Screaming PokerFace

Breakdown comes in many forms, with many faces.

In my case, a "normal mood" does not produce a smile. Smiles come from bouts of laughter, usually from seeing or hearing something absolutely hilarious.

Otherwise, I'm either "neutral", or I'm "negatively snarky". My "signs of breakdown" tend to be less energetic than Lala here, since they usually manifest in a subtle manner (for instance, I may develop a frequent stutter when I talk).

But when I break, I REALLY break; it tends to be a volatile mixture of sadness and anger that gets released. Which is why I try to control where my emotional energy is allowed to flow, which usually means finding a harmless or constructive outlet; it's defined as "sublimation".

Trying to contain the energy through suppression ("bottling") doesn't make the energy "go away"; it simply prevents the energy from escaping, as it gains pressure like a sealed boiler. And if the energy is never allowed to be properly 'burned off' consciously, then pressure will continue rising until a "critical threshold" is reached; the threshold is usually when the focus required to contain the energy falters. At that point, the energy will simply force its way out, and the sudden release of emotional energy is often quite explosive, akin to an over-pressured boiled; rage, terror, hysteria, and other "extreme" emotions are common results.