Shoutout question to my Psychiatry bloggers Shrinkette and Maria (okay, my dad too):

Is there a name for the laugh that one makes when talking about a patient who it just totally psychotic or manic or out there ? Because if there’s isn’t, there should be. I propose the “slaugh” (that’s sad because the patient is so sick + laugh) or the “DeMlaugh” (short for Defense Mechanism + laugh). I’ll use it in a sentence:

My resident showed me a picture a patient drew of her, labeled “Space Devil.” The Space Devil’s body was a playing card, featuring a heart, diamond, clover, and lightning bolt, featured the words “smoke” and “sex” around the waste, and had a long, blue-highlighter-colored tube (a colon?) pooping out Zodiac signs. It was so bizarre, my only possible reaction was to slaugh .

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