Definition of "emotional disturbance" [emotional disturbance]

• Any mental disorder not caused by detectable organic abnormalities of the brain and in which a major disturbance of emotions is predominant (noun)

WordNet. Princeton University. 2010.

• "We think as to this likely enough explanation, that whatever the local sensation may have been, or however slight, as it probably was, it could only give rise to an hallucination of having been touched by some external personality when it was absorbed into, and became a part of a considerable emotional disturbance as in the case of the girl above referred to, and of my patient, in both cases associated with a frightsome dream."