Is counseling such a serious profession that it would be wrong to use humor as a resource?  Some counselors and therapists think so.  For many of them it even signifies a lost of power in the relationship.  Nevertheless, other professionals have observed the benefits of using humor not only to improve the client-counselor relationship but also to facilitate behavioral change if used appropriately and timely.  Because it has been applied successfully with different clients, even with culturally diverse clients (Kruger, 1996), a recently new form of therapy has arisen:  Humor Therapy.

   Therapeutic humor  is the use of humor techniques by counselors or health care professionals  as a mean to improve the client's self-understanding and behavior, like pointing out absurdities, giving examples of illogical reasoning, repeating an amusing punchline, among others (Franzini, 2001).  The usage of "inoffensive joke telling and commonly helped humorous experiences" are adequate in a counseling setting (Maples et al., 2001).

      The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor defines therapeutic humor as "any intervention that promotes health and wellness by stimulating a playful discovery, expression or appreciation of the absurdity or incongruity of life's situations. This intervention may enhance health or be used as a complementary treatment of illness to facilitate healing or coping, whether physical, emotional, cognitive, social, or spiritual."

   Humor was defined by Freud as "a means to gain pleasure despite the painful affects which disturb it" and by May as a "healthy way of feeling a 'distance' between one's self and the problem, a way of standing off and looking at one's problems with a perspective" (as cited in Golding & Bordan, 1999).

       Humor is useful in the mental health setting because it creates a pleasant working environment (Weaver & Wilson, 1997) and is particularly beneficial when working with students because it allows School Counselors to present a different image -- one that helps them seem more approachable (Kush, 1997). However, this natural resource, as referred by Gladdin (1995),  has to be used  sensibly because it could damage the therapeutic relationship if the client perceives it as "derisive" (Goldin & Bordan, 1999).
 

   How does humor help the Counseling Relationship?

        According to Steven Sultanoff (1992) humor helps in different ways:
 

     Building the relationship:  it produces a bond between the therapist and the client.  It also
        facilitates rapport and self-disclosure (Golding & Bordan, 1999).  According to Maples et al.
        (2001)  it helps establish a more collaborative and friendly relation.
     Increasing Communication and Attending:  through humor, messages can be expressed in
        an indirect and less threatening way, allowing the client to attend and understand what is
        being said.
     Changing Feelings:  humor allows people to experience for a period of time a relief from their
        depressive or anxious mood.
     Changing Thoughts:  humor allows clients to change the way they perceive different situations
        by  giving a new perspective or through incongruity.
     Changing Behavior:  when people are in a better mood they become more active, may try out
        new activities.

      Applications of Humor in Counseling Children and Adolescents

Reducing Performance Anxiety:   when a student is feeling anxious in a situation where he or she is expected to perform, thinking about a humorous situation allows the substitution of anxiety with feelings of humor and distracts the student from thoughts that are producing the unpleasant feelings (Sultanoff, 1992).

Crisis Intervention:  people that are experiencing a crisis may be receptive to humor because it permits a distance between the individual and the crisis.  According to Sultanoff (1995),  using humor in these situations aids in presenting a different perspective and allows to manage the "emotional turmoil."  Nevertheless, the usage of humor has to be carefully thought because at certain moments of the crisis the individual's emotions are affected and that prevents them from appreciating humor and can be received as an attack. The target of humor should be other than the person experiencing the crisis. Additionally, we have to be aware of the proximal, emotional and temporal distance the individual is experiencing.  A person who was recently involved in a car accident will not respond to humor in the same way as someone who experienced this event some time ago (Sultanoff, 1995).

Career Counseling:  One way to use humor is whenever a student is presenting irrational ideas about career choices (Goldin and Bordan, 1999).  Through a funny comparison, Nero (as cited in Goldin and Bordan, 1999) linked the process of career selection to the process of mate selection.  The use of creativity is essential in applying humor to the different issues the students deal with in this matter.

Dealing with feelings and issues in Elementary School:  as we stated before, humor allows the expression of messages in an indirect way, reducing the threat to the students.  This is why the School Counselor can use different activities or materials that incorporate humor when trying to communicate an idea or when working out different feelings.  Some of these aids are: puppets, imagination, storytelling, games, jokes, customs or masks (clowns or mimes, for example), comic books, metaphors, among others (Herring and Meggert, 1994).

Working with Irrational Beliefs: whenever a student presents an irrational belief the counselor can choose to exaggerate the situation "to absurdity."  In doing so, the counselor must be sure to have a good rapport before using this kind of intervention (Golding & Bordan, 1999).

