PATHOLOGICAL CRYING AND LAUGHING - TREATMENT WITH SERTRALINE

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of sertraline for treating patholo gical laughing and crying after stroke. Design: Case series. Setting: Inpatient rehabilitation units of a community and a tertiary-care hosp ital. Patients: One patient was a 62-year-old right-handed man who had two strokes approximately 2 years apart and had computed tomography c onsistent with a cerebral infarct involving the left middle cerebral a rtery branches in the left parietal lobe. A second patient was a 72-ye ar-old right-handed man who had a right middle cerebral artery infarct . He had a questionable history of depression prior to the stroke. Int ervention: Both patients had poststroke labile affect that was interfe ring with their rehabilitation. Sertraline was prescribed. Main Outcom e Measures: Pretreatment and posttreatment scores on the Pathological Crying and Laughing Scale and Functional Independent Measure. Results: Both patients showed significant improvement after taking sertraline- improvement that was reflected in their pretreatment and posttreatment scores on the Pathological Crying and Laughing Scale and Functional I ndependent Measure. The staff noted improvements in sleeping, eating, social interaction, and therapy participation. Both patients tolerated the sertraline well and had no significant side effects. (C) 1996 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the American Acad emy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.