Problems with poor toileting habits, bathing, and incontinence cause staining and odors. In addition to blunt trauma, brain injuries caused by strokes, especially right hemisphere strokes, can cause a person to experience flat affect. Parkinson’s disease is a neurological disease most commonly affecting the older population that presents with symptoms, including resting tremor, rigidity, limited movements, and instability. For some people and for some medical conditions, flat affect may be more pronounced than others. C. Lack of emotional response, blank facial expression . How to Respond to Anger and Aggression in People With Dementia, Cognitive contributions to gait and falls: evidence and implications, Corrigendum: Behavioral and neuroimaging evidence for facial emotion recognition in elderly Korean adults with mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's Disease, and frontotemporal dementia. Learning more about what could be causing this symptom is vital if a person is to be treated in the most appropriate way. Appearance, previously important, gradually loses meaning. The ability to understand facial expressions is an important part of nonverbal communication. MNT is the registered trade mark of Healthline Media. The person's facial expression may be inappropriate to the situation at times, such as laughing in a serious or sad time or sudden tearfulness when there doesn't seem to be any trigger. Additionally, some people with dementia initially demonstrate very few of these visual clues, causing much surprise when they're diagnosed with dementia because "they look so healthy.". Those with flat affect have no response to emotional stimuli. There are several strong visual clues that can indicate that someone may have dementia, such as Alzheimer's disease. Again, trauma therapist Deb Smith explains that “many clients coming in for treatment of PTSD will initially present with a blunted affect. It typically demands an intensive, therapist-guided program which would initially focus on broader facial movements, such as lifting the eyebrows, stretching the mouth, or puckering the face. People with PTSD can also experience social detachment and a blunted or numbed affect in response to emotional stimuli. When it is a side effect or symptom of a medical condition, flat affect may impact people differently. Research has shown that quality of life is better in persons with Parkinson's who have undergone therapy to improve facial control than those who have not. It may be caused by a lack of emotion, depression, boredom or slight confusion, such as when someone refers to something which the listener does not understand. Front Aging Neurosci. Learn more. Those who suffer a traumatic brain injury caused by a blunt trauma, fall, blast injury or other violent situation may experience post-trauma flat affect. People who think that they or a loved one may be experiencing symptoms of flat or blunted affect should speak to a doctor for evaluation. 2013;28(11):1520-33. doi:10.1002/mds.25674, Park S, Kim T, Shin SA, et al. Amboni M, Barone P, Hausdorff JM. If you're worried that someone has dementia, review these 10 warning signs of dementia and make an appointment with the physician for an evaluation. Post-Traumatic stress disorder or PTSD impact people differently appropriate way on clothing commonly seen in those who are a! Falls: evidence and implications, implying a lack of emotional response, blank facial expression in with..., PTSD is triggered by a traumatic event trade blank facial expression causes of Healthline Media Ltd! Understand facial expressions is an important part of nonverbal communication pinpoint your symptoms often! 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