Signs, Causes, and What You Can Do to Cope

Key Takeaways

• Irritability can be a sign of mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, or bipolar disorder.
• If irritability lasts a long time and affects your life, talk to a doctor for help.
• Eating well and getting enough sleep can help reduce irritability.

Irritability involves anger or frustration that often arises over even the smallest things. Irritable moods affect everyone from time to time, and that’s perfectly normal.

However, it can sometimes be a sign of an underlying mental health condition, particularly if it lasts a long time or has a major impact on your daily life and relationships.

Irritability may be a symptom of stress, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance use, anxiety, bipolar disorder, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), sleep deprivation, autism spectrum disorders, dementia, chronic pain, and schizophrenia.

If you are experiencing feelings of irritability that are persistent, pervasive, or distressing, talk to your doctor. Such feelings can become excessive and interfere with your daily life, making it difficult to accomplish your normal daily tasks and can disrupt your relationships with others. 

Symptoms of Irritability

Irritability can appear in a variety of ways. How it looks often depends on the individual and what’s causing them to feel this way. Some of the common signs of irritability include:

• Agitation, frustration, and annoyance
• Confusion and difficulty concentrating
• Difficulty making accommodations or changing plans
• Excessive sweating
• Fatigue
• Increased breathing rate
• Rapid heartbeat
• Oversensitivity
• Short temper
• Tension

People who are feeling irritable won’t necessarily experience all of these symptoms or feel symptoms all of the time. They might feel fine in one moment, but a minor annoyance might set them off. The ensuing reaction may seem out of proportion to the situation.

Irritability can often set off a cycle that contributes to further problems. When we feel irritable, we become more and more tense and frustrated. The result is that we are often even more sensitive and responsive to stress.

Identifying Irritability

If you have been experiencing irritability regularly, it’s important that you reach out to a medical or mental health professional. During your appointment, your doctor will talk to you about the duration, severity, and impact of your symptoms. You will be asked about your medical history, medications you are taking, and your lifestyle habits.

Your doctor will perform a physical exam and may run lab tests to rule out any medical conditions that might be contributing to your symptoms. Conditions such as hyperthyroidism and diabetes, for example, can cause feelings of irritability. 

You may also be asked to fill out a questionnaire to screen for symptoms of mental health conditions such as anxiety or depression.

Irritability Can Have Various Causes

Feelings of irritability can have a variety of causes. Sometimes it might be linked to a temporary stressor. You might feel irritable after a poor night’s sleep or after a long day of work.

Most people experience irritable moods from time to time, but excessive and prolonged periods of irritability can be a sign of an underlying physical or mental health condition.

For example, it can be a symptom of the following mental health conditions:

During childhood, more irritable moods can be normal during certain periods of development. However, they can also be an indicator of a condition such as anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or oppositional defiant disorder (ODD).

Physical and medical conditions can also contribute to feelings of irritability. Some of these include:

• Chronic pain
• Low blood sugar
• Hormonal imbalances
• Hyperthyroidism
• Neck or back pain
• Poor sleep
• Stress
• Substance withdrawal
• Toothaches

Experiencing irritability on its own is not enough for a diagnosis for any of the above condition. Instead, a doctor will evaluate all of your symptoms and then make a diagnosis based on these observations. For mental health conditions, they will rely on diagnostic criteria established in the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders” (DSM-5-TR).

How to Treat Irritability

Treatment for irritability depends upon your doctor’s diagnosis. Relieving feelings of irritability involves treating the underlying causes.

Mental Health and Irritability

For irritability caused by mental health conditions such as anxiety or depression, your doctor may recommend psychotherapy, medications, or a combination of both.

Medications such as antidepressants and other mood-stabilizing drugs may be prescribed.

Different types of therapy may be used depending on your specific diagnosis. Some options include:

Medical Conditions and Irritability

For symptoms caused by a medical condition such as a hormonal imbalance or diabetes, your doctor will recommend treatment that is appropriate for your specific needs.

Regardless of the underlying cause, your doctor may also recommend lifestyle modifications that may help improve your mood. Getting more sleep and following a healthy diet, for example, may be helpful.

Tactics That Can Help Reduce Irritability

If you are dealing with feelings of irritability, it’s important to get the right diagnosis and treatment. However, there are also things you can do on your own that can provide relief and help you to cope more effectively.

You may find that some techniques work better for you than others, so it may take some experimentation to determine what strategies help you the most.

Take Care of Your Health

Caring for your physical health can help relieve some of the physical factors that might be contributing to irritability:

• Eat healthy and nutritious foods: Following a healthy diet and avoiding excessive high-fat, high-sugar foods can help you feel better overall, which may help boost your mood.
• Engage in regular physical activity: Regular exercise has been shown to have a beneficial effect on depression, so spend some time moving each day, whether it’s a session of cardio at the gym or a walk around the block.
• Practice good sleep habits: Sleep deprivation is a common cause of irritability, so focus on having a relaxing bedtime routine and going to bed and waking up at the same time each day.

Identify Your Triggers

While some people may feel irritable most of the time, in other cases you may find that there are certain situations that trigger these moods. Pay attention to the times when you feel the most irritated.

Do you get annoyed at a specific time of day, following certain events, or around certain people?

Once you better understand what precipitates these feelings, you’ll be better able to look for ways to prevent irritable moods.

Reduce Stress

Exploring different ways to manage your stress is also vital:

• Learn new relaxation techniques: Strategies like deep breathing and visualization can help you calm your mind and body when you start to get agitated.
• Practice mindfulness: Research has found that mindfulness, a technique that involves focusing on the present moment, can be helpful in reducing symptoms of conditions such as anxiety and depression. When you are focused on the here and now, you’re less likely to feel worried about the past or future.
• Seek social support: Having friends and family to lean on when you are coping with irritability can be helpful. Seeking social support and talking about your concerns with others can also combat fear, worry, and loneliness that may contribute to grouchy moods.
• Try meditation: Research suggests meditation can help people cope with stress and improve moods. Spending just a few minutes a day can be a great way to get started.
• Write in a journal: Keeping a journal can help you look for patterns in your moods over time, which may help you better identify the things that trigger feelings of irritability. Consider keeping a gratitude journal, which may help you better focus on positive feelings and combat the stress and negativity that might contribute to feelings of agitation and annoyance.

While there are self-help strategies that can help relieve your irritable moods, you should always talk to your doctor if these feelings last for a long time or become excessive. Your doctor can determine what might be causing these feelings and recommend treatments to help you feel better.

You may also want to consider online therapy as an option to help cope with feelings of irritability. Research suggests that online therapy can be just as effective as traditional face-to-face treatment.

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

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By Kendra Cherry, MSEd

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the “Everything Psychology Book.”

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