What describes a homeostatic imbalance?

• A. Stable conditions maintained by negative feedback.
• B. Disturbance in homeostasis with negative feedback overwhelmed by positive feedback.
• C. Normal fluctuations within a narrow range.
• D. A temporary mood change.

Answer: (B)

A homeostatic imbalance happens when the body's usual balancing systems fail to restore normal conditions after a disturbance. Normally, negative feedback works to dampen changes and bring things back toward a set point. When a disturbance triggers positive feedback so strongly that it overwhelms this negative feedback, the change is amplified rather than corrected, pushing the system farther from balance. That overflow of the normal corrective mechanism is what characterizes an imbalance.

The other descriptions fit normal regulation or non-physiological states: stable conditions maintained by negative feedback and normal fluctuations within a narrow range are examples of proper regulation, not imbalance; a temporary mood change isn’t a bodily homeostatic disturbance.