Humor's Effects on Trauma and Other Stressful Events

Featuring David Granirer, Counselor
Humor's Effects on Trauma and Other Stressful Events
Duration: 1 minute, 47 seconds

There’s a study done on Israeli children who spent time in bomb shelters.

What they found was that the ones who were billeted with peers who had a good sense of humor had fewer lingering post traumatic stress disorder side effects, like, nightmares, hallucinations, intrusive visions. When these kids were in the bomb shelter, the bombs are raining down on them.

Now, certain kids are joking around and they’re laughing, so they’re experiencing themselves as having more control than they actually do, which in that situation is actually a good illusion to have. The kids who are not joking, who are just sitting there trembling, face the full force of that trauma. So the humor helps to shield people, helps to blunt the effect of that trauma in those situations.

In any traumatic situation, when you’re able to find humor in that situation, when you’re able to laugh, it seems that you’re gonna come through healthier and more psychologically stable than if you don’t. Humor is a really powerful tool in dealing with traumatic situations, and that can mean anything from war to things that go on in the office to things that happen in families, car accidents, things like that.

It seems to help people to come through more strong and more resilient. If you’re going through a difficult situation, a traumatic situation, talk to your counselor, talk to your therapist, talk to your psychiatrist about using humor and about how to use healthy humor in a way that will help you get through.

Presenter: Mr. David Granirer, Counselor, Vancouver, BC

Local Practitioners: Counselor