“Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward.” – Robert Frost

Therapy sessions can be intense. Clients and therapists can both be brought to their knees by the expression of an emotion or the recounting of a difficult life moment. I think that this part of therapy is the part that is most commonly associated with going to therapy. A lot of people picture the therapy room to be one in which a countless number of Kleenex boxes are consumed.

I’m not going to lie, it does happen. There are sessions in which many tears are shed. My belief is that these sessions happen if they are needed. The release of the emotion, whatever it may be, is simply needed in that moment.

There are also sessions that are filled with laughter. Laughter is a wonderful way of coping for some. Sometimes the absurdity of what life throws at us calls for nothing other than laughter. Have you ever been in one of those situations? I have. Many, many times. In those situations, I do three things: (1) sit and laugh…sometimes to the point of snorting, (2) collect myself, and (3) decide how to proceed.

I have noticed that my clients will sometimes engage in a very similar process both inside and outside of the therapy room. Laughter has the potential to be very healing.

Laughter is not a bad thing. It is a momentary shield from the storm that I/we/you are facing. I am not afraid of laughter…not as a person who has gone through my fair share of ups and downs nor as a therapist who works with people from all walks of life.