Other applications
 

        Example of humor applied in the School Setting
        Using humor does not mean that we need a completely different activity to be applied with children, it means applying humor to the activities we have or we create for individual counseling, small or large groups to facilitate communication, rapport, dealing with feelings, etc.  For example:

Group:  The "Say No More"  Group

Target Population:  boys and girls that spread rumors about other classmates, causing them emotional harm.

Session:  Learning about Rumors

    Objective:
                1.  To learn how easily rumors travel around
                2.  To show that each time a rumor is told something is changed or added, creating a worse scenario about
                     the victim.
                3.  That the children experience what their classmates feel when a rumor is said about them.

Materials
                1.  Sheet of white paper
                2.  Pencils

Activity:  "Who would know?"

        In this activity the students will create stories about each other which besides being a funny activity will give the opportunity for an open discussion about rumors, its dynamics and its effects.

Procedure

        Ask the students to accommodate their desks in a circle and ask them to alternate sits, one boy, one girl.  Make sure there are no girls or no boys sitting next to each other.  Then, give one pencil and one sheet of paper to each one.  Tell them that you will be given many directions about what they have to write in the paper, but do not tell them that they will be writing a story.
 

Directions

1.  Write your name on top of the page (using small print) and fold it two times.  Pass the paper to the person at your right.
2.  Now write the name of a member of this group that is of your same gender.  For example, if you are a girl, write the name of another girl from your class.  If you are a boy, write the name of a boy.  After, fold it one time and pass it to your right.
3.  Write the name of another member of your group of your same gender, fold it and pass it to your right.
4.  Write a date, for example, February 14.  Fold it and pass it to your right.
5.  Write an activity, climbing, painting, dancing, kissing, etc. Fold it and pass it to your right.
6.  Write a specific time, for example:  2 hours, 30 minutes, 5 minutes, etc. Fold it and pass it to your right.
7.  Write one location at the school, for example:  the library, the gym, etc.  Fold it and pass it to your right.
8.  Write the name of another of another classmate, it can be girl or boy.  Fold it and pass it to your right.
9.  Write another activity, fold it and pass it to your right.
10.  Write another activity, fold it and pass it to your right.
11.  Write another time, fold it and pass it to your right.
12.  Write another place in school, fold it and pass it to your right.
13.  Write a number from 1-100, fold it and pass it to your right.
14.  Write a pleasant feeling, like happy, excited, etc. Fold it and pass it to your right.
15.  Write "The End"

After they finish writing, collect all the papers and start reading the stories one by one.  Use the following story and fill in the blanks with the answers written on the paper. The Story goes as follows,

    "____________  told me that he/she saw ____________  and ______________ on _____________, _______________ for ________
on the school _____________.  When ____________ found out, he told his/her group of friends that they were ________________
and ______________ for ______________ at the school ________________.  Now ____________ people know about it and I feel _______________ that this happened.   THE END."

An example could be,  Luisa told me that she saw Susan and John on February 14 talking for 10 minutes on the school library.  When Lorena found out, she told her group of friends that they were kissing and hugging for 30 minutes on the school gym.  Now around 98 people know about it and I feel glad that this happened.  THE END.

When the stories are being read funny things arise, causing laughter among the members.  Sometimes some of the answers are outrageous and this causes additional laughter.  The counselor should take advantage of this and discuss with the group about the reactions these statements cause and how would they feel if this story was being said around in school.

The counselor should decide to discuss the situation after each story or after all the stories had been read.  Some things to discuss are:

1.  How did you feel as your story was being told?
2. What did you notice changing during the story? (This refers to how the rumor started and how it ended.  At the beginning they were
    talking and now they say they were kissing and hugging).
3.  What did you notice about the speed at which the rumor was spread?  (This refers to the number of people that know about it now)
4.  Point out to them how easily it was to spread a rumor.  All it takes is someone to start telling the story and each one can add or
     change the facts.
5.  How do you feel about the girls feelings of "Happiness" that the rumor was spread out.

HINTS:  the counselor may change the story a little bit to include useful information related to the types of rumors the children have spread in school.  For example, if he or she knows that one of the students is constantly saying that a classmate is kissing everyone, then one could use this information to put this person in the spot and help her realize how it feels to be the center of a rumor.  Additionally, the counselor should be careful and change any unproper answer written down.

Because this is a humorous activity, the working relationship between the counselor and members and between them is a non-threatening and facilitates the communication of the message as well as it helps to deal with any unpleasant feelings that may arise.
 

   Guidelines for the proper use of humor in counseling

        There are certain considerations that the counselor must think of before applying humor in the counseling process.  Some of these are:
        observe the student's mood to determine if the humor will be appreciated or not (Tichacek, n.d.)

