Laughing when nervous disorder
Causes, Psychology, Tips, and More
You probably know the feeling: You’re in a tense situation and suddenly feel an insanely powerful urge to laugh.
Don’t worry, you’re not strange for doing this — it’s a phenomenon called nervous laughter.
Nervous laughter is called an incongruous emotion. This means that you experience an emotion when the situation doesn’t necessarily call for it.
Nervous laughter happens for a number of reasons. Some research suggests that your body uses this sort of mechanism to regulate emotion. Other research has found that nervous laughter may be a defense mechanism against emotions that may make us feel uncomfortable.
Either way, it’s pretty weird to experience. Uncontrollable nervous laughter may also be a symptom of an underlying condition.
Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted one of the earliest and most infamous studies with data about nervous laughter in the 1960s.
His study revealed that people often laughed nervously in uncomfortable situations. People in his study were asked to give electric shocks to a stranger, with the shocks becoming increasingly powerful (up to 450 volts).
But the “strangers” in this case were researchers involved in the study — they weren’t actually being shocked. But participants were more likely to laugh at the violence of the situation the higher the volts went.
Neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran explored this idea in his book “A Brief Tour of Human Consciousness.” He proposes that laughter first appeared in human history to indicate to those around us that whatever made us laugh wasn’t a threat or worth worrying about.
Ramachandran also suggested that laughter helps us heal from trauma by distracting ourselves from the pain and associating that pain with positive emotion. This could be why nervous laughter can happen even at funerals or other sad and traumatic events.
A newer 2019 research also suggests that laughter or mirth is a way for us to reduce fear, anxiety, or stress.
The researchers theorize that mirth can help us turn off a negative reaction to uncomfortable or illogical things we encounter.
A 2015 study from a team of Yale researchers also found that people tend to respond with a variety of unexpected emotions in response to strong outside stimuli.
The researchers discovered an association between the strong emotions you feel when you see a cute baby, like wanting to pinch its cheek and speak to it in weird voices, and the urge to laugh when you’re nervous or anxious.
So nervous laughter may also just be part of a larger pattern within the brain to react with strong emotions of all sorts to emotionally provocative stimuli, no matter if it seems appropriate.
Uncontrollable laughter that seems like nervous laughter could also result from an underlying medical condition.
Here are a few of the most common possible causes of nervous laughter.
Pseudobulbar affect
Pseudobulbar affect (PBA) happens when you have episodes of strong emotions that aren’t necessarily appropriate for the situation.
Aside from these brief episodes of strong emotion, your mood and emotions tend to be just fine.
Imagine someone telling a joke that you didn’t find funny. But you start bursting out in loud, raucous laughter anyway — this is one possible way that PBA can manifest.
This symptom is linked to conditions that affect your brain like a traumatic brain injury (TBI) or a neurological disorder like multiple sclerosis (MS).
Hyperthyroidism
Hyperthyroidism happens when your thyroid gland makes too much of one or both thyroid hormones called T4 and T3. These hormones regulate your cells’ energy use and maintain your metabolism. Nervous laughter can be a symptom of hyperthyroidism in some cases.
Autoimmune conditions like Graves’ disease are the most common causes of hyperthyroidism. Some other possible causes include:
- consuming too much iodine
- thyroid gland inflammation
- having benign tumors on your thyroid or pituitary gland
- having tumors on your testicles or ovaries
- consuming too much tetraiodothyronine from nutritional supplements
Graves’ disease
Graves’ disease happens when your immune system makes too many antibodies that hook up with thyroid cells.
These thyroid cells get to your thyroid gland and overstimulate the gland. This causes the thyroid to make too much thyroid hormone.
Having too much thyroid hormone in your body can affect your nervous system. One symptom of this is nervous laughter even when nothing is happening that you find funny.
Some other common symptoms of Graves’ disease include:
- shaking hands tremors
- losing weight without an obvious cause
- abnormally fast heart rate
- getting hot easily
- exhaustion
- feeling nervous or irritable
- weak muscle strength
- thyroid gland swelling, known as a goiter
- pooping more than usual or having diarrhea
- trouble sleeping
Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies
Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are also known as prion diseases. These rare diseases damage the brain by causing misfolded proteins known as prions to accumulate in the brain.
You could either contract these prions or inherit them genetically.
