Altered Mood (Depressive and Manic Symptoms)

Altered mood

Having unusual experiences can impact on a persons’ mood. The emotions and reactions, associated with a mood, often make a lot of sense when thinking about the context of the experience the person is having. Sometimes we can recognise these changes in our mood ourselves and at other times it might manifest in our behaviours or appearance unbeknownst to us. 

Although there are diagnoses related to mood, these are considered separate from the way mood can change associated with unusual experiences, such as having low mood through unusual experiences doesn’t mean you suffer with depression, though they can co-occur.

Low mood (Depressive symptoms)

When unusual experiences are of an unpleasant nature, or are challenging to make sense of and integrate, this can lead to a ‘downward spiral’ and dampen our mood.

Feeling sad, afraid or guilty on an ongoing basis can cause us to feel low and or hopeless which can lead to being more tearful and appearing disheartened or defeated.

'Feeling like my friends and family were secretly hoping I would fail really took it's toll on me. I was scared it would bubble out from secrecy and they would laugh at me or exile me and yet felt guilty that I could even believe they would do such a thing. This inner conflict led to me feeling low and it took a while to work through.'

Anonymous

Elevated mood (Manic symptoms)

Some unusual experiences can be profoundly inspiring and positive, it can be easy to get caught up in them when this happens. It can feel like one burst after another of powerful emotions that are encouraging and empowering. Sometimes this can lead to thinking that you’re ‘on a roll’, ‘on top of the world’ or have figured something out that no one else seems to know or understand.

Feeling happy, awestruck or powerful on an ongoing basis can lead to feeling euphoric, uplifted or elevated, larger than life or superior which can lead to being very enthusiastic and friendly, being irritated more easily, setting lots of new goals and actively working on them and being more energetic than usual – these strong feelings can change rapidly and are likely to be intensely expressed.

If you are struggling

Moods can be pervasive and challenging to shift, sometimes it is a matter of time and sometimes there are things we can do to speed the process. Below are some tips for understanding moods better and considering ways of coping with them.

1. Try to keep a mood diary, notice how your mood changes and note down things that effect you mood.
2. Try to express your mood in a creative outlet in whatever way feels best for you, for example art, writing, music, photography, etc. 
3. Think about what causes you stress or triggers you and try to reduce or avoid it.
4. Think about your lifestyle, are there any areas that might be affecting your mood that you could try to improve? For example, diet, exercise, drugs & alcohol, sleep.
5. Try meditation and mindfulness if they work for you as they can be of great benefit in calming the mind and improving mood.
6. Try to only set realistic goals for yourself, setting them too high can lead to a sense of failure or cause a stressful flurry to get them done.