Emotional lability in psychology: symptoms and causes

All people experience emotions, but they are expressed differently in everyone. Some behave calmly and reservedly, while others react to current events overly emotionally. There are also people whose mood is subject to frequent and sudden changes. This condition is called “organic emotionally labile disorder” or simply “emotional lability.” Today we will analyze in detail what this condition is, how it manifests itself, for what reasons it develops and how to cope with it.

What is emotional lability?

From a psychological point of view, emotional lability is a mental disorder characterized by mood swings without significant reasons, caused by disturbances in the functioning of the brain or somatic diseases. Any little thing can cause such a person an overly emotional reaction , both positive and negative.

If you give an emotionally labile person the usual routine compliment, he may be delighted with it. If someone looks at him judgmentally, this can cause him depression or reflection about his imperfection. At the same time, mood changes in any direction occur almost instantly, given even the slightest reason.

The term "lability" is derived from the Latin word labilis, which translates as "sliding" or "unstable." It can also be used in other scientific disciplines to denote changeable, unstable phenomena or processes.

Emotional lability means that a person has great difficulty controlling his emotions and mood swings. Because of this, it is quite difficult to communicate with such people. But they become quite attached to those who have the patience and understanding to get along with them (however, this does not mean that they will behave well). Interestingly, in childhood, boys are more likely to demonstrate emotionally labile behavior than girls, and in adulthood, the opposite is true.

Complications

Without treatment, emotionally labile patients experience constant mental stress and fatigue and provoke conflicts with others. This condition often leads to depression, suicidal thoughts and social isolation. Nervous exhaustion is manifested by chronic fatigue, development or exacerbation of somatic diseases. Decreased motivation and concentration prevents patients from independently seeking medical and psychological help. If complications develop, they need support and encouragement from loved ones.

Symptoms of emotional lability

In psychology, there are two types of emotional lability:

• Border
• Impulsive

Each type has its own set of symptoms. Let's look at each of them in more detail.

Border type

The full name of this condition according to ICD-10 is “Emotionally unstable personality disorder, borderline type,” but much more often you can hear the abbreviated wording: “Borderline personality disorder.” It is characterized by symptoms such as:

• excessive impressionability;
• affective lability (too bright and unstable emotions);
• well-developed and poorly controlled imagination;
• mobility of cognitive perception;
• painful reaction to external obstacles that arise on the way to the goal, as well as to one’s own mistakes, failures and failures;
• hyperbolic perception of all external events;
• constant stress associated with excessive sensitivity.

The borderline type of emotional lability is typical for young children who do not yet know what responsibility is. They are very capricious, and they put their desires above the rules and prohibitions imposed by adults. In adolescence, this type of emotional instability leads to restlessness, constant changes in mood, frequent frustrations, and inability to concentrate on studies.

In adulthood, emotional instability of the borderline type makes a person weak-willed. He copes poorly with life's challenges and quickly gives up when faced with difficulties. This is due to the fact that such people endure even the slightest failures extremely painfully. They quickly become dependent on alcohol and drugs, and easily succumb to other bad habits that help them escape from their painful experiences.

Emotional lability is a serious obstacle to personal relationships. People forced to live with the borderline type of this disorder become very attached to loved ones. At the same time, they are often unbearable and intrusive, constantly demanding attention, and when they receive it, they begin to behave aggressively and jealously , pushing away those they need most. They also often try to attract attention or blackmail loved ones with demonstrative suicidal intentions.

Impulsive type

In ICD-10, this condition is called “Emotionally unstable personality disorder, impulsive type,” but the abbreviated name “Impulsive personality disorder” is more often used. Such people behave extremely unrestrained and impulsive; if they are angry with themselves, they can resort to self-harm. They are characterized by emotional outbursts, during which they do not think about the consequences of their actions. Because of this, the behavior of an adult with impulsive personality disorder often resembles that of a child.

Characteristic signs of a person with an impulsive type of emotional lability:

• moodiness;
• touchiness;
• tendency to hysterics;
• infantilism;
• rapid transition to insults and even physical aggression.

Such a person usually strives to lead in any dispute. If it doesn’t work out, he begins to demonstrate aggression towards others, even if they are very close people. At the same time, he usually does not think about the consequences, so he allows himself to make rude and offensive statements , in some cases he can even turn to physical aggression. This will not necessarily be the use of force. He may, for example, rashly throw water from a glass in the face of his interlocutor.

People with impulsive personality disorder have difficulty forming relationships. They alienate even the most dear people, and any attempts to make peace turn into streams of accusations, scenes of jealousy and other unpleasant ways of communicating.

