Nervous laughter is not a normal laugh. This means that it is not a good laugh that comes out of the belly. It is laughter evoked from emotion, embarrassment and an alarming situation.
This kind of laughter can be confusing and discomforting to the people around you. This is because other people do not see the need or any reason for that laugh. You are the only that is laughing.
It is totally analogous to the good, courtesy laugh. Some experts often describe it as a physical reaction to tension, stress, and anxiety within the individual. It is a factor within you that triggers that nervous laugh.
This means that it is more of a psychological or neuro condition than being in a state of good health or mental alertness. Such a reaction is not responsive to any intentional joke. Someone carrying out that type of laugh is a tense situation and needs help to come out of that situation. It is often considered a faked laugh because it does not come out of the mind. Because this kind of laughter is not a good one, there is the need to control it.
Ways to stop nervous laughter
Eliminating this kind of laughter is not easy. Experts have proffered various ways of dealing with that situation to ensure that nervous laughter is put under control. It is not easy to stop but if you are strongly committed to it, you can stop it. There are different ways suggested by experts as the best way of dealing with that problem.
Identify the routine
Psychologists believe that to change any behavior, the person must first identify the routine or habit.
In this case, it might not be as simple and easy as you think.
The simple reason is that most of those people who are suffering from that condition do not even know they are suffering from it. Finding out this routine is the most important step towards dealing with that challenge. Because most people do not even know what they are doing, it becomes difficult to know where to start to deal with the problem.
Even when a few of them know they are suffering from that condition; it becomes difficult because they would be shying away from it. It is easy to change that behavior that you are aware of, but when you are not aware of that, it is difficult to change it. The first step in dealing with that situation is to help the patient to understand the condition. When that is done, it is pretty easier to handle that situation.
Try to isolate the cue
Some researchers believe that every habit formed can belong to any of the five categories they have already identified. These categories are location, time, emotional state as well as other people and the immediately preceding action. This means that if you want to stop nervous laughter, you must first try to isolate the cue by relating it to any of the conditions.
Therefore, you must ask the pertinent questions that can help you understand that situation very well. You can ask such questions like where am I? what is the time? What emotional condition is the person in? Who else was around, and finally what was the action that preceded that urge? When you analyze these questions very well, it would soon become very easy for you to understand those conditions that are triggering that condition and it becomes pretty easier to deal with that condition.
There should be a plan
If you follow the steps above and you can identify the habit loop, then you can consider the best way of dealing with that challenge. Once you have identified those causes of the unwanted laughter, it is now easier to figure out the best way to deal with that problem. You can now workout your implementation intention.
Apart from the above suggestions of ways of dealing with that challenge, there are other ways of dealing with it. Here are some of them:
Engage in deep breathing exercises
If the cause of the laughter is because of the anxiety state you have found yourself in. then you can resort to deep breathing exercises. This can deal with the relax anxiety which many experts believe stimulate the brain to make you laugh when you are not supposed to be doing so.
Practice quiet meditation
Another option is to use quiet meditation to calm yourself especially your mind down. When you do that, you can now focus on other important things, not those that drain your sensors and your emotional and cognitive energy. With time you can calm your nerves and deal with that challenge.
Yoga
This is a form of exercise. Some people believe that carrying out a yoga movement or exercise can help to deal with that situation. This is because doing yoga has lots of psychological and health benefits. One of them is that it can help to relax your mind and especially your body.
Music and art therapy
This is another way of dealing with that situation. When you do that, you focus your mind away from something that is not relevant. Your whole mind would be on the creative as well as the artistic process and this can stimulate your brain. Your brain and your mind would be stable and those that trigger that laugher would be removed.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy
This has to do with conscious responses. If you are becoming aware of what you are doing, you can deal with that through conscious responses. When the laughter tries to come out, you would be able to hold it back and it would not happen again.
Furthermore, the best way to deal with it is to treat those conditions that cause nervous laughter. Different treatment options were put forward by medical experts and some of them are discussed below:
Hyperthyroidism
It is believed by some experts that the problem is caused by hormones within the system. If there is a way of removing or dealing with that hormone, then it would be pretty easier to deal with that problem. One of the ways of dealing with that is the application of methimazole which is also known as tapazole. When this is done, it is going to be very effective because it can control such hormone production. Since the production of that hormone is associated with thyroid, then a surgical procedure that results in its removal could be recommended because it can deal with that situation once and for all.
Grave’s disease
There are lots of similarities between this mode of treatment and hyperthyroidism. There is only a minor difference. However, there can be a difference but that depends on the symptoms shown by that condition.
