Laughter Therapy Essay

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It’s No Joke: Laughter Therapy Works Heather Martin Ivy Tech Community College It’s No Joke: Laughter Therapy Works While most people are not actually aware of laughter therapy itself, they may be familiar with the 1998 movie, Patch Adams, where Robin Williams (Rest His Soul) portrayed a real life doctor who uses laughter to treat his patients (Wells, 2009). Recently, laughter therapy has gained an increase in popularity in treating long-term illnesses. I have a personal stake in this topic due to the fact that laughter therapy played a significant role in my successful recovery from Acute Myeloid Leukemia. I firmly believe that laughter therapy should be an added treatment for all patients under care for long term illness. Laughter therapy can be a valuable resource in treating illnesses based on its benefits, its physiological process in the body, and my own personal experience with it. “Laughter therapy is the art of using humor and laughter to help heal people with physical or mental illness” (Wells, 2009). Although it is difficult to measure the benefits of laughter therapy, more and more clinical studies have showed verifiable results that laughter therapy is truly beneficial. “In general, laughter improves the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health of individuals. It stimulates the immune system, reduces stress, and helps balance the body’s natural energy fields, or auras” (Wells, 2009). According to sister Agatha Lee Mi-suk of Korea, who encourages laughter therapy in her counseling, laughter is similar to physical exercise, meaning the more patients that practice it, the stronger the benefits (2013). Despite its many benefits, laughter therapy alone will not cure a physical ailment. However, when used in conjunction with traditional treatments, laughter therapy can improve patients’ over all well-being, even if they are dealing with a

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