• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

WhyWeSuffer.com

Transformative Insights from Depth Psychology

  • BASIC PRINCIPLE
  • About
  • Services
  • Comments
  • Contact
  • Books
  • Show Search
Hide Search

Escape the Misery of Moodiness

Peter Michaelson · February 26, 2016 ·

Resolving inner conflict produces an expanded sense of freedom.
Resolving inner conflict produces an expanded sense of freedom.

“I drink and eat in moderation,” a client told me. “I go to bed at a reasonable hour. I love my wife and kids. The only thing I binge on is irritability and restlessness. I’m a bundle of blue moods.”

His blue moods, as he described them, were not agonizingly painful, yet he was weary of them and fed up with “the heaviness that rises and falls throughout my day.” Rarely did he experience a day completely free of the malady. It didn’t feel like depression, he said, but rather more like an intermittent gloominess, underlying angst, or, at worst, bouts of anxious distress.

Fortunately, his affliction didn’t qualify as a disruptive mood dysregulation disorder. This psychiatric term describes a condition in which a person has angry outbursts that occur, on average, three or more times a week, involving verbal rages and physical aggression. Rather, his moodiness indicates a less serious condition called generalized anxiety disorder. This disorder involves frequent experiences of three or more of the following symptoms: irritability, restlessness, muscle tension, sleep disturbances, tiredness, excessive worry, and difficulty concentrating or mind going blank.

In its diagnostic manual, American psychiatry doesn’t offer much in the way of an explanation for why and how a person develops or acquires this persistent moodiness. The manual does say in passing, however, that the disorder has been associated with “negative affectivity (neuroticism).” The depth psychology to which I subscribe attributes persistent moodiness to neurosis and explains how it arises.

All neurotics are subject to pronounced moodiness. Their psyche is an inner battleground between self-aggression (from the inner critic or superego) and inner passivity (located in the unconscious or subordinate ego). Moodiness is just one of many symptoms of this inner conflict.

In our psyche, the unconscious ego (the seat of inner passivity) tries to deflect the self-aggression that emanates from the superego, but it does so ineffectively and often with compromises that shortchange the individual. Due to the unconscious ego’s weakness, the individual absorbs a great deal of the superego’s negative aggression. As a result, the individual experiences moodiness, anxiety, fear, distrust, and depression, along with other symptoms.

I say more about how moodiness arises, but first I want to discuss the idea that much of our inner conflict involves a dynamic interplay between self-aggression and inner passivity. We can see evidence of this inner conflict in current events and world history. In large part, history tells the story of how individuals, groups, and nations have initiated aggression and how others have defended against it, either defeating it or surrendering to it. Passivity invites aggression, whether from bullies in the playground or from unevolved government and business leaders.

This dynamic between aggression and passivity starts in our psyche and spreads out onto the playing fields of family life, community, culture, politics, economics, and international relations. Inner conflict in the psyche is shifted or transposed into social and political relationships, creating much of the world’s disharmony. Yet many people can’t see this obvious correlation between inner disharmony and social disharmony because they refuse unconsciously to see themselves objectively.

When individuals are neurotic, they can’t reconcile these two polarities—aggression vs. passivity—in their psyche. They often feel they have no choice but to be stuck in unwanted passivity or to be inappropriately aggressive. Unable to reconcile inner conflict, they become entangled emotionally in clashing aggressive and passive perspectives concerning the world and their place in it.

For example, it has been found that the supporters of the American presidential candidate Donald Trump are likely to have authoritarian inclinations. This means they’re easily excited and seduced by aggressive posturing, yet such emotionalism is a defense against (or cover-up of) the inner passivity they harbor in their psyche. In other words, passive, neurotic people, when they identify with an aggressive personality or political stance, become emotionally excited and feel empowered. The anger they express covers up their emotional entanglement in the feelings of helplessness and powerlessness that are accentuated in the United States by worsening employment opportunities for many working people. Nonetheless, many are determined to blame others rather than to recognize the contribution of inner passivity and self-sabotage to their economic predicament.

