Emotions are usually caused by an internal or external trigger.

People have mood swings because for lots of reasons:

E.g. Tiredness, stress, reaction to others, relationship problems, mental health issues.

How to cope with your own mood swings:

• Stop what you are doing and try to brainstorm why you are upset and whether or not you should be upset. Look at each factor that happened before and after and see if your reaction was correct or incorrect to the situation as it occurred.
• Mood swings often happen not out of the blue but in reaction to something that happens to you that makes you angry, sad or anxious. Try to identify the trigger and validate your feelings about it, but then consider how best to react.
• Think about how reacting will affect the situation you’re in and what the consequences will be.
• Leave the situation. Give yourself a moment to think, rather than immediately reacting.
• Do something that makes you feel more calm or happy. Give yourself some time out.
• Take deep breaths to calm down.
• If you know that you need to improve your mood because of the situation you’re in you could try to ‘fake’ the positive emotion. Sometimes deliberately smiling when you feel sad can make you feel happy because smiling releases feel-good chemicals in your brain. Sometimes you do end up feeling happier after you ‘fake it’.
• Use assertiveness skills if you are upset with someone else.

In others:

• It helps to let the person know how their moods affect you if it is an ongoing problem- use empathy and assertiveness.
• Be understanding that all people have ups and downs.
• Self-reflect if you personally are having difficulties with them an could be contributing to their mood swings.

Dr Rani Simpson