What Is Dysphoria? Recognizing Signs And Symptoms

Nearly everyone has experienced feelings of dysphoria at some time, but it’s often a misunderstood term. Originating from the Greek word meaning “distress that’s hard to bear.” Psychologists are still striving to find the precise definition of dysphoria but have concluded that it’s a complex state distinct from mental illnesses like depression or anxiety. 

Several signals of dysphoria have been identified. These include specific emotional states, like:

• Intense discontent
• Intense unhappiness
• Irritability
• Anger

Other symptoms of a dysphoric mood include cognitive features, such as:

• Tending to blame others
• Being suspicious or paranoid
• Having delusions

Finally, there are behavioral elements of dysphoria. These include:

• Agitation
• Aggression
• Violent outbursts

Dysphoria has been called a milder form of depression, a mixed mood, or a mood on the bipolar spectrum different from mania or depression.

Is dysphoria a diagnosis?

While psychologists recognize the difficulty of its symptoms, the term "dysphoria" is not listed as a diagnosis in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders (DSM-5). Still, it can be a symptom of a diagnosable physical or mental illness.

What about diagnoses that use the term "dysphoria?"

Certain conditions have "dysphoria" in their name. For example, there is a state called gender dysphoria, in which the person experiences severe emotional upset regarding the gender they were assigned at birth. 

Another instance in which the word "dysphoric" is part of a diagnostic term is premenstrual dysphoric disorder. Again, this is a specific disorder that has many more elements besides mood. PMDD happens in women and causes symptoms of depression, irritability, and tension. PMDD has the irritability of a dysphoric mood, but it also has other unrelated symptoms and a clear biological trigger.

Symptoms of dysphoria

The symptoms of a dysphoric mood, like other types of moods, can pass quickly. If you have a brief feeling of discontent or unhappiness that goes away shortly on its own, it's likely nothing to be alarmed about. However, for certain people, dysphoria can sometimes persist for a very long time. Long-lasting dysphoria often has a bi-directional relationship with significant medical or mental health problems. 

The symptoms of a dysphoric mood vary from person to person and from time to time. However, dysphoria always includes both an element of unhappiness and an element of irritability.

Unhappiness

Unhappiness can appear in many ways. You may feel dissatisfied with your life or the state of world affairs. You may feel discontented and see your life as less fulfilling than expected. You may experience feelings of uneasiness that you can't explain. And you may have a deep sense of distress and inner tension.

Irritability

Irritability can significantly disrupt you and your loved ones if you're in a dysphoric mood. You may become easily frustrated with minor things that don't usually upset you. Or, your frustration may be diffuse, encompassing significant issues beyond your control. Feeling restless, you may find it hard to be still or stick with a project to its completion. You may even be generally suspicious.

Along with irritability, you may feel hostility towards others. You may engage in aggressive or destructive behavior, even if you're usually kind and gentle. 

What causes dysphoria?

Often, when we recognize that we’re in a dysphoric mood, we first search for its origins. We may not see any valid reason for the feelings, yet they can be highly intense. Here are a few issues that can sometimes lead to a dysphoric mood:

Stress

Stress at work or home can put you in a terrible mood, but does it qualify as a dysphoric mood? If you have extreme unhappiness, discontent, and irritability, you may be experiencing a dysphoric mood. 

It typically isn’t too serious if the stressful situation ends and the mood passes quickly. However, there are many times when avoiding stress isn’t possible. In these cases, if we don’t find healthy ways to cope with the stress and move forward, it can lead to a dysmorphic mood that merits attention from a mental health professional. 

Grief

Grief may prompt a dysphoric mood, at least for a while. Feeling symptoms of depression are a common part of the grief process for many. If the dysphoria lingers, again, you can get help with learning to cope with your grief more effectively so you can move on to the next phase with a sense of hope.

