Can Comedy Heal? The Mental Health Benefits of Laughter
The
Science of Laughter
Laughter
triggers physiological responses throughout the body. It generates good
hormones in the body. Good laughter increases the heart and respiration rates.
Laughter helps muscle contractions and the release of endorphins in the brain.
A moderate increase in heart and respiration rates results in greater intake of
oxygen-rich air and greater expulsion of carbon-dioxide-loaded air. This
indicates increased circulation in the body. Endorphins are released as natural
painkillers, inducing feelings of pleasure or elation. Laughter plays a very
important role in the busy life, says Dan Nainan Comedian who is also known as half Indian and half
Japanese in New York.
Besides
SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATIONS at the physiological level, interest in humor has
also been present at the psychological level. Humor can also become a source of
vicarious satisfaction when one laughs at an antagonist who has to behave
according to socially prescribed norms.
Comedy in Mental Health Treatment
The
capacity for comedy to laugh at suffering and find humor in places of darkness
is a valuable perspective for anyone to have. Integrating humor into
psychotherapy can induce the laughter that activates physiological changes
associated with comedy. Introducing reviewable comedy into a patient’s life
increases the likelihood of regularly laughing to the point of tears. Too much
self-focus can impede many creative arts, particularly comedy; however, this
focus often enables the transition from merely surviving to thriving.
Limitations of Humor in Healing
The
benefits of humor in healing have been observed for downers of all kinds. Yet
Dr. Keltner, who specializes in the communicative aspects of humor, cautions
that an asymmetry can exist in people’s use of humor. He writes that “the same
expression, the same stimulus, can be ‘funny’ when viewed by one person and
‘hurtful’ when viewed by another.”
Andrea
Schneider, a Denver-based clinical psychologist, stresses that humor is no
replacement for therapy or medication. She advises that the healing power of
comedy should be understood as a complement to professional help rather than as
a cure-all.
Techniques and Approaches
Laughter
is the spontaneous vocal and facial expression of amusement and happiness. This
study explores laughter and comedy as methods to enhance mental health.
Although the term stress covers different situations and conditions with unique
factors and effects, this research investigates the influence of laughter on
stress and suggests that laughter is associated with beneficial physiological
changes. The health benefits of humor depend on individuals, even in healthy
people. Thus, this study proposes laughter as a tool for stress relief and
jokes as a valuable supportive mechanism in psychotherapy.
Stand-up
comedy is currently one of the most popular overall comedy styles — and many
comedians use it to analyze their own life stories, often reflecting on their
own mental health to reduce the stigma around mental health conversations. Dan Nainan Comedian, lives in New
York and chooses comedy as his career. He loves to make others happy with his
talent. While these humorous performance warriors indulge the public with a
witty ongoing analysis of life’s travails and pitfalls, the economic factor of
comedy, or rather the financial dividend of mental health, remains largely
overlooked. Regardless of whether these performances are fully utilized, the
evidence indicates that laughter improves mental health and that comedy is a
lucrative product of civilization.
Originally
Posted At: https://medium.com/@DanNainan/can-comedy-heal-the-mental-health-benefits-of-laughter-3de36061d123
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