When nervous, I crack a joke - why?
 

Most of my adult life, when I am nervous/anxious, I tend to crack a joke. I was told there is actually a name for this type of behavior, anyone know what the name is?

The reason I am asking is this: Around Aug 1, 2008 I started detoxing off of years of using pain meds. Morphine/Oxycodone/Demerol/Fentanyl, etc. In early Sept I went to a VA clinic to have my hearing checked. I told the doctor I had just started the detox and wasn't feeling too good, but VA appt are hard to get, so we pressed on.

In the write up from my hearing test, this Dr. said she thought I was malingering because I took so long to answer some of the test questions. I was actually having trouble processing the questions. My Cognitive Abilities were poor. I wrote her up for slanderous comments towards a Veteran and pointed out she was apparently not qualified to examine someone just starting detox, as I was. She could not understand how the detox would effect my hearing.
I told her boss it was probably not effecting my hearing so much as my ability to process information and give back a response.

The Audiologist also said I did not take the exam seriously since I was joking a lot. I would be happy to mention her name, but don't want to break any forum rules.

Long story short, her boss gave me the test but understood my problems. I got the disability award, but still want to put a letter in my file as to why I think the term "malingering" should be deleted. Anyone know if there is a name for this joking around?

I don't know the name of it either, but I know what you mean. It happens to me too, but I'm a recovering alcoholic and I damaged the part of my brain that deals with short-term memory. I have trouble rememberiing words, things that have happened recently, things that people have told me, etc. It's extremely frustrating!!! But I did it to myself, so I can't whine. lol. I was hoping it would resolve itself, but I quit drinking in 1993, and so far it hasn't improved. Once you kill those brain cells, they're gone forever.

I've kind of "covered up" for my problem by joking at times too, especially at first. But now I just tell the truth, cause what the heck ~ my life is an open book. :D Everyone I know knows I drank, so I don't care if they know I pickled my brain. LOL. But it WOULD make me madder than a wet hen if some idiot doctor or nurse said I was MALINGERING because I couldn't remember words/etc. on forms or couldn't complete some stupid test! I'd want to throttle them and I would report them too! I think I'd report them to the Medical Board!

There's no reason for that kind of treatment. The Veterans get HORRIBLE treatment from VA Hospitals as it is, and this is just another example of abuse! It makes me so darned mad!!!! Our Veterans should be getting A-1 treatment for keeping our country safe! I could go on forever about this!

Anyway, I don't know of a name for that but I'm sorry you were treated so badly.

And may I THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE TO OUR COUNTRY??? Without men and women like you, we would be in deep trouble. Our country would be lost to communism, or worse. God bless you for your unselfishness. Thank you. Peace, Lee

That type of thing is "comedy relief". What they don't understand is comedy is a way to get through the day if you are disabled. I've been using a sence of humor around people for about 20 years now. Laughter does us good. "Comedy relief" BF:)

Leesa, thank you for the kind words. I was in the group that went to sunny south east asia in the early days (American Expeditionary Forces Ribbon) and was called "baby killer" by some of the people when I returned to the USA. As late as the 1970s we were quietly told we might want to go straight home and put on our "civvies" before we went to the mall. Avoid confrontation and all. I am glad to see the American people treating the current group in the military a lot better. I did not think about it back then, but it really is true when they say without Veterans we would be speaking German or Russian or Chinese. I had 4 enlisted and 16 as an officer, so I saw both sides of the road. I am pretty lucky overall.

Brokenfriend, that is a good name for it. Comedy relief.

I was at a major, national hospital and they sent me to see their resident shrink. I had about an hour with her. Around the third or fourth question she asked me was if I had ever killed anyone. THAT was none of her business (so I felt) and I told her something like "Not today" or "Not in this state". A flip answer, but what kind of shrink asks you that right off the bat? I also thought things like, "Wanna get on the list?" "Got a bounty on shrinks in this state?" and so on. I kept my mouth shut. I felt like I had been ambushed. But she listed me as OCD. Maybe I am.

There are some shrinks out there who need to go back to school,or get another profession. They shouldn't be so blunt. I had one fall asleep on me in a session. I've had about 8,or 9 shrinks. One of them was really not good,and I sort of fired him. By the way,I have OCD.

My Dad is a WWII vet. So was one of his brothers. His brother got shot in Italy. He survived. I have alot of respect for our vets. I was in school during the Vietnam war. Brokenfriend

Dear Dllfo ~ Ya know, I was a teenager when some of the guys came home from Viet Nam, and I remember hearing that they were being called "those names" when they got here, and I was APPALLED!!! I just could NOT understand those people!!! Didn't they read the papers of what the Vietnamese were doing to their own people????

Anyway, I'd like to apologize to you for your treatment when you came home! This country owes you a HUGE DEBT of gratitude. I don't know how we'll ever pay you back for the horror you went thru over there, but I AM sorry for your treatment. And the question that the idiot shrink asked you was TOTALLY out of line. I wish you HAD put a shiv in her. ;) What a dope. She probably wasn't even alive during that war, was she?

Take care of yourself, my friend. And God bless you. Peace, Lee

Do you know why cows wear bells around their necks ?
Because their horns dont work.
Thought this was fitting