Causes of emotional lability

To better understand what emotional lability is, it is necessary to understand that it is not just a harmfulness or a feature of human behavior. This disorder usually results from serious problems in the functioning of the brain. Psychologists cite the following factors as the most common reasons:

1. Psycho-emotional stress. This can be stress, intense mental stress, participation in competitions, passing exams, lack of sleep, interpersonal conflicts and other actions that cause emotional stress.
2. Mental trauma. A traumatic event can also cause emotional instability.
3. Endocrine imbalance. Hormones regulate all processes in the body, including processes occurring in the central nervous system. Therefore, emotional lability is often observed in adolescents and pregnant women, as well as in people whose hormonal balance is disturbed due to various diseases.
4. Deterioration of blood supply to the brain. Diseases of the cardiovascular system can affect the quality of the supply of oxygen and nutrients to the brain, causing various disturbances in the functioning of the central nervous system and even organic damage to the nervous tissue.
5. Neurological diseases. As noted above, emotional lability is most often a consequence of various brain diseases. These could be injuries, tumors, infectious diseases, intoxication, etc.
6. Mental disorders. Neuroses, dementia and psychopathy are often accompanied by emotional instability.

Diagnostics

When diagnosing emotional lability, much attention is paid to the causes of this condition. Initially, an emotionally unstable personality disorder is diagnosed by a psychiatrist , after which the patient is prescribed an examination by other doctors: a therapist, a cardiologist, an endocrinologist and a neurologist. Their task is to identify the disease that caused emotional lability.

When examining a patient, the following methods are used:

• Clinical conversation. At this stage, the doctor’s task is to obtain from the patient the most accurate description of his symptoms: the presence of outbursts of anger, irritability, tearfulness, aggressiveness, inability to restrain emotions, etc.
• Observation. Directly during the conversation, the doctor observes the patient’s behavior. Since this situation is considered stressful, he usually begins to clearly demonstrate characteristic symptoms: he worries, has difficulty formulating thoughts, behaves in conflict, or begins to cry.
• Psychodiagnostics. At this stage, complex questionnaires and other testing methods are used to assess the general condition of the patient and determine the presence of various disorders and neuroses.

Prognosis and prevention

The prognosis depends on the course of the underlying disease, but the right approach to treatment can always improve the patient’s quality of life by compensating for the symptoms of emotional distress using relaxation and self-regulation skills. The most effective way of prevention is the rational organization of work and rest. Periods of intense mental work should be replaced with physical activity (preferably in the fresh air). If signs of fatigue appear, take a break and change your activity to another. The basics are good sleep and a healthy diet.

Treatment of psychological lability involves working with a psychotherapist

Treatment of emotional lability

When the diagnosis is completed and the causes of emotional instability are identified, they begin to eliminate them. The necessary treatment should be carried out by the doctor whose competence is the cause. This could be not only a psychiatrist, but also a neurologist, endocrinologist, cardiologist, therapist or other specialist. In most cases, therapeutic treatment is required, but sometimes surgery is also resorted to.

Specific treatment may include the following:

• Individual psychotherapy. During sessions, the psychotherapist helps the patient cope with internal conflicts and fears. In each case, an individual approach is used using cognitive behavioral therapy, auto-training and other methods.
• Group psychotherapy. This approach helps solve patients’ social problems: increase self-confidence, develop communication skills, learn to avoid conflicts and better feel the emotions of others.
• Consulting. The psychotherapist communicates with the patient’s family members, explains to them in detail what emotional lability is, and gives recommendations on how to communicate and how to help the person suffering from it.
• Drug therapy. Drugs that reduce anxiety and tension are usually prescribed: tranquilizers, antidepressants and sedatives.

How does this translate in life?

There are a number of clear signs by which one can recognize the emergence and “emergence” of emotional lability:

1. The first sign is the inability to cope with difficulties , even the most insignificant ones. A person in advance, without even trying to do something, falls into melancholy and despondency.
2. Outbursts of affect - explosions of hysteria, yelling, crying, laughter, anger, resentment... all in an exaggerated form and suddenly.
3. A person between outbursts of affects is sluggish, apathetic.
4. A tearful state occurs in most cases after “emotional outbursts.”
5. “Close-heartedness” - a person reacts very sharply to any situation, especially to a situation that is negative for him for some reason.
6. Acute reaction to criticism addressed to oneself , especially if the criticism is negative. A person suffering from pathology cannot loyally, calmly and adequately perceive information about himself.
7. Assessment of behavior, assessment of actions, assessment of skills , assessment of life, both personal and public, becomes a reason for aggression or hysteria .
8. There is no constructive thinking, no logically constructed actions . All life is built on a chaotic reaction to what is happening: outbursts of affect, periods of melancholy and despondency.
9. May be accompanied by diseases of internal organs .

Based on the above symptoms, you can already visually imagine what a labile person looks like. A type with clear, fast and clearly expressed facial expressions, constant sharp movements in space, quickly reacting to any external signals (sharp sound, clap, beam of light).