Dying in Silence, Living Through Laughter
Research shows that humor can increase connectedness, hope, identity, and empowerment
How comedy is helping veterans to heal the “invisible wounds” of war. (Originally published in Psychology Today)
“Should I kill myself or have a cup of coffee?” It is a quote often (and likely mistakenly) attributed to the 20th century French philosopher and writer Albert Camus; but it also perfectly captures the spirit of what he and his existentialist contemporaries sought to do in their plays known as Theatre of the Absurd: to shock its audience out of complacency and bring it face to face with the harsh realities of the human condition. For instance, that the world isn’t always fair or rational; that bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people; that good and bad people do both good and bad; that while fate is out of our control, the future is our responsibility; that ultimately, our life is up to us — despite, at times, it seemingly being meaningless and absurd.
While the masses may need this kind of soul-stirring shock, veterans need hardly; “Deployment is the definition of absurdity,” as one Green Barret and former client once told me. War is a dizzying world of contradictions lived in the extremes far removed from “normal” life: thrilling highs and tedious and sometimes agonizing lows; the honor of…