Let’s now return to the discussion of moodiness. As mentioned, it arises, even in mild-to-moderate cases, out of inner conflict between aggression and passivity. Certainly, other factors such as diet and exercise can affect our moods. Still, psychological issues are often involved in a person’s failure to exercise or to eat in a healthy manner.

An excellent explanation for moodiness was written by Edmund Bergler, M.D., a neo-Freudian psychoanalytic psychiatrist, in his book Principles of Self-Damage (Philosophical Library, Inc., New York, 1959, with editions by other publishers in 1974 and 1992). It’s quite remarkable and tragic that this knowledge has been available for more than half a century, yet recent psychological literature is still all over the map—exploring genetics, neuroscience, evolution, cognitive dissonance, cultural influences, social injustice, and toxic parenting—in an effort to understand the problem.

Here’s Bergler’s explanation of the origins of moodiness:

The dominant superego [inner critic] usurps the bulk of the neurotic’s aggressive energy; the superego of the normal individual has a comparatively small store of the individual’s aggression at its disposal. In normality, therefore, the individual retains command of sufficient psychic energy to allow for a vigorous defense against the superego’s torture, and for the external application of this energy to realistic aims and pursuits. The normal person is equipped with a weapon effective in both the inner and the outer battles; unlike the comparatively defenseless neurotic, he can never be routed on both fronts. His margin of safety suffices to keep his moods relatively stable.

The neurotic, however, possesses defensive weapons which never award him more than a partial victory. His disclaimers and alibis may be accepted by the superego on a temporary basis, but they are always being re-examined and rejected. Replacement without delay is essential; the victim desperately searches for a new defense, and then waits in tense anxiety for the superego’s judgment. His unconscious shifts from despair to fury to hope to despair reach the surface in a series of shifting moods. He is fully aware of the instability of his moods, and so is the objective observer.

All moods are surface reverberations of defenses offered to the superego. The frightened unconscious ego repeatedly pleads with the superego: “Will you settle for this alibi [defense]? The standard answer is a flat denial, and a substitute defense must be hastily found. As each new defense is made ready for the crucial test, it is dramatized, thus producing a corresponding mood in consciousness.

Bergler is saying, in other words, that moodiness and ‘the blues’ are rare and intermittent in relatively normal people. Such individuals remain in a state of well-being much of the time. They do so because their unconscious ego is robust enough to keep the inner critic’s aggression at bay. The neurotic individual, however, is too passive on an inner level. This person can’t resist the intrusiveness or bullying nature of the inner critic, and ends up defending himself weakly and ineffectively.

Bergler noted that unstable moodiness differs from clinical depression: The unconscious ego of the moody person is able to put forward defenses that have some staying power, whereas the depressed individual’s unconscious ego is silenced (at least temporarily) and is entirely vulnerable to the superego.

Principles of Self-Damage offers an example of a situation involving moodiness. A man is accused by his inner critic of being passive. Though the accusation is unconscious, the man becomes tense, gloomy, and moody. Soon, he produces an unconscious defense, contending that he’s not passive but adventurous and bold. His moodiness disappears and he suddenly gets up the nerve to phone a woman he recently met, asking for a date. She accepts his invitation to dinner, and he feels elated. He ends the call, still feeling fine. Soon, however, his self-assurance evaporates, and he falls back into gloomy self-doubt.

Both his moodiness and elation have been produced by his unconscious ego as it struggles to deal with his inner critic’s relentless expressions of derision and mockery. The balance of power passes briefly from inner critic (self-aggression) to unconscious ego (inner passivity) and back again, with each change mirrored in his conscious feelings, either excitement and elation when he is able to generate admirable behavior, or gloom and moodiness when he succumbs to his inner critic’s invasiveness.