They can also sometimes develop without a known cause.
The result is essentially holes in the brain that can look sponge-like, which is how this group of diseases has gotten its name. They are usually fatal.
One of the more common types of TSE is Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Some common symptoms include:
- trouble walking or with coordination
- slurry speech
- being moody or experiencing abnormal behavioral shifts
- signs of dementia or memory loss
- twitching or shaking in your muscles
- vision problems
Prion diseases affect the brain where many cognitive and emotional processes are located. As part of these neurological symptoms, a person can experience nervous laughter.
Other human prion diseases are:
- Fatal familial insomnia
- Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker Syndrome (GSS)
- Kuru
Nervous laughter isn’t always easy to control, especially if it’s the result of a medical condition.
However, in the absence of an underlying condition, nervous laughter is usually a result of a negative emotion like anxiety.
The Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) suggests a number of strategies to reduce anxiety. Indirectly, these may also help you reduce nervous laughter.
The strategies include:
- Doing deep breathing exercises. These relax anxiety that can overstimulate your nervous system and your brain.
- Engaging in quiet meditation. Use meditation to calm your mind and focus on something besides your stressors or other drains on your cognitive and emotional energy.
- Practicing yoga. Movement through yoga can relax both your body and mind.
- Participating in art and music therapy. These allow you to focus on the artistic and creative process and stimulate your brain.
In addition, seeing a mental health specialist may be a good idea if your anxiety is severe. Therapists work in different modalities. For example, you can meet with a therapist working withcognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).
This modality can help you understand how your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors can lead to symptoms such as nervous laughter.
Here are some possible treatments for the conditions that can cause nervous laughter:
- Hyperthyroidism. Methimazole (Tapazole) can help control hormone production, and iodine destroys extra hormone cells. Thyroid removal surgery is also a possibility.
- Graves’ disease. The treatment is generally the same as hyperthyroidism, with some minor differences depending on your symptoms.
- Other degenerative brain diseases. There are medications to help you manage the symptoms, but there’s no cure for many of these conditions.
You may want to see a therapist or counselor if you find yourself laughing at inappropriate times and it’s disrupting your life. They can help you learn how to cope and control nervous laughter through CBT or similar strategies.
See your doctor as soon as possible if you have any of the symptoms listed that might suggest a medical condition.
You’re more likely to prevent possible complications if you treat these conditions early.
Nervous laughter isn’t something to be anxious or embarrassed about. Research suggests that it may actually be a useful tool against negative emotions or during a hard time in your life.
See a therapist or doctor if your nervous laughter:
- is uncontrollable
- disrupts your personal or professional life
- happens along with more severe symptoms
Causes, Psychology, Tips, and More
You probably know the feeling: You’re in a tense situation and suddenly feel an insanely powerful urge to laugh.
Don’t worry, you’re not strange for doing this — it’s a phenomenon called nervous laughter.
Nervous laughter is called an incongruous emotion. This means that you experience an emotion when the situation doesn’t necessarily call for it.
Nervous laughter happens for a number of reasons. Some research suggests that your body uses this sort of mechanism to regulate emotion.
Other research has found that nervous laughter may be a defense mechanism against emotions that may make us feel uncomfortable.
Either way, it’s pretty weird to experience. Uncontrollable nervous laughter may also be a symptom of an underlying condition.
Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted one of the earliest and most infamous studies with data about nervous laughter in the 1960s.
His study revealed that people often laughed nervously in uncomfortable situations. People in his study were asked to give electric shocks to a stranger, with the shocks becoming increasingly powerful (up to 450 volts).
But the “strangers” in this case were researchers involved in the study — they weren’t actually being shocked. But participants were more likely to laugh at the violence of the situation the higher the volts went.
Neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran explored this idea in his book “A Brief Tour of Human Consciousness.” He proposes that laughter first appeared in human history to indicate to those around us that whatever made us laugh wasn’t a threat or worth worrying about.
Ramachandran also suggested that laughter helps us heal from trauma by distracting ourselves from the pain and associating that pain with positive emotion. This could be why nervous laughter can happen even at funerals or other sad and traumatic events.
A newer 2019 research also suggests that laughter or mirth is a way for us to reduce fear, anxiety, or stress. The researchers theorize that mirth can help us turn off a negative reaction to uncomfortable or illogical things we encounter.
