Tell Me about Mood Swings

I was considering posting this in the Help section, but its not as urgent as other peoples problems.

For the last few years of my life i seem to have been going through these mood swings. Literally i will be really happy and then a few minutes later for no reason i suddenly start feeling down and depressed. It is in a way effecting my ability to do things, i know this may be over the top a bit but this is what i've been experiencing. For example, last night i was extremely motivated and ready to do something this following morning, then i woke this morning feeling fed up, all that motivation was thrown out the window. I have been experiencing a variety, and what annoys me is that speed in which it changes. I will often find that whilst i'm on here, i sometimes get very angry inside as well as fed up and i begin to vent it through aggressive posts which sometimes can be hurtful to others. I then wake in the morning thinking to myself "Why the hell did i ever post that?" and it often then involves in me sending out a few apologies for my behaviour that previous night.

And its becoming somewhat unbearable now and i'm unsure what to do since its just making a mess of things. I've tried to I got some help at college a few months back but it didn't really work that well.

So, if you can tell me anything about mood swings and how i can maybe prevent a sudden changes i would be very grateful.

I'm a teen (18) and have been having mood swings for most of my teenage life. Mostly I'll be feeling depressed, and have a brief phase of feeling great (a few hours - a couple of days) before returning to depression again. It's got a little better as I've got older, as I feel as if I'm become more stable with age.

I should probably know more about the exact causes of mood swings, since I'm studying Neuroscience, but all I know is that they're related to brain development/the particular brain chemistry of teenagers.

I coped with them by riding the storm. Instead of fighting the mood swings or feeling like they were bad, I tried to see them as helpful; a learning experience. I learnt to deal with them and even see the good sides. It can make you a tougher person.

Just don't let them get to you too much. I know it can be pretty nightmarish, but quite a few people experience it. Ride the storm and you'll come out on top :)

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last night i was extremely motivated and ready to do something this following morning

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What are these moments like for you?

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Originally Posted by Kael Seoras

What are these moments like for you?

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Full of energy, full of positive emotion with full force to accomplish. But then it all vanishes overnight.

To climb the mountains, you have to go through the valleys.

'Duality', 'schizophrenia'...from identifying the valley as separate from the mountain.

Only mountain climbers know the ecstasy of reaching the top.
Though, they must fall into the valleys each time.

Do not be disconcerted about these periods. They are not negative.
They just are. Try to be with these valleys as you are with the mountains.

You will come out gaining every time.

Feel them, absorb yourself in them. Get lost in them, but be objective! If you can watch the valleys you can watch the mountains. Then you won't be hassled with the climb, the valleys, nor the peak.

It takes effort to be miserly. In effortlessness, we can float.

I pretty much second all of the above. Your swings don't sound too out of the ordinary and you'll likely grow out of them. In the meantime, greet them with curious attention, as an oppurtunity to learn more about your own mind and human experience.


I'm subject to mood swings with extremes of dark depression and moderately hallucinatory mania (it doesn't sound like you're experiencing anything on this scale). I gained a lot of skill working with my moods and preventing the kind of cascade effect that leads to cycling extremes, just through minimal training and haphazard practice in meditation and mindfulness. You learn to recognize the mood closer to its inception and accept and experience it fully before it has the momentum to overwhelm you.

Same here LS, I get these weird mood swings also, maybe because im such a woman :D

but really though, one moment I can be all friendly and happy and boom just like that in maybe 30 seconds or less I can be the biggest bitch ever, but there always has to be some kind of a 'trigger' for me though.

Wether its my dad bugging me about work or chores, or some other nonsense...I can be on top of the world, and some lame thing just drops my mood completely, and its EXTREMELY hard to get that good mood back once the bad mood kicks in.

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Originally Posted by guerilla

Same here LS, I get these weird mood swings also, maybe because im such a woman :D

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Haha. So true.

When you have a high your body naturally goes into a low for balance. That's all the low is. If you think of it that way, it's easier to get out of it. That's what I do.

I once had mood swings. Turns out I was in an emotionally abusive relationship. :paranoid:

If there's something in your life that you think might be contributing to these mood swings, get rid of it/him/her.

here's what i do.

step 1. detach yourself from the situation. look at it as if you're watching yourself in a movie. hard to do but a useful skill. not talking obe's here. i mean just pretend you're doing some very intense "people watching" but your alone in a room with no one but your psyche.

step 2. this is really the most important part. after you've detached yourself successfully you need to be sure that you don't push the emotions away. let them do their thing and watch it, try to understand it,

step 3. find an outlet for these emotions. i write lyrics and music as my form of expression. this is harder for those who are not so "artsy" sometimes. but you can do it with anything. sit down and just write anything that comes into your head. anything. here's an example.

got drunk last night in the well of problems that you don't run from family guy is picture perfect to the milky universe of proportions that live and die daily because of the dystopia surrounding everyday life.

anybody can do that and if you analyze it you'll see what's really on your mind. look at all the things that don't make sense. that's where the revelations are when you write random stuff.

keep in mind that you can't really express it if you don't understand it yet. that's why step two is so important. when you can express it you can deal with it. but until you understand it any attempt to deal with it is only pushing the problem away in the long run. then it just comes back.

on the other hand this could be just a phase. in which case i wouldn't really worry about it. mood swings happen to everyone but if you gauge yours as something that really needs to be dealt with then this is the best advice i can give you.

however i'm not a psychiatrist and i am not saying this will make everything okay. hell it might not work at all for you. but like i said. that's what i do.