Parathymia: definition, symptoms and associated disorders

Does the term sound familiar to you? parathymia? It’s about a affectivity disorder characterized by an inadequacy or incongruence between affects and emotions and the context. It also encompasses situations or manifestations in which the emotional expression is incompatible (or incongruent) with the patient’s verbal expression.

Through this article, we will learn a little more about this disorder, its characteristics, examples, differences with other affective disorders and disorders in which it appears more frequently. In addition, we will explain what the psychopathology of affectivity consists of. Do not miss it!

The psychopathology of affectivity

Parathymia is an affective disorder that we will explain in detail a little later. Before we are going to define what the psychopathology of affectivity is.

It is a very specific area of ​​psychology that deals with studying and describing disorders or alterations of affectivity, that is, everything that would deviate from “normality” in terms of affects, feelings and emotions.

For its part, affectivity can be defined as the set of states and tendencies that a person experiences personally and immediately. It encompasses all those experiences that define and limit the emotional life of the personand transcends personality and behavior.

As we see, this is a phenomenon of a subjective and idiosyncratic nature. But what about parathymia?

Parathymia: what is it?

Parathymia is a affectivity disorder characterized by the inappropriateness of emotional expression in the context (or situation) where the person is located. In other words: in parathymia, the affect that is shown externally is incongruent with the context or environment in which it occurs.

We also talk about parathymia when the person’s facial expression does not correspond to the feeling they express externally (for example, when someone tells us that they are suffering a lot while smiling). parathymia has received other names, such as inappropriate affection either emotional inadequacy.

A very illustrative example of parathymia would be laughing out loud at a funeral, or crying with sadness when we are told good news. On the other hand, a person who suffers from parathymia will tend to manifest reactions that will not naturally correspond to the content of their experiences.

The inadequacy of parathymia

As we have seen, in parathymia there is an inadequacy, either between the emotional expression (for example crying) and the context (at a party), or between the emotional and gestural expression (laughing) and what the patient verbalizes (if He says he feels very sad.

Besides, This inadequacy can refer to both the meaning and the intensity of the affective component that accompanies the experience. (that is, when this intensity is excessive or lower than what is “expected”).

What disorders is parathymia associated with?

Although it is true that a person can suffer from parathymia in isolation (that is, without having another underlying mental disorder), this affectivity disorder is observed above all in some mental or medical disorders. In which ones?

Schizophrenia

Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler (1857 – 1939) included parathymia as one of the fundamental symptoms of schizophrenia.

The other symptoms that he considered fundamental in this disorder were the relaxation of thought associations (incoherence), the alteration of the subjective experience of personality (depersonalization), autism and emotional, intellectual or will ambivalence.

Furthermore, parathymia occurs especially in cases of schizophrenia with negative symptoms. According to Dr. Tomás Rodelgo, when parathymia manifests itself in people with schizophrenia, These may behave in a “silly” manner or with a particular childish joy..

Manic-depressive psychosis

Another disorder in which parathymia usually appears is manic-depressive psychosis. The term was created by Emile Kraepelinwho included it in the 6th edition of his book titled Psychiatry (1896), and which consists of a psychotic spectrum disorder in which psychotic episodes appear that present with depressive and manic manifestations.

Its course is not deteriorating (unlike the course of schizophrenia). Currently, the term has become obsolete and “bipolar disorder” is used.

Organic-cerebral syndromes

Parathymia can (and usually) also appear in organic-cerebral syndromes. This term refers to the impaired mental function due to a non-psychiatric illness. Its most frequent causes are intoxication or overdose of some substance (drugs), dementia, infections, etc.

Depression or mania

Although much less common, parathymia can also appear in depressive or manic disorders. Multiple other symptoms would be added to this affective disorder in both cases.

In the case of depression, we find other associated symptoms beyond parathymia (which is much less typical), such as: deep sadness, guilt, fatigue, insomnia (or hypersomnia), lack or excess of appetite, etc.

And in the case of mania (manic episode), we find, for example: flight of ideas, distraction, decreased need for sleep, verbose language, psychomotor agitation, etc.

Differences with other affective disorders

We should not confuse parathymia with other affective disorders. We have collected only those that could generate the most confusion:

Emotional lability: In this case, sudden changes in affect occur, and there is no control of emotions.Affective ambivalence: Opposite emotions are experienced simultaneously about the same object or situation.Affective rigidity: here there is a loss of the ability to regulate and adapt emotions to the context.Neothymia: This disorder involves the appearance of a new feeling, difficult to recognize because it has never been experienced before.

Parathymia is a disorder that can ideally be treated from a multidisciplinary perspective. (including psychiatry and psychology).

Knowing its causes, the factors that maintain it and its impact on the patient’s life will be key elements to treat it and improve the person’s well-being. As always, its global reality and the context in which said affective alteration appears must be known.

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