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From: Walt
Date: 10/16/03
Time: 4:47:17 PM
Remote Name: 141.225.97.53
Hi Tacy- Your question got me to thinking that several of the queries about this paper have focused on "using" humor in therapy and I've tried to respond to various questions related to that. But I'm reminded that the title was "Humor as a variable. . .". What I mean is rather than necessarily using humor which can sound artificial and non-spontanious (which doesn't usually isn't very humorous)I think that simply looking for the client to see things in a different way as a result of a paradigm shift, mastery, distance from the problem can reflect the beginning of cognitive change. I don't know if we need to do any more than that. Maybe suggest that the client look for something funny that happened as a result of their stuttering or imagine something that could happen. Maybe telling someting about ourselves that was once awful and is now regarded as humorous would open the possibilities for seeing the experience or event with the "third eye of humor". I completely agree with you that a lot of this has to do with your personality and respose to the person and the situation. Some people (I can name some clinicians if you'd like...) arn't funny and they arn't going to see any possibility of humor in the treatment process. It's just not the professional thing to do. And, of course, sometimes it's not. I'm not sure what you meant by your last sentence about generalizing positive emotions to their everyday lives. But I don't think what we do in therapy is different from everyday life...especially as we do therrapy outside of a therapy room. Depending on the age of the client it might be worthwhile to have them read some good books on humor.