Puberty and Possibility of Seizures". Donnawilliams.net. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  13. Stern RA (1996). "Assessment of Mood States in Neurodegenerative Disease: Methodological Issues and Diagnostic Recommendations". Seminars in Clinical Neuropsychiatry. 1 (4): 315–324. doi:10.1053/SCNP00100315 (inactive 21 October 2022). PMID 10320434.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of October 2022 (link)
  14. "Definition & Facts for Celiac Disease. What are the complications of celiac disease?". NIDDK. June 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  15. Angela Haupt. "Food and Mood: 6 Ways Your Diet Affects How You Feel". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  16. "Can food affect your mood? - CNN.com". CNN. 26 November 2013. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  17. "Neurobiology of Mood Disorders." (PDF). Turner-white.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 July 2014. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  18. Archived 4 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  19. Su, Tung-Ping (2 June 1993). "Neuropsychiatric Effects of Anabolic Steroids in Male Normal Volunteers". JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association. 269 (21): 2760–2764. doi:10.1001/jama.1993.03500210060032. ISSN 0098-7484. PMID 8492402.
  20. Hagihara, Hideo; Horikawa, Tomoyasu; Irino, Yasuhiro; Nakamura, Hironori K.; Umemori, Juzoh; Shoji, Hirotaka; Yoshida, Masaru; Kamitani, Yukiyasu; Miyakawa, Tsuyoshi (December 2019). "Peripheral blood metabolome predicts mood change-related activity in mouse model of bipolar disorder". Molecular Brain. 12 (1): 107. doi:10.1186/s13041-019-0527-3. ISSN 1756-6606. PMC 6902552. PMID 31822292.
  21. Özgürdal, Seza; van Haren, Elisabeth; Hauser, Marta; Ströhle, Andreas; Bauer, Michael; Assion, Hans-Jörg; Juckel, Georg (2009). "Early Mood Swings as Symptoms of the Bipolar Prodrome: Preliminary Results of a Retrospective Analysis". Psychopathology. 42 (5): 337–342. doi:10.1159/000232977. ISSN 0254-4962. PMID 19672137. S2CID 15290117.
  22. Sengupta, A. (January 2003). "The emergence of the menopause in India". Climacteric. 6 (2): 92–95. doi:10.1080/cmt.6.2.92.95. ISSN 1369-7137. PMID 12841878. S2CID 22273563.
  23. Theisler, Charles (17 May 2022), "Premenstrual Syndrome/Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder", Adjuvant Medical Care, New York: CRC Press, pp. 288–289, doi:10.1201/b22898-286, ISBN 9781003291381, retrieved 20 September 2022
  24. Gilbert, Paul (1999). Overcoming Depression. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-465-01508-5.
  25. Goleman, pp. 73-4
  26. Terence Real (1997). I Don't Want to Talk About It. Newleaf. p. 279. ISBN 978-0717127108. ASIN 0717127109.

Further reading
  • Ronald R. Fieve, Moodswing (1989)
  • Susanne P. Schad-Somers, On mood swings (1990)
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