A Thought: Maybe We Need To Take Laughter More Seriously

As therapists, we spend a lot of time talking about difficult things.

We talk about grief, anxiety, trauma, relationships, shame, loneliness, anger, fear and all the things that hurt, and rightly so. Being able to sit with difficult emotions is an important part of therapy and of being human.

But sometimes I wonder if we also need a really good laugh.

I mean the kind of laughter that catches you completely off guard. The kind where you can't breathe properly, your stomach hurts and you have tears streaming down your face. The kind where you look at someone afterwards and think, I genuinely needed that.

There is actually some evidence behind this. Recent research has found that laughter-based interventions can reduce stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms, although the evidence is still developing and laughter shouldn't be thought of as a replacement for proper mental health treatment.

But perhaps we don't need research to tell us something we already know intuitively.

Laughter changes something.

For a few minutes, you're not analysing yourself, you're not catastrophising. You're not trying to solve your relationship or wondering whether you said the wrong thing three days ago.

You're just there.

And there's something particularly powerful about laughing with other people.

Shared laughter creates a little pocket of connection. You experience something together, to feel understood without necessarily having to explain yourself.

For many of us, particularly when life has become very focused on productivity, self-improvement and working on ourselves, laughter can feel almost unnecessary.

But perhaps enjoyment doesn't need to be productive. You don't have to turn every experience into personal growth. Sometimes you can just watch something ridiculous with someone you love and laugh until your face hurts.

That counts as taking care of yourself too.