By Narsha James (BSc, MA)
Sociocultural norms influence a variety of elements of human life, including attitudes toward mental health issues. While attitudes, knowledge, and practices concerning mental health have improved in many Caribbean countries, misinformation and myths about mental health persist, leading to ignorance, fear, and dark humor (Abel et al, 2010).
It’s called dark humor because laughing at mental health issues can exacerbate them or lead to disastrous repercussions, such as suicide. People often laugh at the obese youngster who is secretly fighting self-hatred. The man who is going through a heart-rending breakup is surrounded by laughter and comments about his masculinity. This isn’t just amused chuckles, but roaring laughter mixed with insults. The hurt person may even join in, laughing at themself and experiencing the unique disorientation that comes with this practice, and which takes root when that person is alone.
While laughing is good for the soul and can be utilized in positive ways to address mental health issues, it becomes a major hurdle to hope and healing when it is used to demean and condemn persons’ actual ailments. It is also a symptom of denial to laugh at someone else’s, or even your own, suffering. This defense mechanism manifests as an unwillingness to accept reality as it is (Baumeister et al., 1998). This is undoubtedly due to the fact that coping with the realities of depression, for example, is a painful and arduous process. However, if healing is to occur, this fact must be confronted. This isn’t to say that we shouldn’t utilize humor as a tool to help us along our journey through life; on the contrary, humor should be healthy. When you sit and laugh with friends or family, you shouldn’t feel awful about yourself or whatever mental health issues you are dealing with. Rather, laughter should make you feel like you’re handling life’s obstacles better. In fact, mental health experts frequently employ healthy comedy as a form of therapy (Gelkopf, 2011).
So, the next time you or someone you know is dealing with a mental health issue, first acknowledge the issue, and then find productive strategies to cope with it. Sharing thoughts and feelings, participating in active outdoor activities, seeing a health professional, and, when appropriate, engaging in healthy humor are just a few examples of productive coping strategies.
References
Abel, W. D., Baboolal, N. & Gibson, R. C. (2010). The epidemiology of mental Health issues in the Caribbean. https://www.paho.org/disasters/dmdocuments/MentalHealthCarib_ch5.pdf
Baumeister, R.F., Dale, K. and Sommer, K.L. (1998). Freudian defense mechanisms and empirical findings in modern social psychology: Reaction formation, projection, displacement, undoing, isolation, sublimation, and denial. Journal of Personality, 66: 1081-1124. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-6494.00043
Gelkopf, M. (2011). The use of humor in serious mental illness: A review. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2011, 342837. https://doi.org/10.1093/ecam/nep106
