It's Stroke Crying time again!

With stroke and brain injury emotions can be greatly exaggerated.

Unlike language which changes from location to location and country to country emotions are more universal. Emotions sound the same in any language.

Simple laughter sounds like laughter, crying is crying and happiness sounds like happiness. It doesn't matter what tongue you speak it sounds the same.

Unfortunately for many with a stroke or brain injury the expression of emotions can be greatly amplified which for the caregiver both professional and loved one can be worse than fingernails on a chalkboard.

Over the long run it can wear them down and render them unable to do the job they want to do for the client or loved one.

To understand what happening here let's go all the way back in time to when we were first born. No baby is born with a language so to get what they need the baby uses emotions. They don't know how much volume to use so they use it all, 10 to the power of 10. So crying tells everyone “I need something!”. It could be food, clean diapers, a dummy to suck on or even entertainment as in “pay attention to me after all I'm the star of this show”. When they stop crying you know you gave them the right thing.

As time progresses crying with wild abandon becomes annoying, not all at once but it will slowly creep up on the caregiver.

If unattended it will grind down the caregiver/parent. The answer is to use language by teaching the baby or reeducation of the stroke/brain injury survivor.

When the baby can associate the word food with getting some food there's a whole lot less crying happening.

When a survivor cries a lot it's more complex. You have to ask yourself is the survivor fully aware of their situation? If they're not then a more professional approach “as in” standing back a little emotionally would to better. This would look after them and protect you from heavy emotional damage.

However if the survivor is fully aware of their situation a modified bringing-up-baby approach can be used. They have an advantage over baby by having the use of a language to one extent or another. This allows those looking after them to help modify behavior in a more adult way but with patience and understanding.

Laughter and happiness are easy to deal with. Just be careful not to spoil those emotions. If you're feeling too overworked to share a laugh or express joy as they are, it's not them, it's you. Lighten up.

The number one thing to know is that when the emotions are heighten it means the stroke/brain injury has removed the emotional controls and that's why they cry, laugh and express joy without holding back.

Control comes with time and education. Although I have much more control these days from time to time I will cry quietly at the end of a really good uplifting story.

Please pass the tissue.

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