How to Manage Emotional Outbursts

Emotional outbursts are uncontrollable, sudden, and intense emotions—like extreme anger, rage, or frustration—that are disproportionate to the event causing the response.

Emotional outbursts can mentally and emotionally distress the person experiencing them due to an inability to manage their emotions. It can also damage interpersonal, school, or work relationships.

This article gives an overview of emotional outbursts, including examples, causes, symptoms, and more.

Examples of Emotional Outbursts

When a person is experiencing an emotional outburst, they may feel triggered by something that isn't a big deal to others. Their reaction to the situation may seem disproportionate to the situation and may include the following:

• Sudden irritability or anger
• Outbursts of shouting or crying
• Threatening or insulting others
• Slamming doors, stomping, making a mess, or destroying property
• Harming themselves, such as banging their head or punching walls
• Throwing things
• Hitting, kicking, biting, or spitting
  

Causes of Emotional Outbursts

People are not born with the ability to regulate or control their emotions. However, as they grow, they usually develop emotional regulation—skills and strategies to manage and cope with powerful emotions.

For children still learning to respond to strong emotions appropriately, certain situations may trigger them. These can include the following:

• Feeling that someone is criticizing them
• Feeling misunderstood or misunderstanding others
• Demands not being immediately met
• Changes in routine
• Frustration at being unable to do a task
• Hunger, exhaustion, or changing hormones

Emotional Dysregulation

Sometimes, people are unable to develop effective strategies for managing strong, difficult emotions. When the ability to manage negative emotions is impaired, people have emotional dysregulation. This can cause emotional outbursts and may be due to the following:

• Certain psychiatric conditions, including anxiety and mood disorders, such as depression, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
• Childhood trauma, such as maltreatment or neglect
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Specific genetic or inherited factors
• Brain injury

Symptoms of Being Unable to Control Your Emotions

Symptoms of being unable to control your emotions can include:

• Inability to express how you're feeling clearly
• Inability to make sense of your emotions
• Difficulty accepting your emotions
• Not knowing what caused your emotions
• Feeling helpless to control your emotions
• Feeling overwhelmed by emotions
• Difficulty controlling your behavior or impulses in a way that will promote a positive outcome or goal
  

How to Manage Anger

If you're having difficulty managing your anger, you may try some of the following strategies:

• Calm yourself: If you feel angry, try something that calms you down. This may include taking a walk, listening to music, utilizing breathing techniques, or gentle stretching or yoga.
• Remove yourself from the situation: If you are at work or a family or friend gathering, let others know you need a break and excuse yourself from the potentially triggering situation.
• Practice self-care: Regularly taking care of your physical health can help you manage your emotions. Eating balanced meals, exercising, and getting adequate sleep can improve daily functioning and help you manage stressors.
• Get professional help: When your emotions are out of control, speaking with a healthcare or mental health provider can help you increase awareness and clarity around why you're feeling the way you do and develop personalized strategies for managing your anger. Medication may also be prescribed if your anger is due to an underlying psychological condition.
  

Remember that these strategies may not work for everyone and that there may be underlying causes for your emotional outbursts. Consult your healthcare provider to ensure you are getting the help you need.

When to Seek Help

If you're deciding whether to seek help for emotional or behavioral issues, consider asking yourself questions about how your behaviors impact your life. Questions about subjective distress, daily functions, and social relationships include the following:

Subjective distress:

• Ask yourself honestly, "How are you doing right now?"
• Are you feeling overwhelmed by problems and stressful situations?
• Do you feel like hurting yourself or others?

Daily life functions:

• Reflect on your daily life—how well have you been doing at home, school, or work?
• Are you finding yourself less engaged and unable to complete tasks?
• Have you received negative feedback from school or work?

Social relationships:

• How much does being with friends or family feel frustrating, exhausting, or uncomfortable?
• Do you feel isolated or withdrawn from friends and family?

Feeling frustrated or angry from time to time is a normal response to stressful situations. However, when outbursts of strong emotion begin to feel disruptive to your day-to-day functioning and meaningful relationships, it may be a sign to seek professional help.

Diagnosis

Though there's no specific diagnosis for emotional outbursts, your healthcare provider may:

• Ask you questions about your health and relationship history
• Use self-report surveys to measure your emotions and your ability to manage them
• Direct you to a mental health provider who can help you explore your feelings and create new strategies to manage strong emotions
  

Summary

Emotional outbursts are strong, uncontrollable bursts of anger or frustration disproportionate to the situation causing them. They are common for children who have not yet learned to regulate their emotions but may also occur in adulthood. Outbursts in adulthood could be due to childhood maltreatment or neglect, psychological issues, or brain trauma.

If emotional outbursts are harming your relationships and affecting your day-to-day functioning, it may be a sign that professional help is necessary. Though there's no official diagnosis for emotional outbursts, healthcare providers can use diagnostic tools to determine your ability to regulate your emotions. These tools can help you and your healthcare provider identify the best strategies to manage your feelings.

A Word From Verywell

Having intense emotions is a normal part of life. However, if you are experiencing uncontrolled and sudden episodes of anger, you could be having emotional outbursts. If you cannot regulate your emotions, it's a good idea to speak with a trusted healthcare provider who can diagnose any underlying causes and help you develop strategies to manage them.