These moments can happen regardless of the person’s mood and often lead to considerable distress.
Treatments typically involve medications that can help lower the frequency and severity of these laughing and crying outbursts.
These incidents typically occur without any relation to their currentmood.
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The event is usually distressing to the person affected.
In other cases, a person may have reason to laugh or cry at a comment or occurrence.
Pathological laughter or crying may also lead to more frequent and extreme emotional outbursts.
These may, in turn, increase fits of anger or frustration.
While emotional incontinence can involve laughter and/or cryingcrying is more commonly seen in people living with this condition.
How Common Is Pseudobulbar Affect?
Laughing and crying disorder typically occurs in people living with existingneurological disorders.
Prevalence estimates are highly variable.
However, it is often misunderstood by loved ones and under-recognized by medical experts.
For a correct evaluation, clinicians will evaluate thebehaviorof the individual suspected of living with laughing disorder.
Causes of Pseudobulbar Affect
A definite cause of laughing disorder is yet to be established.
This part of the brain regulates emotional responses to correspond with social situations and mood.
Where there is a disruption to the cerebellum circuitry, this may affect voluntary control over emotions.
Likewise,neurotransmitterssuch asserotoninandglutamatecan impact the development of emotional incontinence.
This is because of the vital role they play in cerebellar pathways in the brain.
To achieve this, oral medications are commonly recommended.
Antidepressants
The main objective of these medications is to improveserotoninlevels in the brain.
This is achieved usingselective serotonin reuptake inhibitors(SSRIs) such ascitalopram,fluoxetine, andsertraline.
SSRIs and TCAs may be effective in managing pseudobulbar affect due to the serotonin boost they provide.
The combination of these medications increases the amount of dextromethorphan in the body.
This pairing helps to manage laughing disorders.
Pseudobulbar affect can affect everyday interactions and may cause normal communication to become difficult.
However, despite the difficulties triggered by this condition, it is manageable with the right treatment method.
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