Simulated laughter techniques for therapeutic use in mental health
Simulated laughter techniques for therapeutic use in mental health

Summary/Abstract: Laughter has shown quantifiable psychological and psychological positive effects on certain aspects of health. Therapeutic laughter can be used in mental health with preventive intent (life-style medicine) or complementary/alternative approach to other established therapeutic strategies, and can be lumped into the following three groups: 1. Spontaneous laughter. 2. Simulated laughter. 3. Stimulated laughter. Current laughter therapy is mainly aimed at experiencing the binomial simulatedspontaneous laughter so as to achieve all its health benefits. Simulated laughter is based on the knowledge that the body cannot distinguish between simulated and spontaneous laughter; therefore, their corresponding health effects are alleged to be alike. Either way health-related outcomes are produced. Indeed, simulated laughter may lead to a higher laughter dose (greater intensity and duration at will) which might create greater health outcomes. The effective use of simulated laughter (and other laughter techniques) for therapeutic purposes in mental health needs to be learned, practiced, and developed as any other therapeutic strategy. Therapeutic simulated laughter is thus a modern approach whose fundamentals are the following: 1. Laughter experience is based on well-defined methods, which results in less clinical practice variability, as compared to other laughter interventions. 2. Safe, easy to practice and share. 3. No thinking is required; it fosters joy. 4. It is contagious and can easily be converted into spontaneous laughter when experienced in a group. 5. It allows full therapeutic laughter experience at proper duration and intensity. Simulated laughter techniques consist of different exercises within every stage of laughter sessions. The library of simulated laughter exercises is virtually infinite. Simulated laughter techniques can be easily implemented and cost-effective for therapeutic use in mental health. Therapeutic simulated laughter is entirely feasible and appears to be the most realistic, sustainable and generalizable laughter intervention to be used in clinical practice and future laughter research.

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