Why Are You Experiencing Mood Swings?
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Medically reviewed by Melissa Bronstein, LICSW
A mood swing is a sudden or intense change in your emotional state. You may quickly go from being happy or content to feeling sad or angry. Mood changes can range from normal fluctuations to more intense or significant mood changes, which can sometimes mean that there's an underlying issue causing your symptoms.
Several factors can contribute to your mood—like temperament, hormones, stress, medications, and blood sugar. But underlying mental and physical health conditions, like bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, brain tumors, multiple sclerosis, and hypothyroidism can disrupt your mood too.
Fortunately, knowing what's causing your mood swings can help you address and stabilize your mood and improve your emotional well-being.
What Do Mood Swings Feel Like?
Most people have a dynamic mood, meaning they may experience a range of emotions and feelings throughout the day based on what they do and what happens around them. They might start the day feeling happy and calm, then be faced with some challenges and quickly become distressed or overwhelmed.
Sometimes changes in mood can be a little more dramatic. When this happens, your mood can quickly change from happy and content, to angry, upset, or distressed. This type of fluctuation in mood can feel like you're on a roller coaster or riding a wave—where you're on a high one moment and then at an extreme low the next.
Depending on the cause of the mood swings, people experience a wide range of symptoms—and not everyone will experience the same things. For instance, people who have a mood disorder might experience dramatic shifts in mood that affect their daily life. However, those who go through a short-term stressful situation might have a quick mood change, but the symptoms won't be as significant.
If you experience more intense mood swings, here's what that might feel like:
Trouble concentrating
Racing thoughts
Rapid change in energy levels (either too high or too low)
Reduced quality of life
Feelings of shame, worthlessness, or guilt
Changes in eating habits
Loss of interest in activities
Urge to do many tasks at once
In some cases, rapid mood swings—especially for people who live with an underlying mental health condition—may cause thoughts of suicide or self-harm. These feelings are challenging to experience, but it's important to note that help is available if you need it.
If you are experiencing a crisis, or know someone who is, call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 for free and confidential support 24/7. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources or call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) hotline at (800) 662-4357.
Common Causes of Mood Swings
Mood swings can occur for a variety of reasons. Some of the more common reasons for fluctuations in mood include lifestyle habits, stress, medications, and underlying health conditions.
Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar disorder is a mental health condition that causes symptoms such as extreme shifts in your mood, energy levels, and ability to carry out everyday tasks. It's one of the most common causes of rapid mood swings, especially because this condition causes intense emotional states.
About 4.4% of adults develop bipolar disorder, which includes several subtypes: bipolar disorder I, bipolar disorder II, and cyclothymic disorder. Your exact subtype depends on the severity of your mood swings and how the condition affects your quality of life.
Borderline Personality Disorder
People with borderline personality disorder often experience intense mood swings, alongside extreme fluctuations in interests and feelings toward other people. For example, you might feel very close to a person on one day and then have extreme dislike or anger towards them the next. This often results in unstable relationships, intense emotional pain, and rapid mood changes.
Depressive Disorders
Depression often causes a depressed or low mood, but it's still considered a mood disorder—especially because people with depression experience other changes in mood or behavior. Not only does depression affect how you think, feel, and act but it also can cause you to feel irritable, restless, and impulsive.
Overall, depression is one of the most common mental health conditions and at least 21 million adults in the United States have had at least one major depressive episode in their lifetime.
Other Mental Health Conditions
Many other mental health conditions can also lead to mood swings, such as schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
ADHD can be mistaken for bipolar disorder because people with the condition tend to have increased psychomotor activity, fast speech, and a decreased need for sleep. Likewise, schizophrenia can also resemble bipolar disorder. The key difference is that people with schizophrenia also have delusions and hallucinations.
Lifestyle Habits
Habits can greatly affect how you feel throughout the day. For example, not getting enough sleep, drinking excess amounts of caffeine, or using substances can cause changes in your mood over time.
Research shows that sleep-deprived people can become angry or irritable quickly, whereas having a substance use disorder can cause extreme happiness followed by extreme sadness.
Medical Conditions
Underlying health conditions like brain tumors, hypothyroidism, and multiple sclerosis are common culprits of mood swings. Other possible causes include human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), encephalitis (brain inflammation), influenza (flu), cancer, dementia, diabetes, and syphilis.
