HUMOUR THERAPY
“It is my belief, you cannot understand the most serious things in the world unless you understand the most amusing." -Winston Churchill
For centuries, humour and laughter have been used in some form for medical purposes. In the thirteenth century, humour was used to distract patients during surgery. More recently, Norman Cousins popularized laughter therapy. In 1964, Cousins, who was editor of the Saturday Review, became ill with an unusual condition characterized by pain, fever, lethargy, and generalized weakness. Since he did not improve during his hospitalization, he left the hospital. To develop his own therapy, he reasoned that if negative emotions have negative effects on health, then positive emotions must positively impact health. As a result, he treated himself with laughter by reading humourous books and watching amusing movies and TV shows. He also treated himself with high doses of vitamin C. He slowly recovered and wrote of his experiences in an article in the New England Journal of Medicine and in a book, Anatomy of an Illness. In the last few years, humour therapy was brought to public attention by the movie Patch Adams. In this movie, Robin Williams portrays a real-life physician, Dr. Patch Adams, who believes humour and laughter have healing properties.
Humour therapy involves the use of humour to treat medical conditions. In hospitals, formal humour therapy may occur in specially designed rooms that have supplies such as humourous books and videos. “Laugh Mobiles” and “Comedy Carts,” which also contain amusing books and videos, have been used in some hospitals, and, in some settings, especially children’s hospitals, clowns are “prescribed” to amuse patients. Of course, informal variations of humour therapy may be part of daily life and may easily be done on one’s own.
In addition to its possible therapeutic effects, humour may also facilitate communication in health situations. Health professionals, friends, and family may use humour to aid in communicating to people with a disease, especially during stressful situations. Victor Borge once said, “Humour is the shortest distance between two people.”
Laughter and humour therapy have undergone limited formal scientific investigation. Nevertheless, there is a national organization known as the American Association for Therapeutic Humour, and one nursing journal, the Journal of Nursing Jocularity, is devoted to humour and health. There is actually a term for the study of humour physiology: “gelotology.” Some of the technical descriptions of laughter and smiling written by “gelotologists” are amusing in themselves:
· “Spontaneous laughter is produced by the coordinated contraction of 15 facial muscles in a stereotyped pattern and accompanied by altered breathing.”
· “Smiling involves a complex group of facial movements…the drawing back and slight lifting of the corners of the mouth, the raising of the upper lip, which partially uncovers the teeth, and the curving of the furrows betwixt the corners of the mouth and the nostrils.”
Generally, it is not claimed that humour or laughter cures disease. Rather, it is believed that this form of therapy may relieve various symptoms or help people cope with the effects of a disease. There are limited formal studies of humour in MS. One study of 20 people with MS found that maintaining a sense of humour was one of the most common strategies used to cope with the disease. There are no large published studies of humour therapy for treating MS or its symptoms.
An unusual form of laughter, “pathological laughter,” may occur in some people with MS and other neurologic diseases. With pathological laughter, people laugh especially easily or for no apparent reason. Pathological laughter occurs in a small subgroup of people with MS and generally in those with more severe and long-standing disease. Medications may be helpful in controlling this type of laughter.
Limited studies in other conditions suggest that humour therapy may have therapeutic value for MS-related symptoms. In the case of stress, which may occur in people with MS, humour may provide relief. Several studies indicate that stress-related compounds in the body decrease during times of laughter.
Humour may also alleviate pain, another MS symptom. Laughing is associated with the release of “endorphins,” chemicals that decrease pain.In a study of people with pain due to rheumatoid arthritis, humour was more common in people with higher levels of pain; the researchers concluded that more humour may be needed by those who experience more pain. Another study of pain in rheumatoid arthritis found that humour therapy decreased pain.
One study evaluated the effects of humour therapy in people with spinal cord injuries. This small study did not find any statistically significant benefit with this type of therapy.
Preliminary research indicates that laughter may alter immune system activity. Some of these effects may involve specific immune cells as well as chemicals that act on the immune system, some of which are known as cortisol, interleukin-6, and interferon-gamma. Further research is needed in this area to determine if these immune system effects have any impact on the clinical course of immune diseases such as MS.
The exact mechanism by which humour may have health benefits is unclear but may involve some aspect of the mind-body connection. Many studies suggest that one’s mental state has an important influence on one’s health. For example, a recent long-term study at the Mayo Clinic evaluated the effects of optimism and pessimism on health in 839 patients. It was found that those who were pessimistic had a 19% increased risk of mortality. Humour may cultivate optimism and other positive emotions by allowing one to step back from serious or stressful situations and to view them with detachment and objectivity. In this way, humour may, sometimes in a moment, replace feelings of stress, fear, or anger with feelings of relaxation, light heartedness, or hope.
Laughter and humour therapy carry little risk. One report noted isolated, anecdotal accounts of strokes or heart attacks occurring with laughter. In addition, excessive laughter may be harmful with recent abdominal or pelvic surgery, after rib or shoulder fractures, or with significant breathing conditions such as asthmatic attacks. Emotionally, humour may sometimes be used to hide true feelings. Humour therapy should not be used in lieu of conventional medicine.
In summary, humour and laughter are enjoyable and entertaining approaches to life that may also provide health benefits. Humour may decrease stress, relieve pain, and instil positive and hopeful feelings. All of these effects are of potential benefit to people with MS.
By: Rocky Mountain MS Center -