Kuru
You can use kuru or you choose any other degenerative brain disease treatment of your choice. Any of these can be effective when it comes to the control of the symptoms. This is always suggested by some health and psychological experts who believe that the disease is rooted in the brain and there is no cure for such disease.
Consult your doctor
Furthermore, it is appropriate to consult your doctor and your psychologists and these can help to detect the cause of that problem. If it is a problem related to medical or health conditions, your doctor will not find it hard to discover the cause and they can help to formulate ways of dealing with it.
If it is a medical induced situation, your psychologist can help determine the cause of that condition and they can help provide the correct solution to deal with that problem. There are always symptoms and most of them are listed above. You must consult medical experts when the symptoms are there.
If you consult a psychologist, they can also help formulate a solution to that problem. However, here are some proven psychological prescriptions that can help deal with that challenge.
If you are not aware of what you are doing then the first thing that you need to do is to bring yourself on board and help yourself to understand the condition.
If you can understand the situation, it will be easier to deal with it.
Once we understand that you are suffering from a bad habit then within a short time, the situation would be dealt with and it becomes a thing of the past. The problem is that many people find it hard to tell someone else about that condition. It takes a trusted friend to tell you the situation and because they are a trusted friend, it would be better to believe them.
Behavior replacement
When one becomes aware of that bad habit, then you have done the greatest thing and it is now easier to stop it. The best way to stop it is through behavior replacement.
You can replace that behavior by refusing to laugh unnecessary. If you feel the urge to laugh and you have to consider what others are doing and if you think that it is awkward to laugh at that time, then you can stop it.
This means that you can stop laughing when it is not necessary. If you do not catch what somebody else said, then you have to ask and before you laugh at all, you must be sure of what you are laughing for. Do not start to laugh because other people are laughing. Within time, it would now be easier for you since you are now aware of your situation.
Mindset changes
If you engage in laughter and after assessing the situation and you discover there is never anything necessary that triggers such a situation, then you have to change your mindset. Do away with all those dispositions that force you to laugh even when you are not supposed to do so.
Furthermore, you have to think of your confidence and you look for ways of boosting or increasing your confidence. Furthermore, if you are not sure of the way that you interact with people. It might be necessary that you review the way you interact with people and you must be very sure of the situation before you laugh. Always take a clue from others around you if they are not laughing when you are laughing then you have to stop laughing and try to understand the matter on the ground proper.
If you find out those things in order people that trigger that laugher, you can help to deal with that by stopping it. The best way to deal with that situation is to study the root cause of that situation. In most of the cases, it has to do with low confidence and low esteem. You must look for ways of dealing with that and there are lots of psychological resources that can help you to tackle that challenge.
Honest communication
When you discuss with others or you communicate, you can engage in honest communication. This means that you must put your whole mind to the thing you are discussing. If you do that, you discover that you would be able to diffuse the situation and you are not going to laugh when it is not necessary to do that. Finding a way of hiding the laughter and the best way to do is to engage in breathing techniques when the urge to laugh comes up. You must form the habit of practicing deep breathing. This can help hold the laughter.
When you engage in that breathing situation, you must be mentally engaged in that. When you breathe, clear your mind after that and return to your senses again.
Bottom line
Nervous laughter is not a normal situation and it is something that you can feel strongly about.
When you are suffering from that situation or you have somebody that is suffering from that situation, there are ways of dealing with the problem.
The most important thing is to help yourself understand what you are doing. When that is done, it becomes easier to deal with it. Most of these suggested remedies can control that situation.
Eliminating this kind of laughter is not easy. Experts have proffered various ways of dealing with that situation to ensure that nervous laughter is put under control. It is not easy to stop but if you are strongly committed to it, you can stop it. There are different ways suggested by experts as the best way of dealing with that problem.
If you follow the steps above and you can identify the habit loop, then you can consider the best way of dealing with that challenge. Once you have identified those causes of the unwanted laughter, it is now easier to figure out the best way to deal with that problem. You can now workout your implementation intention.
You can use kuru or you choose any other degenerative brain disease treatment of your choice. Any of these can be effective when it comes to the control of the symptoms. This is always suggested by some health and psychological experts who believe that the disease is rooted in the brain and there is no cure for such disease.
Furthermore, you have to think of your confidence and you look for ways of boosting or increasing your confidence. Furthermore, if you are not sure of the way that you interact with people. It might be necessary that you review the way you interact with people and you must be very sure of the situation before you laugh. Always take a clue from others around you if they are not laughing when you are laughing then you have to stop laughing and try to understand the matter on the ground proper.
