[Emotional dysregulation and autism spectrum disorders]

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are neurodevelopmental disorders that affect social communication and present stereotyped behaviours. They exhibit a wide range of phenotypic variability related with the capacity to use language for expression, cognitive skills and psychiatric comorbidities, among others. Psychiatric comorbidity is very frequent in ASD and in many cases it is multiple. Emotional dysregulation is related with ASD and with other psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. Multiple comorbidity associated with ASD is the group that presents a high degree of functional inability, multiple pharmacology and hospital admissions. Emotional dysregulation could be the basis of the multiple comorbidity that exists in ASD and will require its own particular considerations in the diagnostic evaluation and treatment.

To review emotional dysregulation, the currently held concept of it and its relationship with ASD.

This work offers a review of the different definitions of emotional dysregulation, the associated cognitive and neurobiological mechanisms, the clinical presentation when associated to ASD, its role in psychiatric comorbidity and further considerations regarding psychological and pharmacological interventions.

Emotional dysregulation could be associated to the multiple comorbidity present in persons with ASD, as well as being related with high rates of morbidity, hospital admissions and use of psychopharmaceuticals. Failure to identify and diagnose emotional dysregulation could be linked with low effectiveness and a large number of side effects in the case of comorbidity associated to ASD.