When people begin to recognize the unwarranted intrusions of their inner critic, and realize how on an inner level they’re passive to their inner critic, they’re on their way to “upgrading the inner software” which programs this old, self-defeating dynamic. This leads to the discovery of one’s authentic self, along with freedom from symptoms such as moodiness.

Moodiness is just one of the scores of symptoms that I describe in my writings. I trace all these painful and self-defeating symptoms back to inner conflict, particularly the conflict between self-aggression and inner passivity. The depth psychology that exposes this inner conflict is, in my opinion, the royal road to self-knowledge, inner freedom, and enlightenment.

—

My book on Edmund Bergler’s work describes many of his great insights. It’s titled Why We Suffer: A Western Way to Understand and Let Go of Unhappiness, and it’s available here and here.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Share This:

Filed Under: Depth Psychology, Inner Critic, Inner Passivity Tagged With: blue moods, depth psychology, frequent moodiness, generalized anxiety disorder, inner harmony, moody feelings, social harmony

Primary Sidebar

MOST OF OUR suffering is avoidable. Our emotional and behavioral problems can be resolved. We just have to understand how our psyche works. This website is dedicated to teaching vital psychological knowledge. Do you need help to curb drinking or to get off drugs? Are you facing a divorce or a career failure? Are you anxious, depressed, or overwhelmed by life's challenges? Perhaps you're simply unable to get your mind or intelligence into high gear. I can help. I'm Peter Michaelson, an author and psychotherapist in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I teach people how to overcome unconscious programming that produces suffering and self-defeat.

WHY WE SUFFER–THE BOOK

My book, Why We Suffer--A Western Way to Understand and Let Go of Unhappiness, is the story of what mainstream psychology has failed to teach the world. The depth psychology in this book has vital insights, answers, and solutions for you. Click on the Books link above for more information. --

