Humour in Psychotherapy – research and cases of good practice

Abstract

Research always goes hand in hand with theoretical concepts. Therefore, the first part of this article summarizes a number of different researches about the use of therapeutic humour in psychotherapy. The results are various: some research says that therapeutic humour has a positive impact on the psychotherapeutic process, other research says that humour has no impact on psychotherapy, while a third group of researches warns that humour, which is used inappropriately, can be harmful for the client. In the second part of this article cases of good practice on three different levels (individual, couple/family, group therapy) are considered. These cases show different ways in which therapeutic humour can be used in the psychotherapeutic process and highlights a variety of positive outcomes.