Dysphoria is a word that turns up often in the literature describing bipolar disorder. By definition, dysphoria is a profound state of unease or a general dissatisfaction with life. From a clinical standpoint, dysphoria suggests a serious depressive episode accompanied by a manic psychosis (the loss of external reality). As such, it is not considered a reasonable response to an event or stimulus but rather a feature of an ever-changing cycle in moods that can lead, often inexplicably, to profound episodes of emotional dysfunction.
Simply put, dysphoria is a disconnect in emotion that has little or no relation to what is actually going on.
Dysphoria is not only associated with bipolar disorder, it's associated with other psychiatric and nonpsychiatric conditions. These can include schizophrenia, gender dysphoria, illicit drug use, and even premenstrual cycles (premenstrual dysphoric disorder).
