Brenda worked at a welfare office on the front lines of a poor neighborhood, serving difficult, high-needs clients. And if that wasn’t tough enough, she had a caseload of about 300 and worked for an organization undergoing massive funding cuts, downsizing, and policy changes. Brenda was trapped in a classic no-win situation, being asked to do a job that was impossible to do. In this article you’ll learn how Brenda and her team used humor to cope, and how to use the Comedy Questions to help your clients cope with adversity. (782 words)

Albert was an anxious, incessant worrier. Cognitive therapy helped him understand that his fears were disproportionate to his situation. Though now able to catch the distorted thinking that fed his fears, he continued to be afraid. In counseling he learned to use humor in order to help defuse his fears. He and his counselor resolved that instead of attempting to lessen his fears, Albert would now exaggerate them. For example, instead of saying to his wife, “I have a plugged nose, I think I might be getting the flu” he would say, “I’ve got a plugged nose – I must be getting cancer.” This article shows you the technique he used, the effect it had, and how to use it with your clients.
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By joking about our insecurity, anxiety, and fear, we create an inverse superiority. Others may surpass us, but we’re better at being inferior. For example, David says: “Brad Pitt may be more successful and attractive than I, but I’m better at being a geek. Anthony Robbins may be more positive and self-assured, but I’m better at whining and complaining.” This technique is called Reverse Bragging, and it can help your clients transform their dysfunctions into strengths.
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Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia, and Maoist China had a very odd thing in common. They all considered humor to be such a powerful weapon that they outlawed jokes deemed harmful to their regimes. What the anti-Hitler, anti-Mao, and anti-Stalin jokes did was make these powerful leaders seem absurd. And when something becomes absurd, it loses much of its power over us. This principle also applies to our personal lives. Seeing humor in our irrational fears and anxieties can make them seem absurd, and thus they can lose much of their power over us. This article shows you the “Just Makes Me” formula, a technique to help clients find the funny in their fears. (703 words)

Some people are afraid that if they try to be funny and no one laughs, some unknown terrible thing will happen. Maybe they’ll shrivel up and die. Or maybe an anvil will drop, squashing them into the ground, like we’ve seen happen to Wile E. Coyote when he tries to catch the Road Runner. Or maybe, the humiliation will be too great, forcing them to go into hiding and adopt a new identity. This article provides your clients with the three things they need to over come these fears: a reality check, a backup plan, and a way to minimize their risk. (694 words)

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