Background and Current Understanding
Many patients with neurologic disorders exhibit uncontrollable episodes of laughing, crying, or both that are either exaggerated or contradictory to the context in which they occur. Where patients have significant cognitive deficits (e.g., Alzheimer's) it can be unclear whether it is true PBA as opposed to a grosser form of emotional dysregulation, but patients with intact cognition often report the symptom as disturbing. Patients report that their episodes are at best only partially amenable to voluntary control, and unless they experience a severe change of mental status, they often have insight into their problem and judge their emotional display as inappropriate and out of character. The clinical impact of PBA can be severe, with unremitting and persistent symptoms that can be disabling to patients, and may significantly impact quality of life for caregivers.
Read more about this topic: Pseudobulbar Affect
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