Humor Therapy
- Nov 13, 2020
- 2 min read
Updated: Nov 24, 2020
Posted by: Ammarah Khan
Do you recall the common phrase "laughter is the best medicine" from Henri de Mondeville? This blog post is designed to educate the aspects of humor therapy.
"Laughter is a gift we can give ourselves and others." -Maya Angelou (Sarkis, 2020).
Humor Therapy is the use of humor to promote well-being through positive thoughts, attitudes, and emotions by counterbalancing the deleterious effects of negative thoughts, perceptions, and emotions on one’s health. Humor is a human magnet: it attracts all ears and minds.
Humor is a coping technique. Plato believed humor nurtured the soul, and he advocated its use as a healing practice. With the help of the American and European entertainment industries, humor is a viable technique for health promotion and wellness.
Background
Norman Cousins used humor to help heal himself from a serious disease and brought the importance of humor to the national consciousness in terms of mind-body-spirit healing. Humor has been around since the late 1970s, early 1980s. Laughter was a sin in many Christian denominations, in fact in portraits of European nobility you are hard-pressed to find anyone smiling. Humor is used to relieve pain or stress and improve overall well-being.
Proper Use of Coping Technique
For the best form of humor therapy, engage in something that makes you laugh, something that can trigger a feeling or mood of joy and happiness. For many, TV shows, movies, films, puzzles, games, reading books, or laughing exercises are options.
Check these out!
Here's a link to the best comedic movies and TV shows that are rated by the general public as well as arranged in many different ways such as popularity, number of votes, user rating, etc. Enjoy!
References
Ph.D. (2011). Quotes of Humor. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/
Seaward, B. L. (2018). Managing stress: Principles and strategies for health and welt-being. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
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