Emotional lability, meaning a rapid and intense fluctuation of emotions, can significantly impact personal and professional growth. It can affect your decision-making, relationships, and ability to manage stress. It can also interfere with your career mobility, such as preventing you from being able to calmly accept feedback, and your overall health.
While frustrating, emotional lability can be managed through targeted personal development tactics and through coaching. Learn what causes emotional lability, how it manifests, and ways you can better manage your emotions to improve your resilience and minimize the risk of having it interfere with your career growth.
What is emotional lability?
Emotional lability refers to rapid mood changes that lead to strong emotional reactions. These feelings are often exaggerated and may be inappropriate for the situation, such as crying during a work meeting. The condition is sometimes a temporary side effect of a larger health-related issue.
Also called involuntary emotional expression disorder (IEED) and affective lability, emotional lability is more intense than regular mood swings. It can cause impairments in your life by interfering with daily tasks that require focus and concentration, such as work, and causing you to worry about social encounters. It can also create social awkwardness.
Emotional lability is often equated with pseudobulbar affect (PBA), which is also characterized by uncontrollable emotions. However, emotional lability considers the underlying mood changes, while pseudobulbar affect (also called emotional incontinence) only accounts for the resulting emotional responses.
It also differs from anger because the mood changes happen suddenly and without warning, and they may not have a specific cause.
Emotional lability symptoms
Emotional lability can be identified by emotional stress symptoms like the following:
- Unmanageable emotions such as uncontrollable laughing, crying, or irritability
- Difficulty regulating strong emotions
- High levels of emotional distress that disrupt your daily life
- Inappropriate reactions, such as laughing when a family member or loved one passes away
- Overreactions such as crying uncontrollably over a minor setback
- Trouble concentrating on tasks
- Impulsivity in decision-making, such as making major decisions without thinking
What causes emotional lability?
Emotional lability can be caused by both short- and long-term health conditions. It can also occur as a result of certain contexts or situations such as your upbringing.
The condition is not an affective disorder on its own but can be a symptom of both mental and physical health issues. A few common emotional lability causes are as follows:
Emotional lability is also associated with bipolar disorder and may act as an early screening predictor for people who are at risk for the disorder.
How does emotional lability impact daily life?
Dealing with untreated emotional lability can interfere with all aspects of your life, from regular responsibilities to the way you feel about yourself. This can lead to the following impacts:
How to manage emotional lability
Trying to manage a labile mood can be frustrating and make you question your self-worth. It may seem impossible to overcome at times, but there are effective coping mechanisms to help you with emotional regulation.
Finding activities or techniques that work well for you can help build self-confidence and improve your emotional health.
Regardless of how well you believe you handle your emotions, it’s important to talk with a trusted doctor or therapist about your symptoms. In addition to medical advice, a few tips can help you manage your emotional state.
Understand your emotions
Sometimes, it can be difficult for a person with emotional lability to realize that their reactions are inappropriate for the context. It’s important to get to know yourself and the way you express your emotions to help you improve your emotional dysregulation.
One way to do this is to use an emotion wheel. This tool can help you identify exactly how you’re feeling, the intensity of your emotions, and how different emotions relate to each other. This builds self-awareness and can make it easier to express your feelings appropriately.
You could also try visiting different support groups to find a sense of community. Learning what works well for others in similar situations can be useful for finding additional tools to try.
Know your triggers
As you experience intense emotions, you may be able to pick up on some patterns for what’s causing them. For example, certain situations, people, or places may act as emotional triggers, automatically bringing up negative emotions due to past experiences.
For example, let’s say you received a phone call that a friend was in a car accident while you were at the shopping mall. Whenever you return to the mall, those emotional memories may resurface because you’ve associated the location with intense negative emotions.
Likewise, if you recently found yourself irritated at a crowded restaurant due to the noise level, you may connect that feeling to the restaurant itself or the people you were with. This may make it harder for you to keep your cool in that setting.
Once you’ve identified your triggers, you can try to avoid them to help you manage your emotions. You can also prepare yourself before encountering those triggers by reminding yourself that an experience doesn’t have to be negative just because it has been in the past.
If you’re having trouble identifying your triggers, try keeping a note in your phone where you log what you’re doing each time you experience intense emotions. This can help you recognize any patterns.
Prioritize sleep
Sleep and mood are closely linked. A lack of sleep can lead to feelings of irritability and sadness. It can also result in additional stress, which can cause rapid mood changes.
For these reasons, getting adequate sleep can be a critical part of emotional lability treatment. Some ways you can improve your sleep hygiene by building good habits include the following:
- Set a regular sleep schedule: Go to bed at the same time every evening and wake up at the same time every morning to reset your circadian rhythm
- Create an optimal environment: Make sure the room you sleep in is dark and quiet
- Unplug from electronics: Try a digital detox. Stop using electronics like your phone, computer, or TV at least 30 minutes before bed to avoid blue light delaying melatonin production.
Try calming exercises
When you feel yourself becoming irritable, upset, or angry, try practicing relaxation techniques to soothe your emotions. A few activities you can try include the following:
- Breathing exercises: Take slow, deep breaths and focus only on your breathing
- Body scan: Try mentally releasing tension in specific body parts one at a time. For example, you might start with your shoulders, then focus on your chest and continue downward.
- Guided imagery: Use visualization to picture yourself somewhere relaxing and imagine soothing sensations to help place you there
- Ground yourself: Be present by using your five senses to identify what you hear, smell, taste, touch, and see
Practice mindfulness
Mindfulness is the practice of being aware of your current state and surroundings. It’s about giving your full attention to the present moment, and it can be done anywhere.
A few mindfulness activities you can try include the following:
- Practice being still
- Eat something slowly while analyzing its taste
- Organize your workspace
- Color or draw
- Listen to music
- Practice gratitude by writing down things you’re grateful for
Journal
According to 2022 research published in Family Medicine and Community Health, journaling is clinically proven to reduce symptoms of mental illness. This makes it a great tactic for managing emotional lability. It can also increase mindfulness, improve sleep, and help you start working on self-improvement.
Starting a journal can feel intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. Begin by dedicating five minutes each day to write down your thoughts. Here are a few prompts to help you get started:
- What emotions did I experience today?
- Did I feel like any of my emotional reactions were uncontrollable?
- What were the circumstances around any strong emotions I experienced today?
- What’s one thing I did for myself today to improve my health and well-being?
- What’s one thing I can do tomorrow to work toward better emotional regulation?
Seek professional help
Because emotional lability can be related to health conditions, it’s important to seek recommendations on symptom management from a health care provider. Treatment options, including medications and psychiatry, can help lessen symptoms of emotional lability. Certain types of therapy, like cognitive behavioral therapy, may also be helpful to challenge and overcome certain automatic behaviors.
Professional coaching can also be helpful. Lifestyle coaches are specially trained to help you take the necessary steps toward a better quality of life. They can work with you to identify your triggers, reenvision your emotional responses, and bring about positive change. This can help you feel more prepared to manage your emotions when you feel overwhelmed by them.
Overcome emotional lability to build resilience
Emotional lability is a health condition, not a character flaw. While your emotions may feel uncontrollable, methods and treatments are available to help you find happiness and fulfillment.
Take the next step toward strengthening your resiliency. Work with a BetterUp Coach to get support through your hardest times and bounce back stronger.
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