A 2015 study from a team of Yale researchers also found that people tend to respond with a variety of unexpected emotions in response to strong outside stimuli.
The researchers discovered an association between the strong emotions you feel when you see a cute baby, like wanting to pinch its cheek and speak to it in weird voices, and the urge to laugh when you’re nervous or anxious.
So nervous laughter may also just be part of a larger pattern within the brain to react with strong emotions of all sorts to emotionally provocative stimuli, no matter if it seems appropriate.
Uncontrollable laughter that seems like nervous laughter could also result from an underlying medical condition.
Here are a few of the most common possible causes of nervous laughter.
Pseudobulbar affect
Pseudobulbar affect (PBA) happens when you have episodes of strong emotions that aren’t necessarily appropriate for the situation. Aside from these brief episodes of strong emotion, your mood and emotions tend to be just fine.
Imagine someone telling a joke that you didn’t find funny. But you start bursting out in loud, raucous laughter anyway — this is one possible way that PBA can manifest.
This symptom is linked to conditions that affect your brain like a traumatic brain injury (TBI) or a neurological disorder like multiple sclerosis (MS).
Hyperthyroidism
Hyperthyroidism happens when your thyroid gland makes too much of one or both thyroid hormones called T4 and T3. These hormones regulate your cells’ energy use and maintain your metabolism.
Nervous laughter can be a symptom of hyperthyroidism in some cases.
Autoimmune conditions like Graves’ disease are the most common causes of hyperthyroidism. Some other possible causes include:
- consuming too much iodine
- thyroid gland inflammation
- having benign tumors on your thyroid or pituitary gland
- having tumors on your testicles or ovaries
- consuming too much tetraiodothyronine from nutritional supplements
Graves’ disease
Graves’ disease happens when your immune system makes too many antibodies that hook up with thyroid cells. These thyroid cells get to your thyroid gland and overstimulate the gland. This causes the thyroid to make too much thyroid hormone.
Having too much thyroid hormone in your body can affect your nervous system. One symptom of this is nervous laughter even when nothing is happening that you find funny.
Some other common symptoms of Graves’ disease include:
- shaking hands tremors
- losing weight without an obvious cause
- abnormally fast heart rate
- getting hot easily
- exhaustion
- feeling nervous or irritable
- weak muscle strength
- thyroid gland swelling, known as a goiter
- pooping more than usual or having diarrhea
- trouble sleeping
Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies
Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are also known as prion diseases.
These rare diseases damage the brain by causing misfolded proteins known as prions to accumulate in the brain.
You could either contract these prions or inherit them genetically. They can also sometimes develop without a known cause.
The result is essentially holes in the brain that can look sponge-like, which is how this group of diseases has gotten its name. They are usually fatal.
One of the more common types of TSE is Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Some common symptoms include:
- trouble walking or with coordination
- slurry speech
- being moody or experiencing abnormal behavioral shifts
- signs of dementia or memory loss
- twitching or shaking in your muscles
- vision problems
Prion diseases affect the brain where many cognitive and emotional processes are located. As part of these neurological symptoms, a person can experience nervous laughter.
Other human prion diseases are:
- Fatal familial insomnia
- Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker Syndrome (GSS)
- Kuru
Nervous laughter isn’t always easy to control, especially if it’s the result of a medical condition.
However, in the absence of an underlying condition, nervous laughter is usually a result of a negative emotion like anxiety.
The Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) suggests a number of strategies to reduce anxiety. Indirectly, these may also help you reduce nervous laughter.
The strategies include:
- Doing deep breathing exercises. These relax anxiety that can overstimulate your nervous system and your brain.
- Engaging in quiet meditation. Use meditation to calm your mind and focus on something besides your stressors or other drains on your cognitive and emotional energy.
- Practicing yoga. Movement through yoga can relax both your body and mind.
- Participating in art and music therapy. These allow you to focus on the artistic and creative process and stimulate your brain.
In addition, seeing a mental health specialist may be a good idea if your anxiety is severe.
Therapists work in different modalities. For example, you can meet with a therapist working withcognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). This modality can help you understand how your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors can lead to symptoms such as nervous laughter.
Here are some possible treatments for the conditions that can cause nervous laughter:
- Hyperthyroidism. Methimazole (Tapazole) can help control hormone production, and iodine destroys extra hormone cells. Thyroid removal surgery is also a possibility.