        Start slowly (Tichacek, n.d.)

        make it relevant to the student's situation (Tichacek, n.d.)

        do not use humor as a put-down  (Gladdin, 1995)

       do not use it too frequently because it becomes boring (Gladdin, 1995)

        use it in an appropriated time (Gladdin, 1995)

        consider the student's sense of humor (Gladdin, 1995)
 
 
 

      Advantages and disadvantages of incorporating humor
                                    in the counseling

Advantages

       There are several advantages of using humor in counseling are:

        it reduces tension (Gladdin, 1995)

        it promotes insight (Gladdin, 1995)

        it helps to "realize and appreciate anew the realities of life," that is, by appreciating the funny side of an event we may
            realize the other aspect of the event, the serious one (Gladdin, 1995)

        it helps to reduce the client's resistance to change (Gladdin, 1995)

        it helps to deal with taboo subjects (Gladdin, 1995)

        it can bring the idealized counselor back to reality (Barry cited in Franzini, 2001)

        it allows the counselor to show their humanness (Dreikurs cited in Franzini, 2001)

        it makes the sessions vivid (Ellis cited in Franzini, 2001)

        it increases group cohesion (Maples et al., 2001)

         it allows us to get information about the client way of living and approach to life (Maples et al., 2001)

Disadvantages

        it cannot be used with every client because some of them lack a sense of humor (Gladdin, 1995)

        it can be seen as a put-down (Gladdin, 1995)

        it can create an equivocal image of counseling when it is used excessively (Gladdin, 1995)

         it can be seen as insensitive when is badly timed (Gladdin, 1995)

         it can foster the avoidance of "some aspect of reality" that the client must deal with (Goldin and Bordan, 1999)

        it can create feelings of ridicule in the client when used inappropriately (Bloomfield cited in Franzini, 2001)

        it could produce misinterpretations (Wolfe cited in Franzini, 2001)

        it can imbalance the working relationship (Thomson cited in Franzini, 2001)
 
 
 

       Multicultural Considerations

        The United States is a culturally and ethnically diverse country.  Because of the increment in these population,  the possibility of having a client of a different ethnic group augments each time.   Whenever we are working with them, we must consider the differences and try to adapt the counseling intervention to their needs.  The same is required when we use humor.   The inclusion of humor in counseling can be an appropriate if it is applied sensitively (Kruger, 1996).  Before deciding to incorporate it into the working relationship, one should be aware of the value it has for each particular group (Maples et al., 2001).
 

Native Americans include humor as part of their everyday living as a way of sharing and connecting with each other, as well as teaching important lessons, through the use of stories ( Maples et al., 2001).  They can laugh about difficult situations. Humor allows them to take away their sorrow or pain (Herring & Meggert, 1994).  Therefore, in counseling humor can be seen as a coping mechanism and also as a way of raising connectedness between the counselor and client (Maples et al., 2001).  Nevertheless, we should not forget to be cautions.  According to Maples et al. (2001) humor can be used if the client "invites it" first.  Herring and Meggert (1994) suggests that using "Native American Indian themes and values" is a good strategy to incorporating humor, as well as other forms of storytelling, like puppets and imagination.

Asian Americans are perceived as lacking sense of humor due to their differences in expressiveness of emotions.   In their culture there is a particular way of including humor.  Usually it is used within the family context (close family, extended family and close friends)-- the insiders.  They make fun of themselves or of the other members to teach different lessons, but this is not applied to outsiders because is seen as disrespectful.  This has an important implication for counseling -- become an insider in order to be able to be trusted and to use humor (Maples et al., 2001).  Lee (as cited in Maples et al., 2001) suggest to avoid direct teasing and to reduce the number of self-depicting comments because this affects the image the client forms about us.

Hispanics include humor in their lives, but before using it in the counseling setting, one must be aware of the different aspects of their culture.  Maples et al. (2001) suggests that humor should be combined with elements like familiarismo, respeto, personalismo, machismo and marianismo in order to produce an effective outcome.  They also recommend to increase the trust and respect by getting involved in community activities to "become a 'member of the family'" and facilitating this intervention.

African Americans use humor when relating to each other and the African American Counselor enjoys this commonality and is able to use humor that focuses on stereotypes and myths, as stated by Maples et al. (2001).  It is essential to consider ethnic differences between counselor and client before using this intervention and also to consider the level of racial identity each one has.  According to Helms (1990) considering the type of relationship between the counselor and client is crucial.  Applying his theory of Dyad's Race to humor, one can state that the dynamics vary between a parallel dyad, a progressive and a regressive dyad.

    Whenever working with minority groups Maples et al. (2001) recommend to be aware of the level of comfort they have with humor, determine the purpose of using humor, have a trustful relationship, be aware of proper timing and pacing and finally, to be "customized" to the client and culture.