Why am I crying or laughing uncontrollably?

If you have emotional outbursts for no apparent reason, it could be pseudobulbar affect (PBA). During a pseudobulbar affect (PBA) outburst, what a person is expressing on the outside may not match what he or she is feeling on the inside. The emotional display may be much more intense than your inner emotional state. Or it may be the opposite of how you actually feel—like crying when you are happy, or laughing when you are sad. Pseudobulbar affect (PBA) is often mistaken for depression, but it is different. It is a neurologic condition, not a psychiatric one. It can occur when certain diseases or injuries damage the area of the brain that controls normal expression of emotion. This damage can disrupt brain signaling, causing a “short circuit” and triggering episodes of involuntary emotional expression.