Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T12:57:16.489Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Laughter in Epilepsy, with Some General Introductory Notes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2018

Jiří. Roubíček*
Affiliation:
Neurologico-Psychiatric Department of the Bulovka-Hospital in Prague. Director: Prof. O. Janota

Extract

Laughter, known to mankind as a physiological response to happy and comical events in general, is one of the most inviting guides through human life, but sometimes it may point to various morbid states of mind.

Physiological laughter has been studied by numerous psychologists and philosophers, the pathological part of the subject and compulsive laughter by many physicians, both clinicians and anatomists. Reading through the accessible part of the extensive literature on laughter one realizes that much has not yet been quite elucidated. In recent years we have had an opportunity of following a few most interesting cases of pathological laughter. This essay has been devoted to a review of the psychological, clinical and anatomical studies, and to an analysis of our five cases and their relation to epilepsy.

Type
Part I.—Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1946 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bechterew, A., Arch. f. Psych., 26, 791.Google Scholar
Bergson, H. (1929), Le rire. Paris: Alcan.Google Scholar
Bondareff, H. (1936), L'Encéphale, 31, 5.Google Scholar
Darwin, , The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animais. Google Scholar
Davidson, Ch., and Kelman, H. (1939). Arch. of Neur., 42, 595.Google Scholar
Dumas, A. (1923), Traité de Psychologie. Paris.Google Scholar
Idem (1906) Le sourire. Paris: Alcan.Google Scholar
Frejka, J. (1942), Smích a divadelní maska (Prague).Google Scholar
Hall, S., and Allini, A. (1897), Amer. J. Psychol., 9.Google Scholar
Kant, I., Critique of Pure Reason. Google Scholar
Lipps, A. (1898), Komik u. Humor. Google Scholar
Meunand, , “Rire,” Grande Encyclopédie. Google Scholar
Ribot, (1896), Psychologie des sentiments. Paris: Alcan.Google Scholar
Sully, J. (1904), Le rire. Paris: Alcan.Google Scholar
Wilson, S. A., Kinnier, (1935), The Epilepsies. Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.