did you ever end up laughing when you actually wanted to cry?

the reverse has happened

 

Not as much, but yeah. I get it. It's like you've reached the point where crying just seems hopeless - you know you have no control over the situation, so laughing becomes the next best thing to crying, and it can be quite cathartic. You can release your emotions and not feel as uneasy or overwhelmed.

Actually, in terms of art/literary history, tragedy and comedy are intimately linked. We laugh when we want to cry, and sometimes we laugh so hard that we cry. They're not far off.

 

Yes...

whenever I get a series of bad news....

I just guffaw to keep from crying or going ballistic.

It curbs my initial emotional reaction.

 

Yes. Sometimes I wonder if it isn't the the all knowing inner child, laughing with mirth at the prospect of freedom from 'created' pain: the freedom that hides just behind the object of attachment that caused us to be hurt to the point of tears. Lose the attachment, it seems to say, and lose the pain, but mostly I just burst with laughter,and then feel horribly awkward about it.

 

In public I laugh it off, remain completely stoic, or get angry. When it finally all builds up and I'm in private I'll have a good cry over it, but I can't stand to show that side to other people.

 

Yes. And the reverse has also happened. In fact, the reverse happened at some point yesterday.

 

I do this at the most inappropriate times, but I have to be so severely overloaded emotionally that I don't have the capacity to respond correctly.

I remember one day...I'd just had a fight with my boyfriend, I'd been yelled at at work, I received a bad grade on a test and was in danger of flunking the course, and when I came home my mother told me my father was in the hospital.

I started laughing.

She was flabbergasted. "You think this is FUNNY?" (ESTP Mom). I told her of course it wasn't. But this was just the topping on the stressful cake. I literally did not have the capacity to do anything else *but* laugh.

 

I can relate to this.. I laugh when I argue with people. They usually think I'm an arrogant sociopath because I'm cracking up while they're yelling at me.. but really my nerves are unsettled. I laugh when I'm scared. Almost got hit by a truck in my friend's car and I was laughing hysterically afterwards while she was shaking and speechless.

The worst, was when I worked as a kitchen aide in a nursing home.. We were all out back on break sitting at the picnic table when the mortician or whoever came out the door with someone dead on a stretcher. My co-workers were very grave and respectful-silent.
I laughed.

 

Oh yeah. I've been there, done that. Like Arby mentioned, this usually happens after I've hit a pain threshold and I can't express myself in any other way.

The twisted thing is, it actually makes me feel a lot better. Psychological defense mechanism much?

 

Yes, I have this reaction to emotional overload sometimes.

One time I remember distinctly was when my oldest son, who is very quiet and agreeable, spoke up to us (his dad and I) about not liking the way we had treated him over some incident. He was so serious and so obviously deeply hurt, yet brave to speak up about it. I felt it all and then succumbed to an uncontrollable giggle fit. I think I really wanted to cry, but all my emotional circuits fried with empathy overload. Needless to say, he was not pleased by my reaction.

I recently recalled that incident to him in a discussion we were having about my weird stress reactions. He said he has no memory of it and in hearing the story of my inner reaction and outer response, he laughed and thought it was funny--and that I was a nut.

 

Once or twice.

I almost never cry - I wish I could.

 

I know what you mean.. I usually force myself not to cry and so now, when I really feel like I need to.. it's very difficult. To the point where I'm rejoicing over being able to shed one tear because I know it's good to cry.

 

If its funny, or if there is no time to cry, laughter works.

 

not exactly laughing, and not very intense to the extent of crying....

....but I smiled whenever I felt somewhat stressed. Is it related? :|