Witzelsucht
2016081
208015326
2008-04-25T01:45:00Z
Saudade7
381770
'''Witzelsucht''', from the German ''witzel''(''ei'') meaning pun or joke, and ''sucht'' meaning addiction or yearning (''sucht'' derives from the same roots as ''sick''), is a set of rare [[neurological]] symptoms characterized by the patient's uncontrollable tendency to [[pun]], tell inappropriate jokes and pointless or irrelevant stories at inconvenient moments. The patient nevertheless finds these utterances intensely amusing. It is associated with small lesions of the [[orbitofrontal cortex]].<ref>{{cite web| url=http://neuro.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/17/3/429| title=Moria and Witzelsucht from Frontotemporal Dementia|publisher=The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and clinical neurosciences|year=2005|last=Mendez, M.D., Ph.D|first=Mario F}}</ref>
It is distinguished from [[labile affect|pathologic laughing]] by virtue of congruent affective experience and expression, and an admixture of irritability and mirth. It is most commonly seen in patients with [[frontal lobe]] disease or injury, particularly right frontal lobe tumors or trauma.
==See Also==
*[[Forster's Syndrome]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Neurology]]
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[[de:Witzelsucht]]