Humor Associated with Positive Outcomes in Individual Psychotherapy

[en] Considerable anecdotal evidence points to the usefulness of humor in the therapeutic process, but empirical evidence is still lacking. This study searched for an association between humor and therapy outcomes in a real-life population of 110 adult psychotherapy clients who attended at least 10 therapy sessions. Clients and their therapist evaluated the frequency and intensity of humorous events, as well as therapy effectiveness, therapeutic alliance, perceived hope and pleasure to participate in therapy sessions. We found a strong positive correlation between humor and therapy effectiveness, in both client (rs = .40; p < .0001) and therapist perspectives (rs = .37; p < .0001). The link between humor and effectiveness remained significant in more severe subgroups of clients, even though these clients reported less humor in their therapies. Further research is needed to determine if humor actually enhances therapy outcomes, or if positive outcomes trigger the occurrence of humor.

Disciplines :

Psychiatry

Author, co-author :

Panichelli, Christophe

Albert, Adelin ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences de la santé publique > Département des sciences de la santé publique

Donneau, Anne-Françoise ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences de la santé publique > Biostatistique

D'Amore, Salvatore; Université Libre de Bruxelles - ULB

Triffaux, Jean-Marc ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences cliniques > Psychologie médicale

Ansseau, Marc ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences cliniques > Département des sciences cliniques

Language :

English

Title :

Humor Associated with Positive Outcomes in Individual Psychotherapy

Publication date :

2018

Journal title :

American Journal of Psychotherapy

ISSN :

0002-9564

Publisher :

Association for the Advancement of Psychotherapy, United States

Volume :

APT-2018-0021

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Available on ORBi :

since 15 July 2018

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