The term Emotional Rollercoaster was coined by Dr. N.
Amundson in dealing with unemployment, first in a research article: Amundson, N.E., &
Borgen, W. (1982). The dynamics of unemployment: Job loss and job search. Personnel and Guidance Journal, 60, 562-564. It was most likely made popular when Nelson Canada published their booklet At the Controls:Charting your course through unemployment in 1987. Approximately
960,000 copies of this book were bought by
the Gov't of Canada and distributed to people dealing with unemployment between 1987 and 1996.