Medical conditions

Some medical conditions can cause dysphoric moods. For example, people with hypoglycemic episodes may feel dysphoric when their blood sugar level tanks. People with major illnesses such as cancer, kidney disease, or chronic illnesses such as multiple sclerosis or diabetes may have dysphoric moods without becoming clinically depressed. For them, treating the medical condition appropriately may provide some relief from the dysphoric mood.

Mental illnesses

Several mental illnesses have been associated with dysphoric moods. Some of these include:

• Generalized anxiety disorder: people with GAD may experience dysphoric moods.
• Major depression: depression and dysphoria are not synonymous, but some overlap may exist.
• Borderline personality disorder: the dysphoric mood is often referred to as the background mood for people with BPD.
• Bipolar disorder: although dysphoria is not mania or depression, some scientists have equated it with a mixed mood or a third mood in the spectrum.

Although these mental conditions have been linked to dysphoric moods, those moods are not the defining characteristics of the psychiatric disorder. Rather, dysphoria may be one symptom of many. Or it may be the result of stress caused by living with a mental illness.

Relationship problems

Dysphoria is sometimes associated with problems in romantic relationships. One study found that young women experiencing dysphoria had less support from their romantic partners than their friends. The more dysfunctional the relationship was, the more likely the woman would be fixed in a dysphoric mood. If you're having trouble in your relationship, you may be able to resolve or even avoid dysphoria by working on the relationship.

Find support for understanding and managing dysphoria

Recognizing the signs and symptoms of a dysphoric mood is an excellent first step toward effective treatment. A visit to your doctor should follow to understand why you experience dysphoric moods. 

Confide in your General Practitioner about the details of how you’re feeling. They will probably ask for your family history and conduct a complete physical with lab tests to determine whether your physical health is a factor. Once the physical element is addressed, your doctor will likely refer you to a mental health professional for evaluation. 

Your counselor may then use tools such as the Nepean Dysphoria Scale that asks simple questions about how you think, feel, and behave. Your therapist can score it to find out how dysphoric your mood is. Whether your counselor uses a dysphoria scale, they will talk to you about those subjects and ask similar questions. After analyzing the results, your therapist will likely conduct an introductory interview to learn more about your family, history, and daily life. From there, they may consult the DSM-V if they suspect the dysphoria relates to a mental illness such as anxiety or depressive disorders. 

After discovering a dysphoric mood, especially if it is lingering, your counselor can help you explore the thoughts behind the feelings. They can guide you as you evaluate those thoughts and decide whether to hold onto them or replace them with more helpful thoughts. They may also suggest lifestyle changes to help you feel better physically, which can, in turn, affect your mood. If your relationship(s) are significantly affected, you and your partner and/or family may need to work with a couple’s or family therapist who can provide support and methods to resolve issues and move forward together. 

Despite the high success rates of treatment, many people experiencing mood difficulties such as dysphoria and other mental health issues do not seek help. The reasons for this are many, but most commonly center around scheduling and accessibility challenges. It can be difficult to find in a busy schedule for psych appointments and the commute to and from the office. Some people don’t have access to therapy or can’t commute to appointments at all. Other barriers to treatment include affordability or the familial or societal stigma some still experience. Some people are simply skeptical that therapy will work for them at all. 

But online therapy through platforms like Regain provides an excellent solution to these barriers for most. With virtual treatment, there’s no need to schedule and commute to sessions in the middle of a work week. Through Regain, you can attend virtual sessions with a licensed, experienced professional when it’s convenient for you via phone, text, video chat, or online messaging from the comfort of your home. Online therapy is also discrete and often less expensive than traditional therapy without insurance. 

A growing body of research also suggests that individual and couple’s therapy is just as effective online as in-person for treating various mental health and well-being issues like anxiety, depression, intimacy issues, mood disorders, and more. 

Takeaway

Unaddressed dysphoria can cause significant problems in relationships, work, and daily life. Reaching out to a Regain professional is the first step to feeling better, repairing the rifts, and moving forward.