The Art of Healing with Laughter: The Transformative Potential of Humorous Interactions
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/SPI.2025.4.008Keywords
humorous interactions, hospital clowning, transformation of illness experience, hospitalization, psychosocial interventionAbstract
The article analyzes humorous interactions in hospitals as a deliberate psychosocial intervention that extends beyond the function of “entertainment” or momentary “distraction.” The starting point is the recognition of a gap between the widely described benefits of such practices and their marginal status in clinical contexts. The aim is to explain how humor initiates change in the experience of hospitalization and what tools are employed to activate it. A qualitative analysis of the subject literature and practice-based accounts was conducted, embedding concepts within health psychology, drama therapy, and humor theories, while taking into account the specific characteristics of hospital-based interactional work.
The analysis demonstrated that humorous encounters modify the course of hospitalization in several dimensions: emotion regulation through legitimization and transformation; restoration of agency; bodily and behavioral activation; reinterpretation of hospital space; strengthening of child–parent–staff relationships; and facilitation of medical procedures. Importantly, the effects of humorous interactions are long-term: visits are anticipated, remembered, and incorporated into coping strategies, creating a narrative “trace” in the patient’s experience. The article proposes a conceptual framework for the transformative function of humor in hospitals, along with practical implications: integrating these interventions into standards of care, training medical staff in basic humorous communication, and granting systemic recognition to their role in emotional and relational support.
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