For some time now, as a 70-year-old, it is harder for me to hold back my tears. Sometimes that is annoying in the presence of third parties. Are there options to limit or prevent this?
Joris Bartstra, journalist with a medical degree.
You are not alone: many elderly people are more easily in tears than before in their lives. Whether you should interpret this positively (enriching your emotional life) or negatively (having less control of your emotions), I don’t know. I think I would also interpret it as reduced control. It can occur to an extreme extent in serious brain and nervous disorders – such as a stroke, dementia or brain damage – because areas of the brain that control emotions are damaged. If you also have other ‘things’ such as forgetting more easily, becoming clumsy or sleeping less well, I would consult your doctor. Several antidepressants are effective against what you’re describing, but maybe that’s a little too much. You may have been helped with a very low dose. Otherwise, you have to do it on your own. For example, if something threatens to make you emotional, think very hard about something else.
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