Researchers say humor is a powerful tool against depression

a post by Matt Davis for the Big Think blog


Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

They say laughter is the best medicine; you might not be able to laugh a broken leg away, but it might help your depression.

• A new study examined 55 individuals recovering from major depression to see how well humor worked as a coping mechanism against stress.
• Individuals at risk for depression often fall into depressive episodes because of faulty coping mechanisms.
• Research indicates that humor works as a powerful defense against depression.

In 1894, Mark Twain had good reason to feel depressed. He owed $100,000 due to some poor investments, the equivalent of about $2.9 million today. To get out from under this debt, Twain did what he did best; he wrote a book called Traveling the Equator, a non-fiction account of his travels in the British Empire. In it, he noted, "The secret source of humor itself is not joy but sorrow. There is no humor in heaven."

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