Lability - a disease or psychological feature

For some, constant changes in emotional state are the norm. But from a scientific point of view, an unnatural change in physical and mental state means so-called lability. Under the influence of external or internal factors, the nervous system may react too aggressively to circumstances. In its advanced form, this is fraught with irritability and disruptions of the mental system.

In everyday life, such reactions are often classified as natural processes. But even attacks of aggression, for example, when touching hot objects or when pain occurs, are considered emotional lability. Lability is a negative quality of a person if it occurs too aggressively and uncontrollably.

What it is

Lability in physiology is the rate of excitation cycles in the tissues of the nervous system and muscles. The definition was introduced by N. E. Vvedensky in 1886. He considered lability to be the period during which tissues are restored after excitation. This value is not constant and is not characterized by rhythm.

Nerve cells are responsible for lability:

1. The most excitable axons are processes that produce up to a thousand impulses per second.
2. Synapses—the places of contact between two neurons—are less labile and transmit up to 150 excitations per second.

Thus, the nervous system regulates the vital processes of the body, determining the mental state of a person.

In psychology, lability is the speed of switching between mental processes and the rate of their occurrence. In academia, the emphasis is on emotions. The degree of manifestation and the frequency of mood swings in a person in life situations are taken into account. Lability is also characterized as a pathology, a negative phenomenon that requires correction when emotions are excessive and changeable.

Psychologists highlight intellectual lability. It involves quickly switching between sources of information and tasks that are not related to each other. Such individuals have high intelligence, think about issues in transport, in a crowd, while the people around them and the noise do not disturb them. This is not about chaotic switching of attention, but about thoughtful adaptation. This quality of an individual ensures survival in the modern world and is an advantage.

Lability is often characterized as a pathology, a negative phenomenon that requires correction. But it also manifests an adaptive mental mechanism. Reaction speed and quick switching ensure adaptability and survival in a changing external environment.

To summarize the definitions, lability in science is defined as:

• in a normal situation - mobility;
• dynamic processes;
• in the presence of pathology - mental instability.

The opposite of lability is called rigidity. It is characterized by a stable mental state. But any external changes unsettle a person and cause a negative reaction. Moderate manifestations of lability and rigidity provide advantages. Excessive emotionality or its absence is characterized by psychologists as a pathology.

Provoking factors

The causes of the disorder in question are quite extensive and among the most active provoking factors it is worth highlighting the following:

• periodic stress or constant nervous tension;
• excess or lack of attention from others;
• childhood or current psychological trauma;
• hormonal imbalance, endocrine pathologies and other somatic ailments;
• avitaminosis.

As already mentioned, emotional lability can play the role of a symptom in the presence of cerebral atherosclerosis, tumor diseases, traumatic brain injuries, asthenia, organic brain pathologies or hypertension.

Causes

Lability is more often considered in psychology as a negative state. However, this property means mental flexibility and helps a person adapt to changing circumstances. Unwillingness to change your behavior causes no less harm in life than changeability and emotionality. Normally, both components are present in the psyche. The difficulties are associated with their excessive manifestation.

Increased lability is inherent in people with choleric character and temperament. By nature, they are endowed with a quick emotional reaction.

However, the symptom is also caused by disorders and weakness of the nervous system:

• neurosis;
• psychological trauma in childhood;
• severe stress in the past, a traumatic situation;
• human unpreparedness for social changes.

Physiological factors that form a labile personality type should also be taken into account:

• brain disorders caused by trauma;
• the influence of substances that cause narcotic intoxication and increase excitability;
• oncology;
• heart and vascular diseases.

To establish an accurate diagnosis, physiological causes must first be excluded. Diagnosis is complicated by the fact that the border between emotionality and pathological instability is blurred.

Complications

Without treatment, emotionally labile patients experience constant mental stress and fatigue and provoke conflicts with others. This condition often leads to depression, suicidal thoughts and social isolation. Nervous exhaustion is manifested by chronic fatigue, development or exacerbation of somatic diseases. Decreased motivation and concentration prevents patients from independently seeking medical and psychological help. If complications develop, they need support and encouragement from loved ones.

Signs and types

Lability has several varieties, but there are signs common to all conditions.

