The doctor explains emotional lability to Trevor in some detail. It is agreed that Nurse Jones will discuss this further with Trevor and his family.
Emotional lability:
- About one quarter of patients have difficulty controlling the expression of emotion in the year following stroke.
- Emotional lability has been described using a variety of terms including emotionalism, pathological emotionalism, emotional incontinence, pathological crying/laughing, and pseudobulbar affect.
- The patient abruptly starts to weep, or less commonly to laugh uncontrollably, sometimes with no obvious precipitant.
- More often, episodes are triggered by a kind word (e.g. how are you feeling?) or a thought with emotional overtones (e.g. thinking of grandchildren) but the emotional response is out of proportion to the degree of ‘internal sadness’ (or mirth).
- Usually, the episodes are short lived but may occur frequently enough to disrupt a conversation, therapy session or social event.
- Such outbursts cause considerable distress to the patient and their carer and may be a major obstacle to rehabilitation and social integration.
(Paragraph taken from: Warlow C, Van Gijn J, Dennis M, Warlow J, Bamford J, Hankey G, Sandercock P, Langhorne P, Sudlow C, Rothwell P (2008) Stroke: Practical Management 3rd ed, Blackwell Publishing)
Click here to read more about experiencing emotional lability: Healthtalkonline (scroll down the page until you get to ‘Emotional lability’ section)
Page last reviewed: 21 Feb 2020
