This document discusses various disorders of emotion, including abnormal emotional predispositions, reactions, expressions, and morbid disorders and expressions of emotion. Specific disorders discussed include parathymia (blunting of affect), flattening of affect, stiffening of affect, incongruity of affect, lability of affect, affective incontinence, and gelastic epilepsy. These disorders are characterized by reductions, abnormalities, or lack of control in emotional responses and expressions that differ from cultural norms.

1. Disorders of Emotion
Prachi Bhavesh Sanghvi
I M.Sc Clinical Psychology
St. Agnes Centre for Post-Graduate Studies and
Research

2. Normal emotional responses result from the
events lying within the cultural and social norms.
Abnormal emotional responses are
understandable but excessive responses of a
normal kind.
Morbid expression of emotions differ from
abnormal expressions in that the person is
unaware of the abnormality even though it is
apparent to observers.
Prachi Sanghvi, M. Sc. Clinical Psychology

3. •Abnormal emotional predispositions
•Abnormal emotional reactions
•Abnormal expressions of emotion
•Morbid disorders of emotion
•Morbid expressions of emotion
Prachi Sanghvi, M. Sc. Clinical Psychology

4. Parathymia (Blunting of Affect)
Disturbance of affect manifested by a severe
reduction in the intensity of externalized feeling
tone.
In mild form, it shows itself as recently acquired
insensitivity to the subtleties of social interaction.
It manifests itself as social awkwardness and
inappropriateness.
Prachi Sanghvi, M. Sc. Clinical Psychology

5. Flattening of Affect
More severe form of emotional constriction evident by
absence of emotional response to a situation that
normally elicits emotion.
In depressive patients, low mood may be confused with
flattening of affect.
Both blunting and flattening occur in schizophrenia.
Stiffening of Affect
The emotional response is congruent initially, but does
not change as the situation changes.
Prachi Sanghvi, M. Sc. Clinical Psychology

6. Incongruity of Affect
Misdirection of emotions so that an indifferent
event may produce a severe emotional outburst,
while an emotionally charged event has no effect
on the patient’s emotional response.
This might be a congruent response to the
distorted environment associated with delusions
and other psychotic phenomena experienced by
schizophrenics.
Prachi Sanghvi, M. Sc. Clinical Psychology

7. ‘Smiling Depression’
Some patients with depression smile while recollecting a
painful experience which may be mistaken for
incongruity of affect or it may even mask the low mood,
in the past called ‘masked’ or ‘smiling’ depression.
Unless the person is overwhelmed by their miseries or
suffering from psychomotor retardation, they can
produce a smile to conceal sadness.
These patients are particularly sensitive about ideas of
guilt. They may burst into tears when the examiner
sympathizes with them.
Prachi Sanghvi, M. Sc. Clinical Psychology

8. Lability of Affect
Rapid and abrupt changes in emotion largely
unrelated to external stimuli. These shifts occur
without warning.
Found in borderline personality disorder, histrionic
personality disorder and in mania where short bursts
of weeping maybe present.
It may also be a feature in organic brain disease
following damage to the frontal lobe or
cerebrovascular accidents.
Prachi Sanghvi, M. Sc. Clinical Psychology

9. Affective Incontinence
In emotional lability patients have difficulty
controlling their emotions, but in affective
incontinence there is total loss of control.
It is usually an unprovoked emotion that does not
have an apparent objective.
Common in cerebral atherosclerosis and multiple
sclerosis where spontaneous outbursts of laughter
or crying occur.
Prachi Sanghvi, M. Sc. Clinical Psychology

10. When it occurs in epilepsy it is known as gelastic
epilepsy. It can also occur in focal brain injury.
In severe form, ‘forced laughing’ and ‘forced
weeping’ are used to describe this condition.
No connection between the emotional expression
and the subjective feelings.
Prachi Sanghvi, M. Sc. Clinical Psychology

11. References
Ameen S. A Companion to Fish’s Clinical
Psychopathology.
Hamilton M. (1994). Fish’s Clinical
Psychopathology. Varghese Publishing House,
Bombay.
Oyebode F. (2010). Sims’ Symptoms in the Mind;
An Introduction to Descriptive Psychopathology.
Rajkamal Electric Press, Kundli.
Prachi Sanghvi, M. Sc. Clinical Psychology