The use of humour in diversional therapy

Abstract

Humour is a natural phenomenon that every human being possesses. But humour is often not fully utilized and often taken for granted. It is only recently that there has been an upsurge in research in the area of humour that has began to highlight and prove the many benefits that come from its effective utilization. Although humour is a natural phenomenon, there are times in our lives when humour needs to be formally initiated such as in times of illness. Diversional Therapists because of the nature of their work, have ample opportunities to initiate humour. Humour is one of the many tools diversional therapists can use to increase the effectiveness of their activities programmes. This paper examines the definitions of humour and laughter, the beneficial functions of humour, why the use of humour is important in diversional therapy practice and the applications of humour in practice. The paper aims to give diversional therapists background information about humour, highlight the many benefits of humour and give some practical ideas of how humour can be formally incorporated into their diversional therapy programmes. It is envisaged that this paper will increase diversional therapists knowledge of humour, encourage the use of formal humour programmes with clients and encourage diversional therapists to research the various ways of using humour in their practice.