LAUGHING FOR HELP

In a sunlit school classroom, a child bursts into laughter, sudden, eerie, and entirely unprovoked. There's no joke, no punchline, no mischief. What seems like quirky behavior draws giggles from classmates and confusion from teachers. But behind that smile lies something far more serious: a seizure.

- ANNAPURNA DAYAMA

As World Brain Day (July 22) draws attention to neurological health, lesser-known conditions like gelastic seizures, a rare form of epilepsy marked by uncontrollable laughter, remain under-discussed and often misunderstood. These seizures can look like joyful moments but are, in fact, symptoms of deeper neurological dysfunction.

"It's not real laughter. It's a seizure," explains Dr. K Sai Apoorva, MBBS (Neurology), consultant neurologist at SVS Medical College and Hospital, Mahbubnagar, adding, "The laughter is abrupt, forced, and emotionally out of place. It's caused by abnormal firing in the brain's emotional circuits."

What are gelastic seizures?