What to do when your bad mood is unexplainable

In most situations in which we are in a bad mood, we can point to a reason. For example, we may be experiencing work stress or problems in our relationships, finances or health. In these instances, we are usually aware of steps we can take to improve our mood. This often entails taking action to address the problem affecting our mood, engaging in activities to take our mind off the problem, and using cognitive strategies to facilitate thinking about the problem in a balanced manner rather than in an overly negative way.

It is less clear how to deal with your bad mood when you cannot point to a cause for it. For example, what if you feel irritated, anxious, sad or frustrated for no apparent reason? In the following sections, I will discuss steps you can take in these situations.

Normalize the experience

Normalizing entails recognizing that you are not alone in the challenge you are experiencing. It makes it easier to face challenges when you realize that others have coped with them.

Being in a bad mood for no apparent reason is an experience everyone faces. Not being bothered by the fact that you are going through such an experience will make it easier for you to deal with it.

Recognize that there is a reason for your emotional state

Thinking that your bad mood has no cause can add to your distress. However, just because you cannot identify a cause for your bad mood does not mean that there is no cause.

In fact, there is a cause and recognizing this can be reassuring even if you have not identified it.

Remember that emotions are transient

Emotions are transient. That is, they come and go and we do not experience them indefinitely.

Yet our concerns about unpleasant states do not recognize this fact. People in general are poor affective forecasters. That is, we typically overestimate both the intensity and duration of emotions in our predictions. We assume emotions will be stronger in intensity than what we experience and we assume that the experience will be longer than what occurs.

Remembering that your bad mood is temporary will make it easier to accept it. In turn, accepting your emotions rather than fighting them will make it easier for you to manage them as they run their course.

Breathe into your emotions

Taking relaxed breaths is another strategy that helps you to accept emotions. When you breathe into your emotions, your relaxed physical state will make it easier to accept your bad moods. Think of yourself as surfing the emotional wave as it rises, peaks and passes.

Act to improve your mood

My go-to strategy for when my mood is bad is to act to improve my mood. Engaging in any one of several activities helps me get out of the ‘funk’ that I am in. Exercising, playing the piano, reading, listening to music and connecting with supportive people are among my go-to behaviours to re-set when my mood is not in a good place.

So when your mood is not good, whether you can identify the cause or not, acting is often a good strategy to reset and get on with your day.

Use ACT as your guide

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) focuses on accepting thoughts and emotions while being committed to acting consistently with your values each day. I like ACT because it acknowledges that we will often have unpleasant thoughts and moods throughout the day. Accepting this allows us to turn our focus to acting consistently with our values regardless of the presence of unpleasant thoughts and moods.

Being less preoccupied with our moods and focusing on our activities makes it easier when our moods are not good. With these activities as your focus, the bad moods you experience fade into the background as your day unfolds.

May you use constructive strategies when you are in a bad mood,

-Dr. Pat