emotional volatility
Rapid mood shifts
Emotional volatility is the tendency toward rapid, intense mood swings—shifting quickly from calm to angry, joyful to despairing, or anywhere between.
The term borrows from chemistry and finance, where volatility describes substances or markets prone to sudden change.
Someone with emotional volatility may overreact to minor provocations or cycle through feelings unpredictably: His emotional volatility made every disagreement feel like a crisis.
- moodyProne to sullenness
- mood swingsAbrupt temperament changes
- unstableProne to sudden change
- turbulentViolently agitated or disturbed
- explosiveProne to sudden detonation
short fuse · hair trigger · flying off the handle · mercurial · temperamental · unpredictable · all over the place · rollercoaster · stormy · fragile · reactive · sensitive · erratic · intense · outbursts · tearful · swings · hot and cold
- adolescencepuberty, teenager, coming-of-age, growing up, teen
- anxietiesworry, angst, nervousness, dread, apprehension
- Mental Disordersschizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, PTSD
- vulnerabilitiesvulnerability, insecurity, weakness, self-doubt, flaw
emotional volatilityemotional stability
Resilient, even-keeled temperament
equanimity · steadiness · level-headedness · composure · evenness
emotional volatilityself-control
Ability to restrain impulses
emotional regulation · composure · self-possession · restraint · poise
emotional volatilitystoicism
Uncomplaining acceptance of difficulty
emotional detachment · impassivity · emotional numbness · flat affect · apathy
emotion, emotional, emotionally, emotive, emotionless, volatile, volatility, volatilize, volatilization