The Place of Humor in Psychotherapy

The Use of Humor in Serious Mental Illness: A Review

“…Indeed, many therapists are conscious of the dangers that may accompany the inappropriate use of humor with SMI patients [36, 37], as humor (like all therapy) must be used with skill and sensitivity. For example, in the Stand-Up for Mental Health intervention, it is important to ensure that patients' comedy routines do not become a form of “self-defeating” humor, and this requires implementation by a skilled clinician (and not just a comedian).…”

The Janusian Process in Psychoanalytic Treatment

“…Al though, as stated earlier, irony is not necessarily humorous in in tent many ironical comments do evoke laughter. As a topic in it self, evoking laughter and using any type of humor in treatment has been a matter of some controversy (Kubie, 1971;Poland, 1971;Schimel, 1978). A therapist's display of wit or humor is con sidered by some to be, at a minimum, either seductive or competi tive or self-aggrandizing and, at a maximum, a way of shortcutting and suppressing the exploration of a patient's dynamic concerns.…”

Civil War Humor, by Cameron C. Nickels

“…Freud (1938) recognized the importance of humor in everyday life as well as its implications for psychoanalysis. Freud advised therapists to be cautious when using humor in interpretations; others have continued to explore this dimension of the therapeutic relationship (Poland, 1971). The emerging field of positive psychology has also described how it can be helpful within that framework (Gordon, 2007;Johnson, 2009).…”