Distinctive features of a labile personality type:

1. Acute reaction to minor events. If something goes wrong, a person screams, cries, becomes hysterical. Sometimes he falls into deep depression.
2. Sudden mood swings. If a person is pathologically labile, his mood is changeable. He easily moves from irritation, hysteria to joy, jubilation under the influence of an insignificant reason.
3. Fear of difficulties. Labile individuals believe that it is impossible to overcome life's obstacles. The individual avoids them with all his might, communicates little, prefers a narrow circle of friends.
4. Difficulties in communication. A malfunction of the nervous system makes it difficult to communicate with a person due to sudden mood swings.
5. Emotional exhaustion. Mental disorders cause an individual to literally burn out. Mood swings lead to fatigue, weakness, and apathy.
6. Susceptibility to influence. Individuals with mental pathologies often get carried away, find idols, and become attached to them. Sometimes passion reaches the point of absurdity.

These are general indicators that allow one to suspect a patient has mental disorders. But psychologists and psychiatrists identify a number of options for labile character accentuation:

1. Emotional lability. Excessive expression of emotions is accompanied by paradoxical actions and reactions. Resentment is manifested by hysterical laughter, great joy - by a stream of tears. Low lability, on the contrary, makes itself felt by hypoemotionality, when a person hardly expresses feelings.
2. Psycho-emotional lability. Along with emotional arousal, it is accompanied by motor activity. Such individuals are suspicious, frivolous, sensitive to criticism, impressionable, and overly sensitive.
3. Affectively labile type. Negative personality traits are compensated by its good qualities. Such people are open, trusting, and easily fall under the influence of others.
4. Conformal type. This person does not critically evaluate his own and others’ actions, does not know how to control himself, and has difficulty adapting to new conditions.

In complex cases, pathological lability is accompanied by a deterioration in physical condition. With asthenic syndrome, frequent fatigue, dizziness, weakness, and decreased activity are recorded. In this situation, treatment takes place in a hospital.

Autonomic instability

There is another type of negative lability. This is a disturbed vegetative system. This includes the factor of control over body movements, stability of the musculoskeletal system and all key organs. If you feel dizzy, lose control of yourself, notice tremors in your limbs or numbness, then you are likely to develop autonomic lability. The disorder is also manifested by erectile dysfunction, vaginal dryness, tachycardia and impaired sleep stability.

With all these manifestations, you should also consult a specialist.

Diagnostics

The approach to making a diagnosis against the background of negative manifestations of lability is different for children and adults. Until the age of 10, the pathology is almost invisible. Even experienced specialists have difficulty identifying suspicious conditions.

More than 9,000 people have gotten rid of their psychological problems using this technique.

Internal infections also affect the psyche of children. The diseases are mild, chronic in nature, attacks take a long time to pass and return after a short period of time. They may not be the main cause of mental disorders, but they make the condition worse.

In adolescents, lability is more pronounced. But the difficulty of diagnosis lies in the fact that emotional instability is generated by a hormonal surge and is present in every second child aged 12-17 years.

To diagnose a teenager, psychiatrists carefully interview parents, teachers, and friends. The first sign of pathology is frequent mood changes for no apparent reason.

In adolescents, lability is manifested by a reluctance to adapt to others, awareness of emotional instability, and the ability to understand what people think about you. There is no desire for leadership.

Sometimes there is hysterical accentuation, when the child shows egocentrism, but knows how to empathize with others and becomes attached. The demonstrativeness of actions decreases.

In adults, pathological lability is diagnosed based on physiological signs based on information about accompanying circumstances:

• changes in hormonal levels;
• severe stress, turmoil in childhood;
• regular life failures;
• diseases of internal organs;
• avitaminosis;
• lack or excess of microelements.

Human behavior is also assessed. Socialization is difficult due to lack of self-control. There are frequent outbursts of anger and authoritarianism in the family. And although these manifestations smooth out with age, they often prevent a person from building a career and improving his personal life.

Features of lability

In children

Emotional instability in childhood is a consequence of difficult births, infections at an early age, dysfunctional family environment or psychological trauma. The child’s weakened nervous system reacts violently to every external stimulus, and physiologically he is not able to control this flow of emotions. It is easy to notice deviations from the norm by frequent crying, hysterics, hyperactivity, and moodiness. Such children require constant attention from others, physical contact (not only parents, but also teachers at school and friends put pressure on them), they look ungratefully into the eyes, and seek support and participation.

