Cancer patients participate in monthly laughter therapy at New York and Pennsylvania hospitals
At Montefiore Einstein Cancer Center at Montefiore Hospital in New York, cancer patients – some in advanced stages of their diseases – are taking part in “Strength Through Laughter,” a monthly humor therapy session offered at the institution. It is one of several such programs being offered at medical facilities across the United States.
The American Cancer Society and other medical experts say that laughter helps cancer patients reduce stress and promote relaxation by improving breathing, lowering blood pressure and increasing muscle function. The Strength Through Laughter program includes funny movies, clown performances and joke sessions.
One of the program participants, a breast cancer survivor, said that she feels better after the sessions and she feels healthy when she laughs. In his 1979 book Anatomy of an Illness, Norman Cousins wrote that he’d been cured of a potentially fatal illness with laughter and vitamins, and that 10 minutes of belly laughing had an anesthetic effect for him.
The Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Zion, Illinois use a different kind of laughter therapy where patients practice making laughter sounds – like “ha ha” and “he he” – and playing games until they genuinely dissolve into laughter. Laughter therapy has also been offered at the center’s facilities in Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and Washington.
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania uses the Caring Clowns program for its patients. Its clown volunteers help cancer patients feel more comfortable and also help close the interpersonal gap between the patients and the hospital staff.
Rx Laughter was founded in 1998 by Sherry Dunay Hilber for pain management and improvement of mental health through entertainment in the form of funny films and TV clips. Two medical studies found that patients who watched amusing videos while undergoing painful procedures were able to relax more and tolerate the pain for longer periods of time. Additionally, cancer patients had less pain and slept better following the entertainment.
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