Emotional dysregulation is one of those terms commonly misused. It has become common for people to use the term emotional dysregulation as synonymous with being emotional. Experiencing emotionality, even when intense (like being furious or raging), doesn’t mean being dysregulated by default.
Emotional dysregulation as understood and used in psychology refers to a symptom, an indication that the survival circuits are overactive and that the ANS has lost balance between its branches.
Emotional dysregulation involves a disruption in the typical process of emotional regulation not as something random or occasional, but as a lasting issue, which includes lacking recognizing, understanding, and effectively responding to one's own emotions and the emotions of others.
Emotional dysregulation can manifest in various ways, such as intense or prolonged emotional reactions, difficulty in controlling emotional impulses, and challenges in adapting emotional responses to different situations.
By default, we have the capacity to modulate our behavior to what’s socially acceptable but that doesn’t mean we can always regulate what we are experiencing internally or what our system propels us to do when feels threatened. Emotional dysregulation refers mainly to the extreme activation of each branch of the autonomic nervous system (especially of the sympathetic), overactive amygdala and other limbic structures, and underactive or disengaged areas of the PFC, which cause one to lose the capacity to modulate emotional responses not only during extreme experiences but also during regular interactions.
Emotional dysregulation is one of the main factors in many disorders including ‘cluster B’ personality disorders, anxiety and depression, bipolar disorder, and of course, PTSD (Dadomo et al., 2016). It doesn’t only affect interpersonal relationships and the performance of essential tasks; it also causes shame and internal turmoil in daily regular activities.
Individuals with emotional dysregulation may experience frequent and intense mood swings, difficulty in calming down after emotional arousal, heightened sensitivity to emotional triggers, and a tendency to overreact or have emotional outbursts. They may also have challenges in self-soothing, problem-solving, and effectively communicating their emotions to others.
The reason why emotional dysregulation and BPD seem to be connected comes from the exploration of BPD and emotional dysregulation within the framework of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), a specialized form of therapy specifically designed to address the emotional dysregulation and self-destructive behaviors commonly seen in individuals with BPD.
So, yes, people without BPD can suffer from emotional dysregulation but we could say that it’s understood that all pwBPD suffer from it
What causes emotional dysregulation?
Mainly trauma. Experiences of abuse, neglect, or other traumatic events during childhood can disrupt the development of emotional regulation skills, leading to difficulties in managing emotions later in life. Some authors debate whether there is biological predisposition to emotional dysregulation due to genetic factors or epigenetic ones that influence emotional processing.
Emotional dysregulation often co-occurs with mental health conditions which in my view means that once you suffer from it, several diagnosis can be assigned to you such as borderline personality disorder, bipolar disorder, PTSD, ADHD, and anxiety disorders. In general, high levels of stress, unstable or invalidating environments, chronic interpersonal conflicts, attachment ruptures, or a lack of social support can contribute to emotional dysregulation. Such factors can disrupt emotional regulation processes and make it challenging to manage and express emotions effectively.
How does it look like in someone without BPD?
The manifestations of emotional dysregulation can vary widely among individuals, but some common signs and symptoms include intense emotional reactions, mood swings, impulsivity, difficulty in emotional modulation, interpersonal difficulties, self-destructive behaviors, etc.
