Abnormal affect regulation

What it means

A disturbance in the processes by which emotional responses are initiated, modulated, sustained, or terminated in a contextually appropriate manner. Abnormal affect regulation involves maladaptive patterns in the generation, intensity, or control of affective experience and expression, leading to inconsistent, excessive, or insufficient modulation of emotion relative to situational demands.

This category encompasses enduring tendencies or dynamic features that influence emotional reactivity and control - such as emotional hypersensitivity, emotional lability, emotional insecurity, and low frustration tolerance. These features represent alterations in the mechanisms governing affective modulation rather than discrete affective states themselves.

Part of the broader category