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laughter therapy....

I went along to my first support group tonight. For carers of people with a mental illness and/or substance abuse problems. It was great. Being in a room with 9 or so other people who can look at you and nod their head while listening to your story is more therapeutic than any drug, medicine, self coping mechanism or counseling session can ever be. It's why groups like this work. Knowing that someone else understands won't judge, and has been where you are right now helps you to realise two things. One, your not the ONLY person to have ever lived through something like this. And two, you CAN get survive it.

Tonight there was a guest speaker who talked to us about laughter therapy and laughter clubs. I've heard of them, seen them on the telly but never really taken them seriously, and like most people, thought that all those people looked just a trifle silly! Until tonight. She ran through some of the 'laughs' tonight with us. It's almost like yoga where you do certain exercises and there are steps to work through. It's not a matter of finding something funny and away you go. It was good. It was hard, but good! She talked about the benefits, both physical and emotional. We learned about the reason laughing makes us feel happier. She made us all think about how much, or how little, laughter there was in our lives and suggested some simple ways in which can laugh more. Like blowing a raspberry when you feel like it. Or doing something silly. It was all very cool and interesting.

It was a very appropriate topic considering the group of people she was talking to. Studies have shown laughter therapy to be beneficial within mental health communities, both for those diagnosed and the carers. With everything that is going on in our lives, if we didn't laugh somedays, then we'd cry. And this was a sentiment expressed a lot this evening.

One thing that I find myself saying a lot is that I hope Zoe remembers how much she laughed at this time in her life. It is important, and tonight showed me the reason WHY I strive to have so much in our house. It's a biological thing. It makes us feel better. We don't laugh because we are happier, we are happier because we laugh. Children use this emotional defense mechanism much more efficiently than adults. They use laughter, crying and rage when they need to without any thought for social acceptability or whether or not it's appropriate. And it works. As I said in a previous post, we can learn a lot from our children sometimes. Did you know that laughter is also a natural response to extreme pain, both physical and emotional? We tend to suppress it though....but I'm sure you've all seen someone who was uncontrollably laughing at what would appear to be an extremely inappropriate time. It's a natural reaction. Did you also know that children laugh on average 400 times a day, yet as adults this falls to 15??

But don't take my word for it, check out these sites:

Michael Kerr - Spreading laughter round the world

Laughter Club of NSW - The health benefits

The Laughter Coach

Till next time, laugh like nobody is listening....