I'm just curious, cause this is a peculiarity with me. But I get these bouts of inappropriate laughter. Something odd or stupid strikes me funny, and I get really giggly and can't stop. These are part of my mood swings that I get.

I've never looked into it, and I know nobody can diagnose here. But I am curious if anybody suffers from this too, and, if I may ask, do you have any disorder associated with it?

Or is this just a peculiarity with me and nothing to worry about? I mean I'll start cracking up over things that others will think is stupid and be like "oooooookay ".

It gets especially bad if I'm somewhere where it is not appropriate, and it's hard to hold back.

I just want to understand myself better.

Hi nullandvoid, I don't really experience this, but when I was a very anxious teenager, I did experience it. I do have my own quirks and oddities now too So you're not alone in feeling like you're different. 1.) I wonder if for you, and I don't know your diagnosis and you do not have to tell me, but I wonder if part of this might be an anxiety thing for you too. The laughing. Like you're trying to suppress it, but it just gets more and more funny and unable to be stopped? 2.) Could it be perhaps not that big of a deal? I do recognize that you may want to be appropriate, in socially appropriate situations, and not be "rude," "offensive," like say, at a funeral or serious work event. That is very nice of you, and considerate and well, social. But I do think you should not be so hard on yourself. I don't know if there's a particular diagnosis it goes along with though, like I said, I had extreme anxiety when I experienced it. It was also...I think a way for my mind, and my body, subconsciously, to let out some of the tension I felt. Laughter is, after all, very therapeutic.

Originally Posted by starrysky

Like you're trying to suppress it, but it just gets more and more funny and unable to be stopped?

That's exactly it. I have a pretty odd sense of humor, but yeah, I don't like to show any emotion around others, and laughter is hard to suppress.

I have GAD as far as anxiety disorders go.

I'm not being hard on myself though. I was just curious about it. Thank you for the reply.

[mindwrench]

I think there is something about having pent up laughter, at a time we want to suppress it. It's almost like being unable to laugh out loud, due to the place or circumstance causes the laughter to be more difficult to contain, and last much longer than it otherwise would. I accompanied a person to a meeting recently and while walking down a hallway I noticed they had a pair of their wife's undergarment trailing from their pants leg cuff. I was irritated they had requested my assistance at the meeting, so I didn't tell them until they noticed I was laughing hysterically under my breath and they began looking for the source of my humor. I was fighting the tears from laughing under my breath through the meeting. Even hours later I would bust out laughing again till I cried.

I laugh at very inappropriate times as a coping mechanism. I've laughed at a funeral. I laughed when I was the passenger in a serious car accident. I laughed when my grand father died, like tears down my cheeks laughing. When life is too much for me I laugh. I have no idea where mine comes from.

[Caelix3]

I have a similar problem.

Sometimes I'll start laughing at something and no one else is laughing at it.

Or I'll laugh and there is nothing funny going on, or I'll laugh for too long with tears running down my face. Even though it wasn't that funny.

I'm diagnosed with:

Autism
Major Depressive Disorder (Moderate)
Anxiety (Social anxiety as well)

[All Is Revealed]

I see laughter as a great characteristic. It's good that we can laugh at things. No one has the authority to tell us what is inappropriate laughter or not. What is funny to me may not be funny to someone else. I won't stop laughing at something because someone else doesn't like it.

I do tend to laugh when I think people's reactions and/or behaviors are overdramatic. Instead of feeling the person's pain, I see them as an actor worthy of an Academy Award. Having ASPD, I see the humor in emotional pain.

[Caelix3]

Originally Posted by All Is Revealed

I see laughter as a great characteristic. It's good that we can laugh at things. No one has the authority to tell us what is inappropriate laughter or not. What is funny to me may not be funny to someone else. I won't stop laughing at something because someone else doesn't like it.

I do tend to laugh when I think people's reactions and/or behaviors are overdramatic. Instead of feeling the person's pain, I see them as an actor worthy of an Academy Award. Having ASPD, I see the humor in emotional pain.

Just wanted to comment that I tend to laugh at over dramatic emotions too.

Especially if they have a ugly crying face or sound funny.

Usually only in movies and tv shows though.

I won't do it in front of a real person.

But I understand what you mean in a way.

Thanks everyone for your replies.

Originally Posted by All Is Revealed

I do tend to laugh when I think people's reactions and/or behaviors are overdramatic. Instead of feeling the person's pain, I see them as an actor worthy of an Academy Award.

I've been like that with my mother (she's a drama queen). It ticks her off, which makes it more funny.

[eskielover]

My dad & my X-H were both that way. My H more than my dad.

My H would say something totally NOT funny & he would laugh at what he said while I stood there in a NOT FUNNY mode.

Honestly both were on the Spectrum (ASD). Dont know if that in common was why they were both like that or not.

It was especially IRRITATING when H thought his sarcastic put down humor toward me was funny esprcially when it was totally inappropriate

Originally Posted by eskielover

My H would say something totally NOT funny & he would laugh at what he said while I stood there in a NOT FUNNY mode.

