„Humor ist, wenn man trotzdem lacht!“: Zur Bedeutung und Wirkungsweise von therapeutischem Humor

Abstract

“Humor is when you laugh anyway!” — On the significance and effectivness of therapeutic humor.
Based on the significance of humor for various psychotherapeutic schools of thought, therapeutic humor is briefly defined and its potential functions are described. A differentiated and integrative approach accross schools is applied to concretise the effectiveness of humor in psychotherapy, which is linked to a personcentered and explicitly humanistic perspective. In the process, the role of therapeutic humor within the person-centered therapeutic relationship is discussed. Finally, this is viewed in relation to the three core conditions of person-centered therapy.