- Graves’ disease. The treatment is generally the same as hyperthyroidism, with some minor differences depending on your symptoms.
- Other degenerative brain diseases. There are medications to help you manage the symptoms, but there’s no cure for many of these conditions.
You may want to see a therapist or counselor if you find yourself laughing at inappropriate times and it’s disrupting your life.
They can help you learn how to cope and control nervous laughter through CBT or similar strategies.
See your doctor as soon as possible if you have any of the symptoms listed that might suggest a medical condition. You’re more likely to prevent possible complications if you treat these conditions early.
Nervous laughter isn’t something to be anxious or embarrassed about. Research suggests that it may actually be a useful tool against negative emotions or during a hard time in your life.
See a therapist or doctor if your nervous laughter:
- is uncontrollable
- disrupts your personal or professional life
- happens along with more severe symptoms
Why nervous laughter occurs and how to deal with it
Funny does not mean fun. Sometimes this reaction occurs in the most inopportune situations, for example, when the other person is in pain and there is nothing you can do to help. In this way, you are trying to survive stress. We will tell you why nervous laughter appears and whether it can be controlled.
Laughter is a complex and multifaceted emotion that does not always indicate fun. Psychologist and neuroscientist Robert Provine of the University of Maryland studied more than 1,200 “laughter episodes” and determined that 80% of the time it was not a response to humor. Laughter is often a psychological defense mechanism against stress. With the help of it, a person tries to defuse the accumulated tension.
Margaret Clark, professor of psychology at Yale University and co-author of the study Dimorphic Expressions of Positive Emotions, says that nervous laughter has the same form as humor-related laughter. “Laughter performs the function of self-regulation. That is, it is usually associated with happiness and can help reduce nervousness. Also, laughter, combined with nervousness, signals to other people that they should help reduce this nervousness, ”says Clark. When we experience extremely strong emotions, such as deep sadness or growing anxiety, we may feel physiologically overwhelmed.
Laughter is one of the mechanisms that helps to regulate the emotional state
Neuroscientist Vileyanur Ramachandran explored basic emotions and said that through laughter we prove to ourselves that the situation is not as terrible as it seems. The researcher in his book “The Birth of the Mind. Mysteries of our mind" noted that two processes are necessary for laughter and humor: "One part of the brain signals a potential threat, but after it the other part does not receive confirmation of this signal, which allows us to come to the conclusion about a false alarm. As a result, the patient begins to laugh and giggle uncontrollably.”
Why We Laugh by Alex Lickerman, MD, states that nervous laughter is one of the most mature defense mechanisms and can be seen as a signal of psychological healing. As soon as we can joke about something terrible, we indirectly report that we experienced it.
There are many examples of responding to a negative or positive experience with the opposite of the expected emotion.
You can cry at a wedding or laugh at a funeral. Clarke calls the experience of one emotion that is normatively compatible with another emotion a "dimorphic" expression of emotion. So, laughter will allow you to mask true emotions, such as shame, in the case when you made another person unpleasant.
In an experiment by American psychologist Stanley Milgram, subjects (teachers) were asked to shock students every time they answered a question incorrectly. In fact, there was no current charge, although the teachers thought the opposite. During the study, many of the "subjects showed signs of extreme tension and conflict." Milgram observed how some subjects laughed nervously when they heard false cries of pain.
Laughter activates the endorphin system in the brain, says Robin Dunbar, professor of evolutionary psychology at the University of Oxford. He advises against suppressing this emotional response whenever possible, as "it helps to calm down and signals submissiveness to those with whom we interact.
" So, inappropriate laughter does not always indicate rudeness or inappropriateness. This is probably a way to deal with emotional overload. At the same time, the laughter itself is worth noticing. When nervous laughter is no longer under your control, it is no longer a defense against vulnerability, says Leon Seltzer, Ph.D.
Headings : Neuroscience, Translations, Latest articles
Did you find something useful here? Help us stay free, independent and free with any donation:
Donate
Laughter is known to strengthen social bonds, soften possible conflicts and reduce stress and anxiety. But is laughter always a sign of health and happiness? Lynn A. Barker, Lecturer in Cognitive Neuroscience at Sheffield Hollam University, discusses the biological mechanisms behind laughter, why "laughing with" as opposed to "laughing at" gives us more pleasure, and when laughter ceases to be a positive social mechanism and indicates the presence of pathology.