Other Articles

  • I’m Basking in My Break from Blogging
  • Happiness Hinges on Psychological Insight
  • The President Hears from Dr. Freud
  • People Who Hate Love
  • The Language that Liberates the Self
  • Dare We See the Trump in Us?
  • The Emotional Catering Service
  • Are You Addicted to Self-Punishment?
  • A Hidden Cause of Loneliness
  • The Impulse to Destroy Democracy
  • We Get Stronger by Seeing Our Weakness
  • The Warmonger in Our Psyche
  • Armed with Stubbornness, the Weak Go on the Warpath
  • How to Rescue Yourself from Suffering
  • My New Book (of Poetry!) Is Versed in Depth Psychology
  • Finding in Self the Richness of Being
  • Sports Fans and Their Discontents
  • Two Terrible Voices in Your Head
  • Why People Support Donald Trump
  • The Vital Knowledge We Disown
  • Climate Anxiety and the Psyche
  • Abandonment, Self-Abandonment, and Democracy
  • Our Readiness to Feel Controlled
  • The Key to Emotional Self-Regulation
  • Seven Villains in a Sad Love Story
  • The Latest Pandemic: Feeling Overwhelmed
  • The Blindness of the Species
  • Why Americans Are So Wretchedly Divided
  • Are You Passive to Your Mind?
  • What Freud Knew That We Still Hate to See
  • The Emotional Conflict Behind 50 Mental-Health Symptoms
  • A Novelist’s Quest to Unravel His Madness
  • When Inner Growth Feels Impossibly Difficult
  • Haunted by Incessant Wanting
  • My New Book: Healing Our Deadly Flaw
  • Inner Conflict’s Role in Child Suicide
  • Putin’s Psyche
  • The Flaw Wars that Sabotage Relationships
  • Can You Be Your Own Therapist?
  • The Difference Between Learned Helplessness and Inner Passivity
  • The Sad Sordidness of Inner Conflict
  • The Deep Knowledge that Liberates the Self
  • The Four Dimensions of Our Ego
  • Are You Overly Sensitive to Rejection?
  • Evolving Consciousness is the Lifeblood of Mental Health
  • Answers to Questions from Readers (Part 9)
  • Don’t Be Duped by Your Defenses
  • The Shocking Secrets of the Psyche
  • The Undercover Enabler of Habitual Oversleeping
  • Understanding the Assault on the U.S. Capitol
  • The Sheepishness of the Psyche: A One-Act Play
  • Three Self-Defeating Reactions at the Heart of American Disunity
  • Answers to Questions from Readers (Part 8)
  • Our Compulsion to Self-Punish
  • Ego and Self Do Battle for the Soul of America
  • The Hazards of Inner Conflict
  • A Toxic Inner Process Afflicts Humanity
  • Don’t Let America Betray Herself
  • Inner Conflict Ripens in the Hothouse of Pandemic
  • Living and Dying with Coronavirus
  • How the Coronavirus Plays with Our Mind
  • Access the Genius Within
  • How Meditation and Depth Psychology Overlap
  • Guilt: A Favorite Way to Suffer
  • Understanding the Psyche of Boys
  • The Joy of Militant Ignorance
  • Answers to Questions From Readers (Part 7)
  • Breaking the Chains of Self-Imposed Oppression
  • Jordan Peterson’s Blind Spot
  • Learning to See Ourselves Objectively
  • When Food is Used to Feed Inner Conflict
  • How You Can Save the World
  • The Inner Critic is a Primitive Brute Force
  • The Self-Defeat of Passive Morning Thoughts
  • Get Rid of Guilt with Deeper Insight (II)
  • Discover Sublimation, the Agent of Success
  • The U.S. Government’s Flawed Intelligence on Clinical Depression
  • Answers to Questions from Readers (Part 6)
  • 12 Ways We Fail to See or Experience Reality
  • Is Ambivalence a Hidden Factor in Much of Human Misery?
  • Inner Conflict is the Source of Cognitive Distortion
  • A Psychological Hindrance to National Unity
  • A Technique for Overcoming Insomnia
  • Liberals Need More Psychological Insight
  • Why We Urgently Need Inner Truth
  • Notes to Psychotherapists on Addressing Inner Passivity
  • Are You Living Your True Story?
  • Another Visual Portrayal of Our Psyche’s Dynamics
  • Get to Know Your Psyche’s Operating Systems
  • Illustrating the Characters Who Mess With Our Mind
  • How to Love Yourself
  • Don’t Let Inner Passivity Undermine Democracy
