humor Archives - Mental Wealth

It should come as no surprise that we tend to look for a sense of humor in our romantic partners. The trouble is, we all find different things funny—or not funny. New research in the Journal of Research in Personality quantifies exactly how our particular blend of humor affects our relationships. The bottom line? You’ll do better if you can take a joke.

The study looked at three different approaches to humor: gelotophobia (entirely unrelated to a deep-seated fear of gelato; instead, this is the fear of being laughed at), gelotophilia (the joy of being laughed at), and katagelasticism (the joy of laughing at others). People can have mixtures of these qualities in varying degrees, but some people mostly enjoy being laughed at, mostly enjoy laughing at others, or mostly hate being laughed at.

How your sense of humor affects relationship quality

Comedians used to tell a joke that goes like this:

“A comedian walks into a psychologist’s office. The psychologist says, ‘lie down and tell me everything you know.’ “

The punch line: “I haven’t been able to get an appointment since. He’s been doing my act in Philadelphia.”

The material that comes from a counselor’s couch often makes great fodder for a comic’s act. It’s the sad clown paradox: The men and women who make people laugh for a living often struggle with mental health challenges offstage that are hardly a laughing matter.

It’s unclear how many comedians struggle with mental challenges such as depression, but many of the most familiar names have talked and joked about the issue: Robin Williams, Sarah Silverman, Stephen Fry, Spike Jones, Woody Allen, Richard Pryor, Ellen DeGeneres. It’s no accident that the Laugh Factory in Hollywood has an in-house psychologist.

In “Spark of Madness,” one hour of the eight-part CNN documentary series “The History of Comedy,” comics talk openly about their mental struggle and how it fuels their work.

The sad clown: The deep emotions behind stand-up comedy – CNN.com: “”

(Via.)