Uncontrolled crying: characteristics and differences from normative crying.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Uncontrolled crying (UC) is a prevalent poststroke phenomenon of elderly patients, socially disabling and interfering with rehabilitation. There are many differences in opinions and nonclarity in the literature relating to UC. OBJECTIVE: To examine two basic questions regarding UC that have as yet not been experimentally studied: typical situations where UC occurs and how UC differs from normative crying (NC). METHODS: Crying episodes of elderly patients suffering from poststroke UC were documented. From 235 crying documented episodes, instructions for further follow-up documentation were received. According to these instructions, 1,098 crying episodes were documented. Using the 'truncated pyramid' model developed during this study, 47 crying situations typical of poststroke UC processed into seven categories were identified. Based on these findings, we compared UC and NC. RESULTS: UC and NC were found to differ in all tested variables: crying situations, content areas of crying situations, crying frequency, crying frequency of men as compared with that of women, and crying frequency when alone as compared with the crying frequency in the presence of others. CONCLUSIONS: UC should be approached as an entity totally different from NC within a wide range of variables. The study's findings assist in understanding UC, the reasons for its disabling effect, and the need for exploring ways to aid elderly patients suffering from poststroke UC. The situations typical of UC and their categories found in this study may serve as additional clinical and research means for these purposes.