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Did Jesus Laugh
Readers discuss the question.

Laughter is not the best medicine.

by Traute Klein, biogardener

When a perceived attempt on my life brought on posttraumatic stress disorder, I found out that laughter is not necessarily the best medicine. It may, in fact, be painful.

A Time for All Things

Laughter is the best medicine, right? In German we say "Lachen is gesund," meaning "Laughter is good for your health." Apparently, it is a tonic for whatever ails you. A few physicians promote laughter sessions, even for terminally sick patients, and some claim that they have seen healing from serious conditions as a result. If they are right, the health care system could save billions of dollars by handing out tickets to Marx Brothers movies.

I have problems in believing that there is one cure for everything. I believe what we read in Ecclesiastes 3:1

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven. (NIV)

There are times for laughter and times for tears. Both can be healing. There are also times when neither laughter nor tears can reach into the depth of a soul. At those times, a hug or just a listening ear may be more effective. And there are even times when silence is more effective than any of these.

Laughter Which Hurts

We all understand that ridicule may evoke laughter, but that always hurts someone. There are, however, times when even genuine enjoyable laughter can hurt a wounded soul.

Only those who have suffered from despair can understand that laughter may act as salt poured on a wound. Even those who have lived with a victim of trauma and those who have counselled them do not appear to understand the pain which laughter can evoke. I have never heard anyone talk about this deep hurt nor have I read about it. When I bring the point up with people who promote laughter as the all-purpose tonic for whatever ails you, the presenters invariably try to sweep my remarks under the table, because they are not prepared to deal with a concept which does not fit into the their theories.

There are few people able to talk about this topic, because it is understood only by those who have suffered severe emotional trauma themselves, and most of them never recover sufficiently to understand it, never mind explain it. I am one of those few people. So let me share with you the times when laughter is best avoided.

Trauma Deadens the Emotions

Eighteen years ago, I suffered severe physical and emotional trauma when the drunken driver who disabled me tried to run me down in an effort to escape arrest. I blanked out the details of the event and only know what I have read in the reports which I gave to the police and to physicians. These reports appear to describe a stranger whom I have never met. All I remember is pain, unspeakable pain. The presence of this all-encompassing pain robbed me of the ability to feel emotions. Until I got help with the physical pain, no one was able to reach through the deadness in my soul.

For five years, I neither wept nor laughed. That is how long it took to find a chiropractor who took my physical injuries seriously and was therefore able to alleviate them.

Lovers tease each other

Germans have a proberb, "Was sich liebt, das neckt sich." (Lovers tease each other). Teasing is supposed to be proof of love. Well, my husband certainly must love me a lot, because never a day goes by when he does not tease me. I used to enjoy it, but after the trauma, I could not stand being teased, a fact to which Ernie never was able to adjust. When I did not react to his teasing, he stepped up his attempts to cheer me up. It did not work. I just shut myself away from him to escape the teasing. I could not understand how anyone could laugh or be happy, when pain was making my life unbearable and when there appeared to be no way out of the dilemma.

Even now, 18 years after the accident, I have to remind myself time and again that my husband is trying his best to cheer me up when he teases me. This knowledge does not come naturally as it used to. When a feeling of hopelessness pervades a person's life for any length of time, happiness seems unnatural.

Being Sensitive to Strangers

My husband also enjoys teasing strangers. Most of them catch on, have a good laugh, and appreciate the attention which he pays them. Some appear stone-faced, and my husband does not know what to do with them. I do. I know how they feel, because I have been there. I see the signs of trauma, abuse, or depression, and my heart goes out to the victim who is bowed under a heavy hidden load. Once in a while, these people open their hearts to me and I am able to encourage them or simply lend a listening ear.

No, they are not going to laugh for me. They might not even smile, but maybe the warmth of an understanding heart will touch theirs, leaving a warm glow.

No, laughter is not the best medicine.

Love is.