What is a mood regulator?

First of all, it must be clear that "mood regulators" are not an official classification name in clinical medicine or pharmacology, but a popular name used by the public and even some clinical practitioners for a class of drugs that can improve abnormal emotional states. In essence, it is a collective name for various drugs that can adjust mood swings and improve low mood or excessive excitement.

The coverage of this type of medicine that everyone often talks about is actually quite wide, and it is not just the “antidepressants” that everyone has in mind. For example, SSRI antidepressants are commonly used to improve persistent low mood, benzodiazepines are used to relieve acute anxiety attacks, mood stabilizers are used to stabilize mood swings in patients with bipolar disorder, and even some atypical antipsychotics used in small doses will be classified as "mood regulators" as long as their clinical use is to adjust abnormal emotions. Last week I treated a girl who works in Internet operations. She was pressured by KPIs for three consecutive months. She felt flustered every day when she opened her eyes. She hid in the rental house and cried after work. She couldn't even bring herself to eat her favorite butter hot pot. After the evaluation, she was in a state of moderate anxiety and depression, so she was prescribed a prescription. When taking the medicine, she muttered, "So these are the mood regulators that my friends said." Indeed, for her at the time, these two medicines were regulators that helped her relax her emotional strings that were about to collapse.

Discussions about this type of medicine have always been quite polarized. Some people regard it as a "happy miracle drug" and believe that whether it is a breakup or a bad job, taking two pills can immediately forget the troubles and make you happy. Others regard it as a scourge, thinking that if you take it, you will become dependent, stupid and slow, and they will not touch it even if you kill them.

In fact, these two views are quite extreme. It is essentially more like an emotional "calibrator". It does not create unrealistic happiness for you out of thin air, nor does it erase all emotions and turn you into a wooden person. It just brings your emotions that deviate from the normal range back on track. If your mood is below the threshold and you can't even eat, sleep, or deal with daily affairs normally, it can help you improve your state. ； If you are so anxious and excited that you can't sleep all night and get angry at the smallest thing, it can help you stabilize your mood. Normal emotions such as happiness, sadness, and emotion will not be affected. You don't have to worry about eating it and turning into an "emotionless work machine." I used to have a patient with bipolar disorder. During the most severe period, he would not get out of bed for half a month, not eat or drink, or he would be so excited that he would stay up all night using his credit card to buy hundreds of thousands of useless ornaments. He took mood stabilizers for half a year as prescribed by the doctor, and now he is able to go to work normally. Last month, he went to Xinjiang with his friends. The people he posted in the circle of friends were laughing very real while holding roasted lamb legs. They were completely different from before.

Of course, this does not mean that you can just take this kind of medicine when you feel a little bad. After all, the drug plans for different emotional problems are very different. If a bipolar patient only takes antidepressants without authorization, it is likely to induce a manic episode and worsen the problem. If you really feel that your mood is not right for a week or two in a row, and you cannot rely on yourself or your friends to guide you to adjust it, it is best to find a professional psychiatrist or psychosomatic doctor for evaluation. Don't randomly search for strategies and buy medicines on your own.