How is humor used in psychotherapy? What is a psychotherapeutic treatment with humor aimed at? What about the influence of humor on emotion, cognition, communication and behavior change in mental health clients? Which humor is harmful and which humor is beneficial in a psychotherapeutic setting? What elements should a therapist pay attention to when using humor in treating a client?

Humor and health

Research in the field of health and psychology shows that humor plays an important role in human health, on a physical, mental and interpersonal level. It therefore seems obvious that humor is used in treatments aimed at improving physical, mental and interpersonal functioning.Yet this appears to be relatively rarely the case. This may be related to the fact that experts differ in opinion about the extent to which the use of humor in healthcare has a beneficial effect on the course of treatment. This is partly due to the fact that little scientific research has been conducted and that the available research has often focused on a specific small patient or client population.This is partly also due to the feeling that the use of humor may cause more damage than it is beneficial, for example because the therapist and client have a different sense of humor, because the timing of a humorous comment is poor, or because the humor is destructive . nature.Proponents of the use of humor in medical treatments believe, among other things, that humor helps to influence the patient’s perceptions, to achieve the desired behavioral change, to improve the relationship between practitioner and patient and to increase patient compliance, and also to reduce tension. and reduce stress.

What is psychotherapeutic humor?

Of the various forms of health care, psychotherapy is the form in which therapists make the most use of humor in treatment. Psychotherapeutic humor involves the targeted use of humor in the context of therapeutic treatment or counseling. The purpose of using humor is for the client to develop a greater sense of control over his situation. The psychotherapist makes humorous comments in the context of a certain treatment and teaches the client to come up with these kinds of funny reactions himself. The therapist aims to teach his client to develop a different view of what he experiences as difficult situations or events.

Psychotherapy and the influence of humor on emotion, cognition, communication and behavior change

• Humor and emotion
• Humor and cognition
• Humor and communication
• Humor and behavior change

Humor and emotion

In psychotherapy, humor can be used to loosen inhibitions and release repressed emotions. When the psychotherapist and his client laugh together, this leads to a direct and spontaneous contact moment based on equality. This makes the client more open to therapeutic interventions.

Humor and cognition

Therapeutic humor can stimulate the client’s creative ability and help increase their problem-solving skills. In this way, the client learns to distinguish new connections, to put his (pre)judgments into perspective and to initiate decision-making processes.Humor stimulates an exploratory attitude towards apparently fixed, ingrained behavioral patterns, which can then be replaced by more flexible behavior.

Humor and communication

If the therapist sees an opportunity to use humor appropriate to the situation and the client in his work, a friendly and constructive contact will spontaneously arise that contributes to the success of the psychotherapeutic treatment. Such an approach also prevents an impersonal or even tense atmosphere that often arises when the contact between two people is experienced as unequal.Laughing together as a result of the therapeutic use of humor stimulates a feeling of openness and equality, which allows for a more constructive interaction with the client.

Humor and behavior change

If the client responds with a laugh to a humorous comment from the psychotherapist, this is a clear signal that the path to the therapeutically desired change in approach and behavior has been cleared. If the client succeeds in demystifying the humorous message, this will give him a sense of self-affirmation. This feeling is usually accompanied by an aha reaction. The client then expresses that he has acquired a new insight.

Which humor is harmful in a psychotherapeutic contact?

Humor does not always have a positive effect. Condescending, ironic or sarcastic humor in particular can have destructive consequences. The client often responds to such essentially negative humor with hurt feelings or distrust. Sometimes the therapeutic atmosphere is permanently negatively influenced by a single misplaced joke.

Which humor is beneficial in a psychotherapeutic contact?

Some forms of humor are more beneficial than others in the contact between the psychotherapist and his client.Positive is the humor that helps the client to look at his problems from a less serious side.Humor has a somewhat positive effect, in which the therapist limits his funny comments to reactions to communications from his client, without humor being part of a targeted intervention.Therapeutic humor has a fairly positive effect that meets the client’s needs and helps them gain new insights and behavior. For example, if a compulsive client consistently rejects his therapist’s interpretive ideas with, “No, that would be a problem for me,” the therapist can respond humorously with, “liver sausage, frankfurter, or are you struggling with something else? ” and thus make his client think.The therapist’s decisive, spontaneous and well-timed humor has a very positive effect, with which he can gradually make the client come out of his shell in a playful manner and stimulate his self-knowledge. This is the case when the therapist describes problems humorously and defines them in an unusual, symbolic way. This creative therapeutic approach can lead to important existential insights for the client. They also get the opportunity to discover their own sense of humor and at the same time practice other changes in their thoughts and behavior.

Preliminary analysis of possible effects of humorous intervention

To prevent a negative effect of humor in mental health treatment and to confirm a positive effect, a prior, serious analysis of the possible effects of a particular humorous intervention is necessary.

read more

• Therapeutic laughter
• Relieving pain through laughter: Norman Cousins