Many people experience times when their emotions feel too big or out-of-control, even when nothing obviously wrong is happening around them. Maybe you’ve had the experience of feeling calm and content in one moment, then suddenly upset and sad, or angry, or even despairing in the next moment. Your mood has shifted instantly, and you don’t know what happened to cause that.

Was it something someone said? Was there a visual trigger, such as a frowning face, or a tone of voice that changed unexpectedly? Maybe it was something you saw on social media.

Regardless of the circumstances that prompted it, this type of sudden, extreme emotional response might be a sign of emotional dysregulation. It can feel like you’ve been punched in the gut.

Emotional dysregulation occurs when an extreme emotional response persists beyond a reasonable time frame. It’s more than just moodiness; it feels intense and uncontrollable.

Signs of emotional dysregulation include:

There are various possible causes of emotional dysregulation, including brain structure, function, stress levels, and trauma. To date, the best understood cause is the difference in brain structure and function. There are some clear physiological changes in brain functioning during periods of emotional dysregulation.

The emotional brain (limbic system) hijacks the logical brain (prefrontal cortex).........

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