Emotional Incontinence
Disordered people cannot control their emotions easily
Urinary incontinence — the loss of bladder control — is a common and often embarrassing problem. The severity ranges from occasionally leaking urine when you cough or sneeze to having an urge to urinate that’s so sudden and strong you don’t get to a toilet in time.
So what is “emotional” incontinence?
Emotional incontinence (EI) is a condition that makes it difficult to control emotions, leading to intense and frequent emotional reactions. It can also cause a lack of emotional stability and make it hard to express emotions appropriately. This EI is messy as dysregulated disordered individuals struggle to manage emotions, control them, or simply experience them in a healthy way.
The pseudobulbar affect, also referred to as emotional lability, should not be confused with depression that stems from emotional instability — affective dysregulation — commonly seen in mental illnesses and certain personality disorders like those found in Cluster B disorders (narcissism, sociopathy, psychopathy, as well as histrionic and borderline disorders. These comprise the DSM 5th edition list of Cluster B disorders.
Dr Muskin, professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York says, “DSM-5- defines a…
