Abnormal emotional state

What it means

A disturbance in the experience or expression of emotion, characterized by alterations in valence, intensity, frequency, or duration. It may also involve emotional responses that are mismatched, exaggerated, or incongruent relative to internal expectations or external contextual stimuli, such as experiencing negative affect in response to neutral or positive events.

Emotions are complex psychological and physiological states that may include any combination of: a subjective internal experience, a physiological response, and a behavioral or expressive component. Behavioral expression is not required for the emotional state to be considered present or clinically relevant. The assessment of abnormal emotional states should consider sociocultural and individual context, as well as intra-individual baselines. The term 'abnormal' is used descriptively and non-pejoratively, to denote deviations from typical emotional patterns, which may or may not reach the threshold of clinical disorder.

Rare diseases that can present with this9

The range is how often this sign appears among people diagnosed with each disease — it is not a probability of having any of them. Many of these signs also occur in common, non-rare conditions. A sign on this page is a conversation to have with a clinician, not a conclusion.

Part of the broader category

Also called: Affective dysregulation · Emotional dysregulation · Mood disturbance · Psychological distress