How much control over your mood do you have?

[Holdfast]

People tend to confuse mood and affect and I see it happening in the responses to the this thread, as well as the phrasing of Witterquick's opening post.

One can feel down and still project a near-perfectly controlled positive affect.

Nobody is in a good mood all the time, but it is possible to have a completely controlled affect for the vast, vast majority of the time. Obviously it depends somewhat on your disposition, outlook, experience, willpower, etc... but the bottom line is that affect control (in the absence of genuine psychiatric morbidity or other over-riding factor like intoxication) is something learnable and which improves with practice.

I'd say that I'm about a 9.5-10 in affect control*, partly through disposition but also very heavily reinforced through my training.

* when I choose to, that is - obviously I don't want to have to exert full control all the time because some people deserve (in a good way) to know what I'm really feeling.

 

[Warp Coil]

When it comes to controlling my outward attitude/mood, I'm almost completely in control - 9/10. If I'm frustrated or annoyed, I can keep it bottled up or limit my outbursts to calm, sarcastic comments that I choose to make in the company of my choice. If I'm in a happy mood, I may decide to react more strongly to it since it's a positive emotion. I rarely, if ever, take any of my emotions in an extreme direction as to cause people to notice.

 

[Velocity]

I have much more control over my mood now, but going through menopause a few years ago was a bitch. I'd get furious or cry in a heartbeat and I never knew what would set me off. Menopause is not for wimps. I feel like myself again--a mostly optimistic happy person.

 

[sidious618]

I don't know how to answer because my mood swings but I've learned to control it much better than I could.

 

[TheLonelySquire]

8.

 

[Kestra]

People tend to confuse mood and affect and I see it happening in the responses to the this thread, as well as the phrasing of Witterquick's opening post.

One can feel down and still project a near-perfectly controlled positive affect.

Right, I can see where that would be an important distinction. I feel that I have little control over what type of mood I'm in. At least initially. I feel all emotions quite intensely and despite efforts throughout the years, it is very difficult for me to control that. As a result of this I'm quite moody and volatile.

However, I have learned to control what emotions I project. I can be incredibly depressed or angry, but still project something different.

I have been trying for a long time to control my moods and I have made some good progress, but I suspect this will be a lifelong effort. It's as if I simply don't understand "middle ground" and instead bounce around from different extremes.