The ability to regulate emotions is essential for mental health and well-being. When this capacity is impaired, it can lead to the development or worsening of neuropsychiatric disorders such as anxiety, major depression, bipolar disorder, and borderline personality disorder. These conditions are a major global health concern, accounting for up to 40% of years lived with disability, with depression being the leading cause. A common feature across these disorders is altered emotion processing, which affects how individuals perceive, react to, and regulate their emotions.

From a brain network perspective, these changes in emotion processing are linked to reduced activity in the prefrontal cortex—particularly the dorsolateral and ventrolateral prefrontal regions—while overactivation in limbic areas, especially the amygdala, is frequently observed. This imbalance between cognitive control (prefrontal cortex) and emotional reactivity (amygdala) is thought to underlie the emotional dysregulation seen in these disorders.