laughter therapy (noun) : the use of humour to cope with trauma or major life stresses, e.g. 'If I don't laugh, I'll cry.'
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Not to discredit Dr Steve but Dr Madan Kataria believes that the simple act of laughing is enough to change your mood. See:
http://www.raffikatchadourian.com/guru.html
This basically means that no comics or jokes are needed - you just need to laugh and that will improve your mood and your life. Even a fake laugh will do it. Funny enough (and irony is a form of humour, folks, so feel free to chuckle or even giggle here), the theory has merit.
In "The Talking Cure", author Susan Vaughan believes that talk therapy works because the act of talking, especially talking about traumas, over and over, changes patterns in your brain. (That's why talk therapists always say to keep talking and keep telling those stories - the retelling allows you to fully have the feelings that you repressed or explained away.) Those changed brain patterns subsequently change the way you feel and react to the trauma in the future. And this means you get past the trauma and get better.
So Dr Kataria's theory that even forced laughter done regularly makes sense. Maybe all those folks doing Laughter Yoga and Laughter Therapy are onto something. Maybe one day, mental health insurance will cover the cost of cover and two drinks at a comedy club each week. (Now THAT'S funny since mental health insurance in the US rarely covers anything! But that's another post.)
So seriously now (there's irony again for anyone who missed it), whoopie cushion anyone?
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