7 Common Bad Emotion Situations and How to Deal with Them
Psychologists told us how to analyze our internal state to improve it
It has happened to each of us at least once: it would seem that everything is fine and life is going according to plan, but then the mood suddenly deteriorates. And it is entirely unclear why this happens.
Several factors are responsible for a good mood: our thoughts, psychological state, life situation, environment, and people nearby. A change in one or more of these components can lead to emotional swings.
Psychologists have analyzed seven common scenarios of bad mood and told how to deal with it.
1. A Friend Complains about Life, and You Start to Feel Sad, Too
It is where emotional contagion — a simple, even primitive, psychological phenomenon — comes into play. University of Hawaii psychology professor Elaine Hatfield explains that during a conversation, people naturally repeat the interlocutor’s facial expressions, posture, and rate of speech.
The movements of the muscles involved in this process (for example, when you frown) activate neural connections, giving rise to the same feelings in you that the interlocutor is talking about. This brain feature is to…
