Emotional Ups And Downs During Confinement: Everything Is Normal

Emotional ups and downs during confinement are common and recurring. Many people experience mood swings throughout the day, from motivation to discouragement, from calm to that angst that swirls in the stomach and agitates thoughts. Let’s say it right off the bat, it’s perfectly normal.

We shouldn’t feed our minds more by wondering if we have bipolar disorder. This psychological state actually goes far beyond these emotional changes.

What happens to us, in short, is that we are exposed to an unknown situation . This unforeseen scenario causes our brain, body and emotions to react. All of this is in the realm of expectation.

However, beyond what one can think, this context is not new for some people. Astronauts are well aware of what containment is. The same goes for prisoners who spend months and years in a penal institution.

There are children with immune diseases who spend much of their time locked up at home. We cannot forget those researchers who spend months in closed stations in Antarctica.

Lawrence Palinkas of the University of Southern California is one of the experts researching these questions. His studies of psychosocial adaptation in extreme environments provide us with relevant data to understand what we are currently experiencing.

This is when we suffer the most emotional ups and downs. Let’s analyze them below .

Emotional ups and downs during confinement, why is this happening to me?

You can get up discouraged. As soon as we open our eyes to a new day we are temporarily disoriented, for a few seconds we don’t know what day we are and soon our mind remembers our reality: the pandemic, confinement, physical and social isolation. and uncertainty as to when we will get our lives back.

During breakfast we usually have the first message exchange with family and friends. We’re thinking about what we’re going to do today and that gives us a little bit of energy and motivation.

However, after a few hours and without knowing why, a fog appears which makes everything opaque and blurry. Temperaments fade and sadness blurs everything. Why is this happening to us? Are we perhaps developing a mental problem?

Let’s analyze a few aspects to understand why these emotional ups and downs occur during confinement.

Even if this is what you want, you won’t be doing well all the time while in lockdown

It doesn’t matter if you have challenging routines. It doesn’t matter that you are one of those optimistic people who always have words of encouragement for yourself and for others.

In these circumstances, we are all going to experience moments of sadness. And for us to experience this feeling at some point in the day is also normal.

It is an illusion to try to be well 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Therefore, even though it may seem a little overwhelming, we are going to have to live with our negative emotions for a while. They are going to be like uncomfortable roommates who will visit us from time to time and who will need to be accepted and understood.

Don’t try to force other emotions on yourself, they all have a purpose

When you are feeling discouraged or frustrated, don’t shy away from them, don’t obsess over moving them around and trying to be happy. The emotional world doesn’t work that way. The emotional ups and downs during confinement are also an escape valve for the brain. This social organ needs the daily life it once had.

When we perceive such a drastic change, this warning system appears, which results in stress and fear; emotions regulated by our cerebral amygdala. Therefore, when these moods manifest, it is impossible to change them for others.

We have to accept them and, above all, give them meaning because “ to feel this way is normal, it is a new and unexpected situation. The only thing I have to try is for this negative emotion not to take control. I accept it, I understand it and I let it go ”.

Look for the “channels” of mental calm during confinement

All people experience emotional ups and downs during confinement. Children, adults and the elderly. However, some profiles are much more vulnerable to these processes.

Anyone who has had depression or suffers from another type of psychological disorder or mental health problem will have more difficulty regulating these conditions.

It is therefore important that in these cases psychological, medical and social support is available, that there is a support network both near and far to provide help to these people. Leaving aside these particular situations, in most cases, as we have pointed out, emotional ups and downs are completely normal and we can deal with them.

Here is an ideal way.

• We need to understand that beyond “negative and positive emotions” or “being right or wrong”, the key is what to do with those emotions. It is clear that we cannot be right and be 100% productive, but we can be calm
• One way to do this is to find the channels that generate the right connection with ourselves. Metaphorically speaking, it’s about having your feet on the ground, your mind centered and your heart in balance.
• Thus, activities such as talking with family or friends help us release our emotions. Also, spending time on those creative tasks that relax us, such as cooking, painting, modeling, or writing is important.
  

It’s not time to be productive, it’s time to take care of ourselves, to be in survival mode. To achieve this, we must understand the wide range of emotions that can visit us throughout the day. This will allow us to successfully exit from this experience.

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