When you hear someone laughing behind your back, you probably imagine the person on the phone or with a friend smiling and feeling warm. Even just the sound of laughter will make you smile or laugh back. But imagine laughing someone walking alone down the street or sitting next to you at a funeral. Suddenly, laughter is no longer attractive.
The truth is that laughter is not always positive or healthy. According to scientific data, it can be classified from true and spontaneous to artificially induced (for example, by tickling) and even pathological. But the biological basis is still incompletely understood - and what we know is known from the study of clinical cases.
Laughter and the perception of humor are necessary components of adaptive social, emotional and cognitive functions. Surprisingly, not only humans can laugh: primates also like to giggle. Perhaps this is what helped them survive. After all, laughter is a collaborative activity that strengthens social bonds, softens possible conflicts, and reduces stress and anxiety.
But its meaning is lost instantly, as soon as a person is left alone. There is something sinister about laughter in solitude.
Laughter is indeed able to instantly redefine other emotions - we cannot be sullenly angry or seething with anger while laughing. This is due to the fact that our facial muscles and throat are captured by more pleasant emotions. And all this is controlled by special neural pathways and chemicals called neurotransmitters.
Laughter is caused by several neural pathways, each of which is responsible for a different component of laughter. For example, the area of the brain involved in decision making and behavior control must be suppressed for laughter to be spontaneous and unrestrained. Laughter is also responsible for the connection between areas responsible for experiencing and expressing emotions.
See also: Fake laughter like litmus test
What disease teaches us
We know all about the key features of the brain that regulate facial expression, swallowing, tongue and throat movements, but how positive emotions turn into laughter remains a mystery.
Fortunately, the history of some diseases sheds light on the underlying brain functions.
One well-known syndrome, first described by Charles Darwin, involves the disturbing expression of uncontrollable emotions. Clinically, it manifests itself in frequent, involuntary and uncontrollable outbursts of laughter and crying. It is an anxiety disorder of emotional expressions that are contrary to human feelings. It is known as pseudobulbar syndrome and may manifest itself neurologically in various ways.
The reason for this disorder is the lack of communication between the areas that control emotional impulses and their facial expressions. Disorders associated with this condition include brain injury, Alzheimer's syndrome, Parkinson's syndrome, and multiple sclerosis.
Research has shown that an excessive sense of humor and laughter at inappropriate times can be early signs of dementia. Pseudobulbar syndrome is one of the most common side effects of stroke in terms of emotional changes.
Due to the high incidence of stroke, this condition is likely to be widespread in the general population.
There are a number of other specific conditions associated in part with brain disorders. Gelotophobia is the intense fear of being ridiculed. Gelotophilia - on the contrary, the pleasure of being laughed at. A related state, catagelosticism is the pleasure of making fun of others.
See also: "Sarcasm makes us more creative." Oh really?
Gelotophobia can develop to extreme anxiety that undermines joy, up to severe depression. It can cause continuous monitoring of the environment looking for hints of ridicule. This abnormal fear of being ridiculed comes from a negative childhood experience of being bullied and ridiculed. Evidence suggests that gelotophobia is associated with poor communication between the frontal and temporal regions of the brain, areas responsible for monitoring and processing emotional stimuli.
The frontal areas of the brain also allow us to interpret the literal meaning of words in social and emotional contexts.
This enables us to recognize such subtle humor as sarcasm. Curiously, this ability often disappears after damage to the frontal lobe of the brain, or in conditions associated with dysfunction in this area, such as autism.
Healthy laughter
Despite the dark side of laughter, laughter usually evokes warm feelings. We know that laughter has a beneficial effect on the cardiovascular and endocrine systems, strengthens the immune system.
We also know that positive, "benevolent humor"—"laughing with" as opposed to "laughing at"—is especially helpful. The way our brain processes other people's laughter shows that laughing with someone has more emotional depth and is more enjoyable than laughing at someone else.
Indeed, our brains are particularly influenced by emotional rewards and “genuine joy” cues. This may explain the high effectiveness of laughter therapy. It includes working out muscles, improving breathing, reducing stress and anxiety levels, and improving mood and emotional stability.
