Mood Swings? What To Do With It

Everybody's moods go up and down. Sometimes we have a god day; sometimes we have a bad day. Very often these changes in mood are so small we do not notice them. When you have been feeling anxious or depressed you are sensitized to your own reactions. You are n the look-out for any minor changes tat might occur. When normal fluctuations occur, which you may have paid little attention to previously, you notice them. This attention with its associated worrying thoughts means that those minor changes become exaggerated and magnified. Your mood tends to go up and down like a roller coaster with high peaks and low troughs.

To counteract this tendency, first you have to recognize that it is happening. Then watch out for your thoughts. Are you allowing 'all-or-nothing thinking' or 'catasthrophising' to take place? Do you think when the day stats badly, "oh no, today is going to be terrible, I might as well not bother. I am not letting any better?' challenge that thought and change it to, 'it is just a bad day, no more, or less. Everybody has them.'

Sometimes when people confront a fear or phobia they expose themselves to the anxiety-provoking situation once or twice and say 'I am cured, I have cracked it', and then stop putting themselves back into that situation. Research suggests that for a fear to be truly banished, you have to return regularly to the avoided situation, otherwise there is a tendency for the fear to return,. So keeps practice going. Watch out for subtle avoidance when you say to yourself, 'I have done it once, I am Ok now, I do not need to do it again.'

Expect setbacks and you would not be disappointed. Most people will have setbacks; the important thing is not to be demoralized. Be aware of saying to yourself, 'I am fine now, everything is Ok.' Even when you are doing well expect a setback-plan for it. When it occurs do not be demoralized; it is likely to be one step back but three steps forward. Setbacks come to instruct.

Are you getting enough fun out of life? When we are under stress the pleasurable activities get squeezed out by everyday life. Hobbies get dropped. We see friends less often. It is important to reverse this process ad restart the things that you used to enjoy in the past and push yourself into restarting some of these activities. Treat yourself occasionally.