Can Buddhist practice make you more emotionally volatile? When I spend an extend period with Buddhist practice I become emotionally more volatile or at least my emotions seem stronger and  more likely to come to the surface. I've often had reactions that are uncharacteristically emotional though the emotion feels authentic. The period of practice doesn't even have to be that long - sometimes a day retreat will have this effect. It could be linked with meditation however it could be study or the experience of sangha that does it.

Is this something that people recognise? Is it written about anywhere by any teacher? I want to know if it's a common outcome and advice around working with it.

Many Thanks
From my own experience i can say that this has happend to me before. I think its due to the fact that when one sits in insight meditation one does not have a "filter". One wants all phenomena to come up in order to observe them, learn from them and understand them.

So when one practices a lot and thereby having extended periods in ones life where there is no filter then when one returns to everyday life and is not being mindful about what phenomena arises (e.g. emotions) one can easily react to them.

So it seems that if one practice a lot and is used to things comming up in meditation then one should make an even greater effort to guard oneself with mindfulness in everyday life. Because the filter is still not there. The suppression is not there.

That might be one of the reasons why these emotions can seem to have a greater intensity because there is no suppression or filter to affect them or "cloud" them. They are experienced "clean and bare". While non-meditators may have layers of filters and concepts limiting the intensity of the emotions that is not the case for insight-meditators.

This is my own experience and view on it. I do not know if information about your question can be found anywhere in the texts.