Skip to main content

Euphoria

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences

Synonyms

Cheerfulness; Elevated mood; Happiness; Positive mood; Well-being

Definition

Euphoria is a type of affect that involves positive or elevated mood.

Introduction

Euphoria is a state or symptom of mood or affect that involves the experience of positive mood.

Euphoria

The term has be used to describe a state of “cheerfulness” (Rodgers and Bland 1996), “contentment” (Finger 1998), “intense happiness” (Pearsall 1999), and “extreme happiness and well-being” (Brookes et al. 2004). Although, as it can be seen, definitions tend to vary, it is important to note that euphoria is distinct from a number of other, apparently similar, symptoms of mood and affect. For example, euphoria is different from a manic episode, which is defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th edition (American Psychiatric Association 2013) as including elevated or irritable mood and increased energy that persists for at least 1 week and is accompanied by a number of additional...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington: American Psychiatric Publishing.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Brookes, I., Munro, M., O’Donoghue, E., O’Neill, M., & Thompson, M. (Eds.). (2004). Chambers concise dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, E. E. A., Ejsmond-Frey, R., Knight, N., & Dunbar, R. I. M. (2010). Rowers’ high: Behavioural synchrony is correlated with elevated pain thresholds. Biology Letters, 6(10), 106–108.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cummings, J. L., Mega, M., Gray, K., Rosenberg-Thompson, S., Carusi, D. A., & Gornbein, J. (1994). The neuropsychiatric inventory comprehensive assessment of psychopathology in dementia. Neurology, 44(12), 2308–2308.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Diaz-Olavarrieta, C., Cummings, J. L., Velazquez, J., & Garcia de al Cadena, C. (1999). Neuropsychiatric manifestations of multiple sclerosis. The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 11, 51–57.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Duncan, A., Malcolm-Smith, S., Ameen, O., & Solms, M. (2015). Changing definitions of euphoria in multiple sclerosis: A short report. Multiple Sclerosis Journal, 21, 776–779.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Finger, S. (1998). A happy state of mind: A history of mild elation, denial of disability, optimism, and laughing in multiple sclerosis. Archives of Neurology, 55(2), 241–250.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Harel, Y., Barak, Y., & Achiron, A. (2007). Dysregulation of affect in multiple sclerosis: New phenomenological approach. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 61(1), 94–98.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, B. A. (2010). Addiction medicine: Science and practice. New York/London: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, N., & Sather, R. (n.d.). Online medical encyclopedia: Epilepsy and Seizures. Retrieved from https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/Encyclopedia/Content.aspx?ContentTypeID=85&ContentID=P00779

  • MacKnee, C. M. (2002). Profound sexual and spiritual encounters among practicing Christians: A phenomenological analysis. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 30(3), 234.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pearsall, J. (Ed.). (1999). The Oxford concise dictionary (10th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rodgers, J., & Bland, R. (1996). Psychiatric manifestations of multiple sclerosis: A review. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 41(7), 441–445.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Unknown. (2016, July 7) The wildest celebrations after sporting victories. Retrieved from http://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/uefa-euro-2016/the-wildest-celebrations-after-sporting-victories/ar-AAhrgns

  • Wortzel, H. S., Oster, T. J., Anderson, C. A., & Arciniegas, D. B. (2008). Pathological laughing and crying. CNS Drugs, 22(7), 531–545.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Amy L. Duncan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Section Editor information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this entry

Cite this entry

Duncan, A.L. (2017). Euphoria. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_515-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_515-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics