Emotional Dysregulation as Impaired Return-Path Capacity: The Regulation Failure Architecture, Transdiagnostic Landscape, and the Skill-Based Return to Emotional Ground State

Emotional dysregulation (ED) is widely recognized as a transdiagnostic feature spanning ADHD, borderline personality disorder, bipolar disorder, PTSD, depression, autism, and rejection-sensitive dysphoria. We propose a formal account using the Displacement Framework: emotional dysregulation is not primarily an emotion problem but a regulation problem — a failure of the return-path system that normally enables displacement from emotional ground state S0_emotional to resolve and return the organism to baseline.

We formalize this architecture through nine propositions: the definition of S0_emotional (P1); ED as impaired return-path capacity (P2); Gross's process model of emotion regulation as a taxonomy of return paths (P3); the neural architecture of amygdala/PFC/ACC circuit and HPA positive feedback (P4); the suppression trap — suppression generates secondary displacement exceeding the original (P5); emotional granularity as return-path navigation prerequisite (P6); transdiagnostic profile across ADHD, BPD, PTSD, depression, bipolar, autism (P7); DBT emotion regulation module as systematic return-path toolkit (P8); and developmental trajectory — co-regulation as the template for self-regulation (P9).

The suppression trap is formalized with the inequality D(xi_total) > D(xi_original). Barrett's emotional granularity and alexithymia as return-path opacity are analyzed. Six clinical implications for treatment design are derived.