Humor and psychotherapy : a handbook

Includes bibliographical references (pages 53-55)The purpose of this graduate project was to develop\ud a resource handbook on the use of humor in psychotherapy.\ud It was designed for the overly serious beginner.\ud Beginning therapists tend to use less humor in their work\ud than do their more experienced colleagues.\ud Actually, therapists as a whole have not made full\ud use of humor in their clinical work. In spite of the\ud fact that the healing power of humor has been recognized\ud for centuries, most therapists still do not understand\ud the nature of humor or its relevance to psychotherapy.\ud Their lack of understanding stems from the fact that\ud so little has been written on the subject of therapeutic\ud humor. This is a relatively new area of research interest.\ud Few empirical studies have dealt specifically with the use\ud of humor in psychotherapy. Because of this, humor is\ud seldom mentioned in college courses or texts, or in\ud training programs for beginning therapists.\ud There is a great need for resources on therapeutic\ud humor. For this reason, an extensive review of the\ud literature was undertaken for the purpose of compiling a\ud handbook that would synthesize available information in a\ud form that could be read quickly and easily.\ud This handbook was designed, first of all, to explore\ud humor as a psychological phenomenon; and secondly, to\ud demonstrate its relevance to psychotherapy. The organization\ud of the handbook is based on these two aims.\ud Although beginning therapists are in a special\ud position to benefit from the information contained in\ud this guide, it could also be of use to any therapist who\ud wants to incorporate humor into his or her professional\ud repertoire