I'm like that too. I don't know why, but if I say something sarcastic and a person finds it very NOT funny, it just makes it even more funny to me. I'm just amused by their reaction.

Thanks for the reply.

[Turtle_Rider]

I understand that. There are several times that I laugh at something that isn't supposed to be funny. Makes my friends wonder why and amused with my laughter.

The hardest part is laughing at someone in pain. I remember I laughed at my friends he cried or when my mother fell (and still many). I don't hate them, but I found the situation were very funny. I know I should emphatize them, but I can't help it.

I'm not sure. Well, I have not officially diagnosed yet (dont have money for therapist). I suspect myself has ASD. And it's obvious that I may have GAD or depression. Not sure that they are contributing or not.

[avlady]

Sometimes I laugh after taking my meds, i feel so happy from them, i have heard people say such things as Give me what she's on!! This rarely happens but i try to hold it in most of the time and squeel alone after thinking of something funny in my head.

[Teddy Bear]

I have laughed for no reason and they realized that I needed my meds adjusted

[eskielover]

I actually lsugh st myself when I do something really bizzar. Like when I tripped over a box on the floor with a plate full of food coming out of my kitchen to go back upstairs at 3am. Landed on my nice soft new runner face down & all but one little piece of food stayed on my plate.

I started laughing so hard because I could just picture the whole scene in my mind as I had experienced it as if I were watching myself. The most graceful klutz in my ballroom dance group.

I remember laughing at myself when I fell off a swing as a kid because I had no idea what happened....just landed on the ground.

I also couldnt stop laughing at myself when I was trail riding with a group of friends & we stopped IN the stream to let the horses drink & as my horse put his head down to drink the saddle with me in it slid around & we ended up under his belly while I was trying to figure out how to get off without landing my whole self in the stream. Managed to get off while dying of laughter & just got the toe of my boot wet.

I could make a comedy routine out ofball the graceful klutzy things I have dine in my life & couldn't stop laughing at myself about.

[Perna]

If it is a disorder, looks like it is a popular one from all these possibilities:

https://www.steadyhealth.com/medical...hing-disorders

Originally Posted by Perna

If it is a disorder, looks like it is a popular one from all these possibilities:

https://www.steadyhealth.com/medical...hing-disorders

In addition to all these physical causes of laughing fits, some people just have an "off" sense of humor.

Pretty much. :P

Interesting that it says social phobia can cause that too.

Thanks for the link. That was very informative.

[SheilaKathy]

Yes, I have laughed at things that others did not find funny.

I also have said something like "Oh mercy!" when everyone else laughed at a story or a joke. I did NOT find these things funny, because someone was the butt of the joke or sometimes I think I was meant to be the butt of the joke too. I take things way too personally, I have been told too. So I sometimes just don't know what the person meant by saying that or doing that.

I used to write LOL... or ROFL... sometimes and others would not be finding whatever I found to be funny, to actually be funny. Then folks would get mad at me for laughing, so I rarely use those things online any longer, unless I am certain that something was meant to be funny.

So, not only do I laugh inappropriately, I sometimes don't laugh when I am expected to.

[Loose Screw x 2]

Same here. I too laugh at inappropriate times and at things that ordinary people don't seem to think are funny. I've even been shamed for it which sometimes makes me want to laugh even more. I don't think that it is anything malicious or sadistic though. I think that different things strike different people different ways is a big part of it. When I was still a child and even a young adult and would hear of something bad happening to someone I would sometimes have an urge to smile even though I knew that what had happened was a sad thing. I even seen my mother do it just once. This lead to a lot of feelings of guilt for me feeling that way but, it hasn't happened to me in a very long time. I don't know if that's because I've learned to control it or what. But, "yes" I too laugh at pretty much anything that reminds me of slapstick comedy and I love the Three Stooges and 1940s-1950s era cartoon humor. I do think, like someone else mentioned that it may be tied in with anxiety or even nervousness or possibly even pent up laughter that just needs to come out. Maybe from frustration or something.

I have this when I am mannic (bipolar mannic), and it led to people thinking I like the number 11

(I have posted about that many times in the bipolar forum!)

my oddity is saying meow, woof, cat and dog at random moments

again like the laughter you have I can't control it- it's not like too bad, I don't say cat and dog in every sentence, still embarrassing sometimes

I also have an alter who wants a puppy

having her come out at random times asking can I have a puppy in her girly childish voice... not cool

[neckbones]

I get this in very inappropriate situations, most often when someone is hurt or a kid is crying. it depends when it happens though because sometimes I’m hyper empathetic and being around that makes me shake and dissociate while other times it’s just the funniest thing to me

I got it once at a funeral of a school friend.

it was not cool, especially since for like the next week, I was known by the rest of my class as the girl who laughs at funerals.

not, cool!

I can't even remember what it was over, but I was in stiches

[Loose Screw x 2]

I read once in maybe a psychology book of a historical case of a child who lived in a village that laughed when bad things happened and cried when good things happened. It was supposed to be like 100 or 200 years ago and because of that time period they just thought that he was possessed. There never was anything more like if there were any kind of treatment to try to help him. Sad story.