Interest in humor has grown in recent years, especially in relation to its clinical applications. Humor helps relax, improve relationships with others, and reduce negative emotions such as anger. A person who suffers from psychological distress, can learn to open up to others through humor, to complain less, and to transform her mood in a positive way and find constructive solutions to her problems. Mix therapeutic action can help with humor change and improve the management of several diseases (both somatic and mental). Therefore, humor can play a vital role in promoting general and mental well-being. It may seem difficult to measure the health benefits of laughter, but a number of scientific studies done in a clinical setting support the benefits of humor therapy. The aim of this book is to show how humor can become a valuable tool for working in health professions.

We’ve all heard the phrase, “Laughter is the best medicine.” Readers Digest has been telling us this for years, but until recently there was no real evidence to back up the claim. This book discusses the exciting findings scientists have obtained over the past 25 years for how your sense of humor supports good physical and mental health. A separate chapter discusses humor and the brain. The first studies of humor and health demonstrated humor’s ability to strengthen the immune system, reduce pain and reduce levels of stress hormones circulating in the body. These general health-promoting benefits led researchers to study the impact of humor and laughter on specific diseases. This exciting new work has now shown health benefits of humor in connection with coronary heart disease, asthma, COPD, arthritis, certain allergies and diabetes. The two cerebral hemispheres of the brain are shown to play different roles in our understanding and enjoyment of humor. Also, specific dopamine-based pleasure centers in the brain have now been identified which account for the good feeling that results from humor and a good belly laugh. The key to understanding humor’s contribution to health and wellness is its ability to both build more positive emotion into your life and reduce feelings of anger, anxiety and depression. Humor helps provide the emotional resilience needed to meet the challenges presented by steadily increasing stress in our personal and work lives. It is a powerful tool for coping with any form of life stress, and a means of sustaining a positive, optimistic attitude toward life. And it’s never too late to improve your sense of humor. The companion to this book, Humor as Survival Training for a Stressed-Out World (also published by AuthorHouse), presents a hands-on program for learning to use humor to cope.

Interest in humor has grown in recent years, especially in relation to its clinical applications. Humor helps relax, improve relationships with others, and reduce negative emotions such as anger. A person who suffers from psychological distress, can learn to open up to others through humor, to complain less, and to transform her mood in a positive way and find constructive solutions to her problems. Mix therapeutic action can help with humor change and improve the management of several diseases (both somatic and mental). Therefore, humor can play a vital role in promoting general and mental well-being. It may seem difficult to measure the health benefits of laughter, but a number of scientific studies done in a clinical setting support the benefits of humor therapy. The aim of this book is to show how humor can become a valuable tool for working in health professions.

Recent evidence indicates that humor is an important aspect of a person's health, and studies have shown that increased levels of humor help with stress, pain tolerance, and overall patient health outcomes. Still, many healthcare providers are hesitant to use humor in their practice for fear of offense or failure. Understanding more of how and why humor works as well as some of the issues related to real-world examples is essential to help practitioners be more successful in their use and understanding of humor in medical care. Through case studies and real-world applications of therapeutic humor, the field can be better understood and advanced for best practices and uses of this type of therapy. With this growing area of interest, research on humor in a patient care setting must be discussed. Cases on Applied and Therapeutic Humor focuses on humor in medical care and will discuss issues in humor research, assessment of the effectiveness of humor in medical settings, and examples of medical care in specific health settings. The chapters will explore how propriety, effectiveness, perception, and cultural variables play a role in using humor as therapy and will also provide practical case studies from medical/healthcare professionals in which they personally employed humor in medical practice. This book is ideal for medical students, therapists, researchers interested in health, humor, and medical care; healthcare professionals; humor researchers; along with practitioners, academicians, and students looking for a deeper understanding of the role humor can play as well as guidance as to the effective and meaningful use of humor in medical/healthcare settings.

