Helping Your Teen With Their Mood Swings

Top tips from luna's medical team

As teens grow up, and especially when they're going through puberty, their hormones can cause mood swings.

What are mood swings?

Mood swings are sudden changes to our emotional state, causing us to quickly become angry, sad or irritable. 

Mood swings are normal, particularly for those who menstruate as they come as PMS mood swings and period mood swings, and can continue after teen years as well.

But although they are normal, they can be difficult to handle both as a teen and as a parent.

So, if your teen is struggling with mood swings, luna's got some ideas about what you can do to help – approved by luna's amazing team of doctors!

Encourage them to open up to you

Speaking to a parent or guardian about how they're feeling can really help if they're comfortable doing so.

Within the luna app, we polled the community to find out how they'd like to be approached and they said a good way to kick off the conversation is to say something like:

"I don't judge who you are, or your choices, but I'd love to check in and see if you're struggling with anything or want to talk anything through?" – this was the number 1 choice by luna members, but you know your teen best so feel free to approach this differently if you need!

Dr. Katie Malbon, Consultant Paediatrician and Lead for Acute CYP Mental Health at Imperial College NHS Healthcare Trust and luna’s Chief Medical Advisor also has some advice to share about this:

"You might want to try going for a walk, or asking them in the car, where you're not actually having to look at each other. And just not getting too intense about it all.

I get that it's the most devastating and horrible feeling when you know your teenager is struggling with something, but remembering that actually it is part of being a normal teenager.

Obviously, there are extremes and when teenagers aren't well from a mental health perspective, then that's a different matter, but for normal teenage life, there will be ups and downs and that is just what it's like. So with this in mind, it's also okay to let some things go sometimes.

What's most important is just ensuring they know that you are there for them and you always will be."

Encourage them to talk to their friends

Letting their friends know that they're struggling with their mood can be a really good way of clearing the air if it's causing arguments between them all (which is something luna's medical team see a lot via the "Ask luna" Q&A feature within the app).

If your teen's friends know they're struggling, they can help your teen out or if things escalate raise this with you on behalf of your teen.

Get them into keeping a mood tracker

Keeping a daily mood tracker will give your teen insight into their regular moods. If they find that something in particular causes a big, negative change in their mood regularly, they can try and minimise that trigger or feed this back to you so you can help them.

Within the luna app, there's actually a free cycle tracker they can use which includes moods. Each month, they'll get a round-up of what they've tracked and even the reasons behind that mood, to help them understand their triggers – luna's had multiple teens write in to say how luna helped them detect patterns and open up to doctors and their parents/carers about it.

Remind them to listen to themselves

Taking some time to reflect on our moods and how we're feeling can be a useful way of tuning into our own minds.

Emotional intelligence (understanding your own and other's emotions) is a great thing to have!

So your teen could try to work out what makes them feel better e.g. exercise, going outside, some quiet time... and do those when they're not feeling like themselves. You could even suggest doing something like this together, which can be a great bonding activity!

Help them to care for themselves

Make sure they're getting enough good quality sleep every night – 8-10 hours for teens, check in with them that they're drinking enough water (6-8 cups a day), eating well, and help them make time to do exercise.

These should help to regulate their moods.

Meditation can help!

Meditation is a great way to take control of the body and mind to find a moment of calm.

If your teen is struggling to do this alone, you could try doing it together or point them in the direction of the luna app where they can find meditation advice and even a guided meditation video from a breathwork expert!

Finally, when is it a good idea to seek professional help?

Whilst mood swings are normal, it’s important to know what your teen's "normal" is as everyone is different.

If you feel your teen's mood is lower than their "normal" for a long time, or they are sad for no reason more often then not, or you have concerns about their mental health due to extreme mood swings or a possible mood swing disorder, luna strongly recommends booking in to speak with a GP.