Humour therapy

Domain VIII · Creative & expressive arts therapies · Paul McGhee, Falkenberg, Wild · Germany

What it is

"Humour therapy" is not a single school. It is an umbrella for (a) structured training of humour as a skill and resource, delivered as a group programme or self-help exercises, and (b) the deliberate, attuned use of humour by a therapist inside any psychotherapy. The core idea of change: sense of…

Format

• Phase 0: Screening and orientation (1 individual contact)
• The Salzburg pilot excluded current mental disorders (except recurrent depression in remission), poor language skills and cognitive deficits such as dementia, assessed by structured diagnostic interview. The follow-up clinical trial, which used the Falkenberg, McGhee and Wild manual, included…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Version followed: the structured humour-skills group training based on Paul McGhee's 7 Humor Habits Program (7HHP), in the German clinical adaptation by Falkenberg, McGhee and Wild (Humorfähigkeiten trainieren, Schattauer), as delivered and published by Tagalidou et al. (2018: seven 90-minute group sessions); plus the self-administered humour-based positive psychology exercises tested by Proyer, Ruch and Wellenzohn;…
• "Humour therapy" is not a single school. It is an umbrella for (a) structured training of humour as a skill and resource, delivered as a group programme or self-help exercises, and (b) the deliberate, attuned use of humour by a therapist inside any psychotherapy. The core idea of change: sense of humour is trainable; practice redirects attention towards humour opportunities in everyday life, builds a playful, less…
• Evidence status, briefly and as reported: a randomised trial (N=110) found sense of humour can be trained with the 8-week 7HHP, with peer-noticed change and higher life satisfaction; the Salzburg clinical pilot was uncontrolled and its authors call results promising but not conclusive; a small randomised trial of the manualised training in people with depression, anxiety or adjustment disorder found humour gains…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• teasing turning into bullying; children who laugh along to fit in.
• a flat or hurt response means repair (C6). Working: shared laughter followed by easier disclosure.
• self-defeating jokes as a habitual style. Working: the client can both joke and stay with feeling.
• the client hearing "you're overreacting". Working: the client builds on the reframe in their own words.
• humour that serves the therapist's need to be liked, or relieves the therapist's discomfort with the client's pain.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.