  • Connecting With Our Best Self
  • The Deeper Roots of Social Unrest
  • The Las Vegas Killer’s Hidden Motive
  • My Latest Book is Now Available
  • Insight that Conquers Incessant Negative Thinking
  • New Editions of All My Books Now Available
  • The Exhausting Race against Time
  • The Perils of Past, Present, and Future
  • The Mocking Voice of Inner Resistance
  • The Essentials of Empowerment for Enablers and Codependents
  • Answers to Questions from Readers (Part 5)
  • The Appeal of Alternative Facts
  • Are You a Clone of Your Identifications?
  • Unmasking Fear Itself
  • Fundamentalism and the Psyche
  • Ascending to Joy
  • Now’s the Time for Heroes
  • Feeling Like a Fraud or an Imposter?
  • The Invisible Wall of Psychological Resistance
  • Cognitive Therapy’s Flawed Premise
  • Dealing with Election Aftershock
  • After the Election: Healing the Divide
  • Collapsing into Helplessness
  • Solve the Mystery of Your Suffering
  • Answers to Questions from Readers (Part 4)
  • An Insightful Case of Self-Injury
  • Understanding Inner Evil in Mass-Killers
  • A Common Theme in Relationship Strife
  • Breaking Free of Inner Passivity
  • Are You Hopeless of Ever Finding Love?
  • Words to Enlighten Younger Children
  • Deeper Reflections on Inner Passivity
  • Escape the Misery of Moodiness
  • Answers to Questions from Readers (Part 3)
  • Emotional Fortitude for Anxious Times
  • Follow Your Fantasies to Self-Awareness
  • Answers to Questions from Readers (Part 2)
  • The Art of Self-Regulation
  • The Thrill of Fear
  • Answers to Questions from Readers
  • “Why Am I so Easily Discouraged?”
  • Paris and Our Discontents
  • Unconscious Bias in Race Relations
  • Acquiring a Feel for Natural Aggression
  • Defensiveness for Dummies
  • Exposing the Roots of Emotional Suffering
  • Who Wants to Be a Celebrity?
  • Say Goodbye to Your Regrets
  • How to Recognize Good Psychotherapy
  • Visions of Human Destiny
  • Tears of Self-Deception
  • Westerners Who Identify with Terrorists
  • A Decisive Look at Indecision
  • Neurotics on Capitol Hill
  • Inner Passivity Impairs Leadership Skills
  • Hidden Dynamics of Racism
  • Unconscious Factors Fuel Abortion Fight
  • The Two-Minute Inner Workout
  • Defeating the Inner Bully
  • When Life Becomes Unreal and Dreamlike
  • Releasing Inner Passivity
  • Deliverance from Addictions & Compulsions
  • Life’s Painful Entanglements (Part II)
  • Insight into Gender Identity Disorder
  • The Psychology of Wealth Disparity
  • How Do We Achieve Self-Control?
  • Anger and the APA
  • A Painful Game People Play (Part I)
  • Prisoners of Guilt
  • Neurosis Unbound
  • The Lingering Pain of Old Shame
  • Emerging from Shyness
  • An Unconscious Factor in PTSD
  • When in Doubt about Sexual Orientation
  • Why Students Fail to Learn
  • How to Enhance Your Verbal Skill
  • Be Brave when Truth Comes Knocking
  • What Warps the Mind of Domestic Terrorists?
  • Greed as a Mental-Health Disorder
  • The Core of Being
  • The Folly of Modern Psychology
  • The Scoop on Intimate Partner Abuse
  • Tormented Mothers, Endangered Babies
  • Terrific Knowledge for Trying Times
  • Stung by Ingratitude
  • How to Be Your Own Inner Guide
  • Does Inner Growth Require Practical Steps?
  • A Remedy for Feeling Trapped
  • The Golden Rule Needs Depth Psychology
  • A Deadly Case of Inner Conflict
  • Vital Knowledge for Marriage Intimacy
  • Stressed Out in America
  • Four Steps to Stifle Our Inner Critic
  • Oh, Sweet Narcissism
  • The Pain We Lock Away
  • Cognitive Therapy’s Distorted Thinking
  • Indecisive No More
  • Chasing the Shadow
  • How Inner Passivity Robs Men of Power
  • A New Understanding of Bipolar Disorder
  • A Chaos Theory of the Mind
  • Free Yourself from Inner Conflict
  • Curbing Our Appetite for Brutality
  • The Futility of Compulsive Approval-Seeking
  • How Worriers Unconsciously Chose to Suffer
  • Get to Know Your Psychological Defenses
