Emotional Instability: Effects Of Unresolved Emotional Problems
Experiencing unpleasant emotions is part of life and cannot be considered a psychological problem. In reality, it is part of what allows us to avoid situations that can harm us, and it is also part of what motivates us to improve our situation in times of crisis. That is why no one should go to a psychologist for the simple fact of feeling bad from time to time.
However, when mood changes are very abrupt, very frequent and very pronounced, this is an indication that there is poor emotion management dynamics. This is what happens, for example, with emotional instability caused by the accumulation of unresolved emotional problems; Let’s see what this phenomenon consists of.
The fact of experiencing unstable emotionality, prone to quickly changing towards states of well-being and discomfort in situations that do not justify that reaction, is a psychological phenomenon that occurs for several reasons. For example, it is one of the characteristics of mood disorders such as bipolar disorder, and can also be triggered by the use of certain drugs.
However, also It may be caused by anxiety disorders, or even by psychological complications that do not fully fit the diagnostic criteria. of any specific psychopathology. In fact, it is relatively common for the root of the problem to have to do with unresolved emotional problems, which may have been accumulating over months or even years.
What is this about? Emotional instability is one of the consequences of dysfunctional stress and anxiety management. When our nervous system enters the dynamic of always keeping us alert and paying attention to possible signs that something is wrong around us, this predisposes us to fall into psychological rumination and obsessive thoughts.
In other words: makes us more vulnerable to intrusive thoughts that, in a matter of very little time, they put us “on the defensive” for what may happen to us. It leads us to constantly review our memories and explore worrying hypotheses through our imagination. This can anchor us in a mixture of anticipatory anxiety that feeds on itself, on the one hand, and on the other, generate fear of making decisions and taking the wrong action at key moments.
Thus, emotional instability It makes us very sensitive to ideas and mental images capable of causing our anxiety levels to skyrocket.. And from this psychological state, we can move on to a mixture of anguish and sadness (if we think about the difference between how we would like to feel and how we feel), guilt (if we assume that the discomfort we suffer and/or that we have caused is entirely our responsibility), fear (if we believe that not acting quickly can lead us to suffer much more), etc.
Emotional instability and unresolved psychological problems
As we have seen, This tendency to suffer sudden mood swings is due to a dynamic of accumulation of problems, a “snowball effect.”. When we feel vulnerable because of something that has happened to us and has left an emotional mark on us that causes discomfort, it is easy for many things that happen to us to make us think about what has made us suffer.
In this way, these emotionally painful memories are more reinforced and associated with our way of thinking about the world and about ourselves, so there are more situations capable of leading us to evoke those contents of our memory (even if it is automatically and without us intending it).
From this vicious circle, we become trapped in psychological rumination. As it is difficult for us to manage the negative emotions that these memories produce, we gradually give up interacting with our environment in a way that allows us to stop feeling bad, and we focus on combating discomfort through introspection: we try to suppress anxiety, stop thinking about what makes us sad, etc.
But this is not an effective way to overcome unresolved psychological problems, since it is impossible to fully control our emotions. And at the same time, we lose opportunities to take measures to improve our situation through concrete actions that allow us to attend to our responsibilities, ask for help, anticipate the accumulation of tasks and manage time appropriately, etc.
In summary, psychological or resolved problems attract more unresolved psychological problemssince they lead us to:
As a result, The stimuli capable of making us think about what worries us and generates anxiety multiply.and therefore, in a matter of minutes we can go from feeling good to feeling very bad.
What can be done in psychotherapy?
In psychological therapy it is possible learn the emotional management skills necessary so that emotional instability due to unattended psychological problems stops eroding our quality of life. The main ways to try to achieve this are the following:
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Since 2012, in Psychological Awakenings We have helped more than 5,500 people of all ages to overcome and manage problems such as anxiety disorders, relationship crises, family conflicts, depression, low self-esteem, grief due to the loss of loved ones, trauma, ADHD, and more. You can count on our services both in our psychology consultations in Madrid, Getafe, Móstoles and Leganés, and through online therapy by video call.
