Humour and Healing in the Person-centred Therapy Room

This book dispels the myth that humour has no place in today’s therapy room, offering concrete advice to trainee and practising counsellors, their educators and supervisors on how to work with humour confidently, empathically and congruently. This is an essential tool for students, novice, and experienced practitioners alike.

Mainstream therapeutic modalities have very little to say about humour in therapy, but every therapist will tell you that it is impossible to banish it from the therapy room. This book begins with a historical exploration of humour’s function in society and in relationships and considers how humour came to be something of a taboo in psychotherapy. It offers insights from psychological, sociological and neuroscientific research into what humour reveals about a person’s character and emotional state, and how that enables the counsellor to connect and empathise with the client. The second half of the book is devoted to how humour can enhance the therapeutic alliance, drawing on the research literature and first-hand experience. Taking the principles of person-centred counselling as its foundation, the book describes how humour materialises in practice and how it can be embraced to the benefit of the client and practitioner alike. Providing practical advice on how to work with humour as and when it arises, this is an essential tool for students, and novice and experienced practitioners alike.