Mental Health Awareness – Tears of a Clown

Like many professionals in the people development space, mental heath awareness day meant a flurry of activity; reading, delivering, engaging in material which is designed to help people overcome and manage real issues.

Mental health awareness is primarily associated with supporting people experiencing problems crossing a huge spectrum, from despair to anxiety and overwhelm and the consequent actions of these feelings. When we talk about mental health, we are very often associating it with overcoming a negative experience. At Laughter Lab, we advocate and promote the benefits of laughter, but we do not reduce this powerful tool to being a magic wand which dissipates all your cares and worries.

When we struggle with our mental health it can feel isolating and shameful. Despite all the good stuff that is going on around Mental Health Awareness week, we know there is still a huge taboo around the subject and that it can still feel easier to share physical problems we experience, like a sore knee or a bad back, than talking about our minds. Finding the confidence to share this can be one of the hardest barriers to finding support and sometimes laughter can act as a façade to others, keeping them hidden from what is really going on.

There are plenty of articles and support links available at the moment to better understand mental health, and we wanted to share the connection with laughter.

We know that sometimes it can be too painful to share difficult experiences and times, and laughter can help deflect attention when we are questioned by well-meaning loved ones. At Laughter Lab we advocate laughing as a positive experience, as there really are physical and psychological benefits to laughter, but we all need to be clear about our own reasons for laughing and understand what is underpinning our engagement with it. If it is to hide ourselves away from love and support that could help us, then it is not a tool. The veil of laughter is not helping you to positively connect with others as it so often does but is keeping help at arm’s length.

We know that laughter is a great coping mechanism, I often view troubles with a humorous slant and use laughter to reduce their negative impact – but I am always conscious of how I am using amusement and laughter. I was fortunate enough to interview Ruby Wax this week who spoke openly about her experience of comedy as a coping mechanism against her own problems with mental health. She pointed out that whilst it can certainly benefit people sometimes, depression is an illness which requires medical help. She said that understanding the difference between a normal amount of stress and depression is critical to helping start your recovery. You certainly can’t laugh everything off.

Laughter can bring us together as it is a positive external behaviour that signals openness and trust. When we laugh from our heart we are inviting people in, but genuine laughter is often not congruent with episodes of poor mental health and might feel like the last thing we want to do. We are far more likely to hide away from others when we are struggling.

So, today, we encourage you to explore your own relationship with laughter and identify the times you are using it when perhaps a more beneficial thing to do is reach out and ask someone for help. The laughter will come soon after you have taken a step to open up as you will be building trust in a different way.

If you are struggling with your mental health right now, please reach out to a healthcare professional or find support via Mental Health UK.

Jane

Anna Hatchard