emotional rollercoaster

[FrozenRobot7]

Recently, I have felt so out of control of my emotions and impulsions and I don't know how to change the course I'm going on now.

I have struggled/struggle with depression on a fairly regular basis, but not with the crazy mood swings and impulsive/irrational decisions. I don't even notice it in the moment, but in the past few months I have found myself looking back at what I was doing and see how stupid of decisions I'm making. In January for example, I got a stick and poke tattoo from a friend, pierced my own ear, and ditched school for most of the week. This for me was very out of character, and frankly I didn't even feel like it was me doing these things, they felt out of my control.

But after these periods of impulsiveness, that's when my mood completely flips and I can't even bring myself to get out of bed all day. I didn't really notice a pattern until a couple weeks ago, when I realized these very irrational times are always closely followed with a deep depression. I don't know how to control these intense emotions and want to find a way to balance these emotions out and be myself again. Any advice is greatly appreciated

Hey there, thank you for reaching out! I know you are asking us for coping strategies, and I think that is great; but I am also wondering if you have ever considered reaching out to a medical professional about this? I think talking to someone, such as a doctor or a licensed mental health therapist, would be a good idea. Not to give any examples of what you might be experiencing — as that would be considered diagnosing in a way — but it could be better treated with medication. Just a thought though! I am not sure how you feel about it.

I find writing helps me immensely when I am having erratic thinking, behaviors, or emotions. Not only that, after writing for an extended period — or writing in stages, leaving it be for a bit as you go along — you can really take a good look at what was going on during that time period you were feeling the erratic thoughts, experiencing unstable emotions, and doing things impulsively. Perhaps, if you haven't already, you can set up a private, password-protected blog on a separate platform; if you want to utilize TeenHelp's own blog, then please feel free to do so!

I wish you all the best.