あまり (excessive result) — does it need a NEGATIVE outcome, or just an INTENSE one?

Question

「心配のあまり、眠れなかった」= 'from excessive worry, I couldn't sleep.' Every example is a bad outcome from an intense feeling. Could you use あまり for something intense that leads to a GOOD or neutral outcome, like 「嬉しさのあまり、泣いてしまった」— is crying from happiness still a valid あまり sentence, or does that break the pattern?

Accepted Answer

Your own example is actually a textbook-perfect あまり sentence — 嬉しさのあまり、泣いてしまった ('cried out of sheer happiness') is completely standard. What あまり actually requires isn't a NEGATIVE feeling, it's an INTENSE one pushed past a normal threshold into an unusual/uncontrollable RESULT — the result clause tends to describe something a bit out of the ordinary (crying, fainting, forgetting, being unable to sleep/speak), regardless of whether the triggering emotion was good or bad. So 嬉しさ, 悲しさ, 心配, 緊張 all work fine as the 'excessive' front half.