What Causes Nervous Laughter?

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