  • The Love Song of the Self
  • Finding Inner Longitude
  • Overcoming a Type of Resistance to Studying
  • Understanding Anorexia
  • The Human Weakness behind Alcoholism
  • Rebutting 9/11 Conspiracy Beliefs
  • Achieving Inner Freedom
  • The Mysterious Allure of Kinky Sex
  • Hooked on Deprivation
  • Aspects of Women’s Empowerment (Part II)
  • Men’s Resistance to Women’s Empowerment
  • The Missing Link in OCD
  • A Hidden Reason for Suicidal Thoughts
  • Overcoming Fear of Intimacy
  • O Shame, Where is Thy Secret Source?
  • The Correct Interpretation of Our Dreams
  • Escaping the Clutches of Helplessness
  • The Double Barrels of Gun Mania
  • Exterminate Infestations of Negative Thoughts
  • The Psychology Behind Mass Shootings
  • Our Messy Mix of Aggression and Passivity
  • Speeding Up Our Evolution
  • Why Our Emotional Suffering Persists
  • Easing Tension and Stress at Family Gatherings
  • Wallowing in the Lap of Bitterness
  • The Hidden Dynamics of Marital Strife
  • The Psychological Roots of National Disunity
  • The Futile Dialogue in Our Head
  • Psychologists of the World, Go Deeper
  • When You Feel Bad About Yourself
  • Cultivating a Life of Disappointment
  • Lost in the Fog of Inner Passivity
  • The Private Joke behind Our Laughter
  • Why We Fear and Hate the Truth
  • When Eyes Are Blinders of the Soul
  • How Deeper Insight Relieves Stress
  • When Money Enriches Our Suffering
  • The Common Ingredient in Human Misery
  • The Infantile Basis of Our Fears
  • Cynicism: The Battle Cry of the Wimp
  • Desperately Seeking Validation
  • Being Seen in a Negative Light
  • The Need to Believe in Yourself
  • Why We Dither on Climate Change
  • Avoidable Miseries of the Workplace
  • Taming the “Little Monsters” of Insomnia
  • A Plague of Neurosis Upon Our House
  • The Origins of Feeling Overwhelmed
  • Teach Your Children Well
  • Why We’re Quick to “Go Negative”
  • 8 Ways We Sabotage Physical Health
  • Occupy the Psyche
  • The Astonishing Basis of Our Addictions
  • Deliverance From the Lonesome Blues
  • Our Global Strategy for Self-Defeat
  • The Mayo Clinic’s Bogus Psychology
  • The Meaning of Evolved Consciousness
  • The Hanky-Panky Behind Our Anger
  • Lincoln’s Integrity, Our Integrity
  • Stubbornness: The Guts to Fight Reality
  • A Participant in National Self-Sabotage
  • Underlying Dynamics that Breed Bullies
  • Deliverance from Low-Level Anxiety
  • The Politburo in Your Psyche
  • Nagging: Love Destroyer, Marriage Killer
  • A Singular Cause of War
  • The Temptations of the Injustice Collector
  • The Dire Determinants of Divorce
  • Enjoy the Quality of Your Consciousness
  • The Helplessness Trap in Cravings & Addictions
  • Mark Twain’s Mysterious Misery-Machine
  • Obesity and the Dopamine Fallacy
  • Four Favorite Ways to Suffer
  • The Deeper Issues that Produce Meanness
  • Panic Attacks Arise from Within Our Psyche
  • The Overlooked Factor in Criminal Behavior
  • The Three Amigos of Woe
  • Overcoming Incompetence and Its Miseries
  • Three Great Truths from Psychology
  • The Hidden Cause of Clinical Depression
  • Terrorism and the Death Drive
  • Welcome Aboard the Voyage of Self-Discovery
  • The Bittersweet Allure of Feeling Unloved
  • How Inner Fear Becomes Our Worst Nightmare
  • The Problem with Positive Psychology
  • Respect, Disrespect, and Self-Respect
  • Neither a Procrastinator Nor a Dawdler Be
  • Prose to Shatter Writer’s Block
  • Stop Smoking through Psychological Insight
  • The Secret Allures of Pornography
  • How Deeper Awareness Can Eliminate Shame
  • When Sexual Desire Covers Up Self-Sabotage
  • The Dreary Distress of Boredom
  • Problem Gamblers are Addicted to Losing
  • The Tyrant that Rules Our Inner Life
  • The Negative Emotions Behind Addictions
  • Beware the Limitations of Superficial Psychology
  • Get Rid of Guilt with Deeper Insight
  • Riding the Emotional Wave of Turbulent Times

Article Archives



Copyright © 2025 WhyWeSuffer