Mood swings and trauma recovery are a real thing. Sometimes the world seems as right as rain. Then there are those times when our internal world struggles to make a smile come out. Kind, supportive thoughts seem elusive. This is a natural momentum. Emotions feel like they are swinging up and down. Have you ever experienced that?

Believe it or not, when trauma happens, our stress hormones affect our brains. This chemical impact can lead to what I like to call yo-yo emotions. (I found this interesting article if you’d like to read more about that.) Knowing this helps to understand what’s going on physiologically when we deal with trauma. Perhaps those mood swings are our body’s design to help us deal with trauma. That said, it doesn’t diminish the intensity of the emotions we experience as we strive to get our lives back to normal (whatever normal might be).

When emotions start to yo-yo, what can we do to deal with that? There are lots of different approaches. First, let me say getting help to deal with it is an option that is available to you. Asking for help is one of the most nurturing things you can do for yourself. Here are a few other things to consider:

Exercise and physical activity are good for lowering cortisol levels; it boosts your endorphins (the good stuff that helps you).
Sleep disturbances can magnify your mood swings, so ensuring you are getting adequate sleep can also help.
Building and maintaining supportive relationships also helps. There’s nothing better than a friend who can listen while you sort through the feelings you experience. Sometimes the feelings you experience directly relate to the trauma, and other times they show up because of other life dynamics.

I know, I know! There’s nothing easy about it! It can seem so big and overwhelming. Again, I come back to the value of getting some professional help. There’s no simple, put-a-band-aid-on-it fix for these things. Broken arms are better fixed with the help of a professional. The same is true for our emotional traumas. They are much more complex than any of us would care to admit. Getting some professional help can do wonders for guiding you through the maze of mood swings.

Mood swings happen with or without trauma. When trauma is present, though, things can get messy really fast. Give yourself some grace. Know that mood swings are part of what creates colors on our canvas. Understanding them can sure help to create a context for them, and help us find the right things to do to help ourselves. Just saying.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay