Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Those Who Laugh, Last: Exploring The Use Of Humor As A Vehicle Of Healing Through Personal Reflection, Theory, And Practice, Eleanor Barham Whitehurst

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

The premise of this paper is to examine the healing and therapeutic nature of humor in the counseling relationship. Discussion will focus on the cognitive, emotional, and physical benefits of humor, as well as the methods and techniques used to implement humor and laughter into therapeutic practice. The best practices, benefits, and recommendations for using humor in the therapeutic relationship are reviewed, emphasizing type of humor and assessing client for appropriate use. Application of humor in times of grief and loss is explored, offering insight to the resilience that can be found in the human spirit. Humor is studied as …