Humor Therapy is a Joke (Part 1 of: 1 l 2 ) by Michael Braunstein

Cousins was the editor of The Saturday Review and a remarkable man besides. He decided to fight for his life and found that he could look death in the face and laugh about it. In fact, when he laughed about it, he felt better. Psychoanalyst Fritz Perls, of the famous Esalen Institute in Big Sur, Calif. once advised "Examine the obvious." That's what Cousins did. He felt better after a couple of hours of belly laughs. He found that he could doze off for a few hours, relieved of the excruciating pain of his "terminal" connective tissue disease, ankylosing spondylitis. So what did he do? Obviously, he ordered in comedy film after comedy film and watched "Candid Camera" and the Marx Brothers. That, along with megadoses of Vitamin C, became his steady diet. Blood tests confirmed his healing. Immediately after movies and laughter, Cousins' inflammation was down. He became well.

Cousins' road to recovery is documented in his 1969 book, Anatomy of an Illness. Since that time, enough research has been done to document the kinds of changes that take place in the body when we think and feel with positive emotions and mirth rather than those of fear. Those changes are all healthy ones. Loma Linda University studies indicate significant rises in immune system function when humor therapy is applied. Duke University studies in 1997 proved heart arteries are more efficient with positive emotions. Humor therapy is a reality.

Now for the practical application. The following prescription was submitted by Bill "I'm not a Humor Therapist, but I play one on TV" Frenzer. Keep a copy in your glove box for sudden panic attacks or "road rage." It can be used safely at all times and there are no dangerous side-effects. Research has proven it can lower blood pressure, improve digestion and Norman Cousins cured his ankylosing spondylitis with just such type of therapy.