Laughing therapy treats serious illness

New York, November 28: Montefiore Einstein Cancerdefine Center at Montefiore Hospital has been using ‘strength through laughter’ therapy to cure patients for the last five years.

During the laughter therapy session, the patients share their jokes to make others laugh and to forget their own illness for some time. Some of them read the jokes from the books also. Joke sessions, clown appearances and funny movies are the main programs during the session.

Five years ago, senior oncology social worker, Gloria Nelson, started this laughter session to inspire the patients for living instead of dying. They were all cancerdefine patients and some of them were at the advanced stages of the disease.

American Cancer Society and other medical experts say that laughter is the best therapy to reduce tension and relax the body. It lowers the blood pressure, reduces stress hormonesdefine and increases muscle flexion.

‘Strengh through laughter’ therapy is one of laughter therapies used by medical experts for cancer patients and patients of some other deadly diseases. Luz Rodriguez, 57, a breast cancer patient said, "The session makes you feel better, I feel healthy when I laugh."

The effects of laughter therapy were first described by the editor of the Saturday Review, Norman Cousins, in his book ‘Anatomy of an illness’. He shared his experience about how laughter therapy helped him cure a patient suffering from a serious disease. He wrote, “I made the joyous discovery that 10 minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect."

A non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma survivor and a certified laughter leader, Robbie Robinson, 52, said, “Some people came in wheelchairs; some were helped by family and friends. You could tell people were down ... then I noticed that through some stimulated laughter, people started smiling. They forgot their troubles. You could see the pressure come off them."

Sherry Dunay Hilber, Founder & CEO of Rx Laughter Inc. said, "Comic entertainment is at our fingertips 24/7. ... Watching our favorite shows and films can get us through very stressful times — all the more important in light of the cost of psychotherapy that many people cannot afford, and the problematic side effects of too many pain killers."