Research suggests that living with a chronic (long-term) condition not only affects your body but takes a toll on your emotional health too.
Medications
Certain medications like steroids and alpha-interferon (an injection used to treat some cancers) can cause manic or depressive symptoms. Manic symptoms can look like extreme excitement or high energy, while depressive symptoms can cause deflated self-esteem and low mood. Some evidence also shows that Accutane (isotretinoin), a common acne medication, is also associated with depression.
If you think your medication is affecting your mood, talk to your healthcare provider about your symptoms and feelings. They may be able to adjust your dosage or change your medication.
Mood Swings in Males vs. Females
Mood swings generally look similar regardless of your sex. However, some things affect your mood based on sex-specific factors. Consider the following:
Male mood swings: High levels of testosterone can contribute to hypomania—a condition that causes elevated mood and energy levels. Low testosterone, however, can lead to depression. Another condition, known as hypogonadism (or, the lack of certain sex hormones) may cause dysphoria (general feeling of unhappiness), irritability, fatigue, decreased libido, lethargy, and trouble concentrating.
Female mood swings: Menstrual cycles, menopause, and pregnancy cause fluctuations in hormones which can contribute to mood swings. About 90% of people who get periods experience premenstrual syndrome (PMS)—and 5% of people with periods develop premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), a more severe form of PMS that causes even more intense mood swings. Menopause and pregnancy can also cause mood swings, such as extreme irritability or crying for no reason.
How To Manage Mood Swings
Regardless of the root cause of your mood swings, you can do things to manage them. If you have an underlying mental health or physical health condition that's causing your symptoms, following your treatment plan is the first step in managing mood swings. Other management strategies include:
Using relaxation techniques like breathing exercises or imagery to help center your mood
Engaging in mindfulness, meditation, and yoga to instill calmness
Trying cognitive restructuring, a method that helps you change the way you think and feel about stressful situations
Keeping a mood journal where you note changes in moods or triggers
Finding humor or positivity in challenging situations
Giving yourself space or a change of scenery to help remove yourself from the problem for a little while
Leaning on your loved ones for support when you're going through a mood swing
When to Contact a Healthcare Provider
Sometimes mood swings can be addressed by making lifestyle changes like getting more sleep, eating nutritious meals throughout the day, and reducing stress. Other times, your symptoms are caused by an underlying issue like a medical condition or medication. Check-in with your healthcare provider if your mood fluctuations persist for two weeks or more. There's also nothing wrong with seeing a healthcare provider sooner if you feel something is amiss.
An estimated 21.4% of people will experience a mood disorder at some point in their lives. Seeing a mental health provider can help if you're experiencing symptoms like:
Dramatic fluctuations in mood or persistent feelings of sadness or elation
Racing thoughts
Difficulty concentrating, reckless behavior
Thoughts of death
A loss of interest in activities.
A mental health professional can help determine the root of your symptoms and develop a treatment plan to help stabilize your moods.
Treatment for mood swings will depend on the underlying cause of your symptoms. If a mental health condition is contributing to mood swings, medications or therapy may help. If certain medications or an underlying medical condition is leading to mood swings, adjusting your dosage, changing your medication, or trying other therapies can help improve symptoms.
Tips for Preventing Mood Swings
Mood swings can be frustrating to live with—but they're sometimes just part of life. While getting treatment for your mood swings is a great way to improve your emotional health, you can try prevention strategies such as:
Reducing your screen time before bed
Engaging in physical activity such as walking, yoga, hiking, or sports
Eating nutritious foods at appropriate intervals throughout the day
Limiting your alcohol and coffee intake
Practicing gratitude to help you stay focused on the positives in your life
Spending time with loved ones to keep your mood grounded and mind less stressed
Saying "no" to things, people, and opportunities that stress you out or drain your energy
A Quick Review
A mood swing is an intense change in your emotional state where you may go from being happy, calm, or content to feeling depressed, irritated, or angry in a short period. Some fluctuations in mood are normal responses. However, if your mood swings interfere with your daily life or negatively affect your quality of life, it's likely time to reach out to a healthcare provider.
Underlying health conditions, certain medications, fluctuations in hormones, and lifestyle habits can all contribute to mood swings. Fortunately, treatment options like therapy or medication and prevention strategies like getting exercise and prioritizing sleep can stabilize your mood and improve your emotional health.
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