Humor in Recovery & Health in General: Part II

In the first part of this series, the benefits of humor and laughter were cited from the research I conducted several years ago while working on my master’s thesis.
In this second part, I will present the results from research I conducted with therapists in the field on if and when they use humor in their private practices, and what types.

When asked if they employ humor when working with their clients: 48% stated they frequently use humor; 48% stated they sometimes use humor; 4% stated they rarely use humor; 0% stated they never use humor.

On ‘when’ they utilize humor: 80% use humor for stress relief; 68% to ‘reframe’ an issue; 64% when encountering issues of denial; 48% to break an ‘impasse’; 48% issues of self-esteem; 48% for educational issues; 40% for reality testing.

Another 32% stated they also utilize humor for the following:
1. Negative outlooks
2. To point out irony
3. Relational connections
4. Anytime I can
5. Encourage the therapeutic alliance
6. Ice-breaking
7. To strengthen the alliance
8. Get back on course
9. Re-direction
As far as the types of humor they employ: 80% situational; 60% witticisms; 48% anecdotes; 36% stories; 28% puns; 20% jokes; 16% parodies.

Definitions for the above:

Situational: Humorous situations from your own experience. Situational humor does not require that you memorize a punch line because it is based on a situation that
itself is humorous. It is a situation you personally have experienced.

Witticism: A remark that is amusingly clever in perception and expression.

Anecdote: A short account of a particular incident or event of an interesting or amusing nature, often biographical.

Stories: Self-explanatory

Pun: The humorous use of a word or phrase so as to emphasize or suggest its different meanings or applications, or the use of words that are alike or nearly alike in sound but different in meaning; a play on words.

Joke: Something said or done to provoke laughter or cause amusement, as a witticism, a short and amusing anecdote, or a prankish act.

Parody: Any humorous, satirical, or burlesque imitation, as of a person, event, etc.

So as we can see from the information above, it appears (at least in this research) that all therapists employ humor in their practice to some extent; the amount, when employed, and the type utilized differs often from therapist to therapist.

Humor can be beneficial in other ways to people in recovery. More than once I been speaking with a person in early recovery and they tell me the tale of being at a recovery meeting and being absolutely mortified by hearing members joke and laugh about a situation they found themselves in when actively ‘using.’ They failed to see any humor in what was being ‘joked’ about!

Well, I can understand and be empathetic towards their initial shock. However, (as I explain to them) this is quite common. Why? Humor can allow an otherwise extremely painful issue that no one wants to talk about; be talked about. Think of humor in this instance as a positive coping mechanism. By giving the issue a voice (even if initially they utilize 'Dark' humor to do so), they reinforce why would not want to return to the previous behavior and subsequent consequences that would entail.

When can humor be seen as a negative? I have had instances when working with a patient or client on a one-to-one basis when they will use humor as a ‘mask.’ I will ask them a question and if they feel uncomfortable, they will deflect the question by telling me a joke, making fun of the question itself, or tell me something amusing that either they or a friend did.

Another form of humor that needs to be handled with kid-gloves is that of sarcasm.

The definition of sarcasm is: Harsh or bitter derision or irony; A sharply ironical taunt; sneering or cutting remark; mocking, contemptuous, or ironic language intended to convey scorn or insult. Furthermore, it is from the Latin sarcasmus, which means ‘to rend (tear into strips) the flesh.

I am sure that many of us have heard the ‘colloquial’ phrase when a person yells at another in a derisive way, “Boy he ripped him a new…” That is sarcasm at its best (err, worst actually).

When leading groups and the issue of trauma comes up, almost to a person, they will state that the verbal abuse they underwent was significantly greater in damage that the physical abuse.

Can sarcasm then ever be beneficial? Often times I have found from a clinical perspective that men will employ sarcasm as a “safe” way to bond with other men. In our culture, most men have a difficult time telling another man that they ‘love’ them without feeling ‘weirded out’ (word used by patient). So long as the sarcasm is a two-way street, I have found it can be a plus.