During adolescence, the disease can worsen as it is aggravated by hormonal imbalance. The clinical picture is aggravated by a negative component: joyful manifestations become less frequent and are replaced by anger, aggression and constant dissatisfaction. If parents do not notice such a child and do not help him in time, then at the moment of an emotional outburst the teenager can offend others and himself (not only mentally, but also physically) and even commit suicide.

In adults

Emotional instability in adults refers to a range of symptoms that combine mental and physiological signs of deviance. They can be recognized by constant sweating on the forehead, trembling limbs, burning eyes, nervous and uneven speech, heavy breathing and bright facial expressions. They hang on every word of others, do not ignore any event, vigorously discuss everything, energetically waving their arms.

Emotional instability in adults can be tolerable when the manifestations are periodic, and unbearable when the person constantly has to endure these inexplicable outbursts. Such people have problems at work because neither colleagues nor bosses can adapt to their mood swings. Personal life also tends to collapse; not every spouse will tolerate his mood and hysterics under the slightest pretext.

Unfortunately, most people attribute this behavior to the inability to control their emotions, lack of tact and inclinations. Men like to explain such outbursts of their women as PMS. In reality, everything is much more serious. This pathology of the nervous system requires consultation with a specialist and appropriate treatment.

Among women

Emotional instability often occurs in women during certain periods of her life - premenstrual syndrome or menopause. In this case, it is necessary to take medications to normalize hormonal balance.

Correction and treatment

The interpretation of lability symptoms depends on the qualifications of the psychologist or psychiatrist. He evaluates the significance of the collected observations and makes a decision regarding the diagnosis.

Treatment is prescribed depending on the diagnostic result obtained. It includes:

1. Correction of the patient's behavior is carried out using sedatives and antidepressants.
2. Psychologists work with patients on training volitional qualities, concentration of behavior, and attention. Their influence is aimed at establishing smooth relationships in the patient’s family, minimizing the manifestation of shortcomings, and relieving emotional stress.
3. In parallel, internal diseases, if any, and somatic diseases are treated. The tone of the nervous system decreases, which leads to calmness and concentration.
4. For labile individuals, a regime that allows you to avoid stress and stay in a comfort zone is important. Important components of treatment are sleep, walks in the fresh air, massage, and good nutrition.
5. In severe cases, resort to hypnosis. This is a dangerous but effective method. Hypnosis is used if the pathology is caused by severe stress in childhood or defects in upbringing.

If we are talking about an affective state, an outbreak of aggression, treatment is carried out in a hospital. When assessing the patient’s condition, the psychiatrist takes into account existing signs and the overall picture of the morbidity.

In Europe, lability treatment is carried out in sanatoriums equipped with new equipment. Medical centers are located in famous resorts, which creates a comfortable environment for the patient. Doctors monitor the condition of patients around the clock.

Self-medication for emotional lability is unacceptable. The patient cannot independently cope with mood swings, fight manifestations of aggression or causeless joy. This requires willpower, which patients lack. Self-administration of sedatives is unacceptable: they have serious contraindications and side effects.

How does this translate in life?

There are a number of warning signs by which one can recognize the occurrence and “genesis” of emotional lability:

1. The first symptom is the inability to cope with difficulties, even the most minor ones. A person falls into melancholy and depression earlier, without even trying to do anything about it.
2. Outbursts of affect - outbursts of hysteria, screaming, crying, laughter, anger, discontent.... and all this in an excessive and sudden manner.
3. In the intervals between outbursts the person is lethargic and apathetic.
4. The critical state appears in most cases after “emotional outbursts.”
5. “Closeness of heart” - a person reacts very sharply to any situation, especially one that for some reason is negative for him.
6. A harsh reaction to criticism, especially if it is negative. A person with pathology is not able to loyally, calmly and adequately perceive information about himself.
7. Assessment of behavior, assessment of actions, assessment of skills, assessment of life, both personal and social, becomes a reason for aggression or hysteria.
8. There is no constructive thinking, no logically constructed actions. All life consists of chaotic reactions to events: outbursts of affect, periods of melancholy and depression.
9. Disorders of internal organs may also occur.

Based on the above symptoms, you can imagine what a labile person looks like. A type with clear, fast and expressive facial expressions, constant movements in space and a quick reaction to any external signals (sudden sound, clap, beam of light).