"Humor is complex, and the author, Mitch Earleywine, does an exceptional job of covering the big bases of humor from a research perspective in a small space with a readable content. When I first picked up this book and began reading it, I was looking for depth. What I found was an overview and at the same time a very exciting way to provide an entrÈe into psychology-a vehicle for students to grab hold of topics central to psychology but studiedand researched in terms of modern themes, and particularly humor." --PsycCRITIQUES "I've just finished reading Humor 101 with great interest and admiration. The book combines psychological research and practicality beautifully and humorously." -- Bob Mankoff Cartoon Editor, The New Yorker Magazine "In lucid, cheerful prose, Earleywine offers up the impossible: an explanation of humor that is as thoughtful, fascinating, and entertaining as humor itself." Elisa Albert Author of ,The Book of Dahliaand How This Night is Different "Dr. Earleywine's witty insight on this topic will make you funny, happy, and wise. Mitch has that rare ability to clearly explain something that is mysterious as it is magical: the power of laughter. Read this book and laugh while you learn." Brett Siddell Sirius/XM Satellite Radio Personality "Dr. Earleywine has written the perfect guide to understanding humor. No one else has the unique combination of witty stage time, outstanding teaching expertise, and impressive scientific background. You'll love this book." Derrick Jackson Winner, Ultimate Laff-Down What makes something funny? How does humor impact health and psychological well-being? How can you incorporate humor into everyday life? A concise, reader-friendly introduction to an important but often underappreciated topic in modern psychology, Humor 101 explains the role of comedy, jokes, and wit in the sciences and discusses why they are so important to understand. Psychology professor Dr. Mitch Earleywine draws from his personal experiences in stand-up comedy to focus on how humor can regulate emotion, reduce anxiety and defuse tense situations, expose pretensions, build personal relationships, and much more. He irreverently debunks the pseudoscience on the topic of humor and leaves readers not only funnier, but better informed. The Psych 101 Series Short, reader-friendly introductions to cutting-edge topics in psychology. With key concepts, controversial topics, and fascinating accounts of up-to-the-minute research, The Psych 101 Series is a valuable resource for all students of psychology and anyone interested in the field.

Offering a social scientific look at humor's role in medical transactions, this volume is based on extensive field study in seven medical settings. It includes excerpts from dozens of actual conversations between patients and caregivers. Analysis of these episodes reveals that humor is a practical tool used to meet many medical objectives. It is used by patients to good-naturedly complain and to campaign for more personal attention, and by caregivers to get attention, make amends, insist on unpleasant routines, and establish rapport. Examining humor from many angles, the book begins with a phenomenological analysis of the essence of funny. This section describes what makes some things funny but not others, and how to distinguish between potentially funny and unfunny episodes in medical situations. From an ethnographic perspective, joking around is shown to be a persuasive element of medical culture. Examples illustrate how patients and caregivers use humor to negotiate the dialectics between helping and hurting, and individuality and compliance. Additionally, a close-up look at three medical transactions shows how humor is used to help a physical therapy patient overcome fear and queasiness, reduce the embarrassment of a mammography, and defuse a potential conflict between a student aide and a young patient. A final section examines techniques for initiating conversational humor. In sum, this volume provides an intimate and realistic look at medical conversations as they are conducted every day. It serves as a valuable complement to health communication texts and offers information of interest to health communication scholars, healthcare practitioners, and anyone interested in the effects and techniques of conversational humor. Richly grounded in naturally occurring data, the book can be understood and used effectively by both scholars and practitioners.

The story of a recovery from a crippling disease and the physician patient partnership that beat the odds by using the patient's own capabilities.

Extensive coverage of humor in interpersonal relationships, patient education and the work environment greatly enhance the value of this book to all health care professionals. Humor and the Health Professions introduces the benefits of humor not only as a healing tool for the patient, but as a stress management tool for the health professional as well.

Here is the first book that is geared toward practical applications of humor with children. Health care professionals, counselors, social workers, students, and parents will find this to be a fascinating, instructive volume that illustrates how to effectively incorporate humor into children’s lives to produce enormously positive results. With a strong “how to” focus, this enlightening volume addresses the use of humor in the classroom--to promote learning and to foster higher levels of creative thinking. Experts who are on the cutting edge of humor and its benefits for children examine the importance of humor in fostering social and emotional development and in adapting to stressful situations. And for the scholarly reader, Humor and Children’s Development documents the major research trends focusing on humor and its development. This excellent resource--certain to spark further debate and research--offers an unrivaled opportunity to further understand children’s behavior and development. Humor and Children’s Development was featured in the February 1990 issue of Working Mother magazine in article titled “Let Laughter Ring!” by Eva Conrad. The chapter entitled “Humor in Children’s Literature” by Janice Alberghene was one of the finalists for the Children’s Literature Association’s Literary Criticism Award for the best critical article of 1988 on the subject of children’s literature.