How Does Humour Help You Deal With A Difficult Situation?

Have you ever been in a difficult situation that made you nervous but then someone made a joke and it just seemed a lot easier? That is the exact effect humour has on all of us: it makes things seem easier and less tense. That’s how Marjane Satrapi, the author of Persepolis, also used this incredible technique to show how the main character Marjane coped with war, violence and growing up in such an environment. In case you want to know more about the story, check out the trailer linked here.

In Persepolis, which plays during the war in Iran, the young girl is often exposed to violence, torture and death but she managed to get through those things partly due to her child-like humour and innocence that created a barrier between her and the horrible things going on outside. In the book humour was effective for dealing with those difficult situations by protecting her and also the reader from the harsh reality that is warfare and torture happening in the world. You can read an example of such humour on the page you can see here that was used to make the situation a bit more light-hearted.

On the other hand, one should always be careful with using humour in such situations since it is easy to say something wrong that could potentially upset someone. In my opinion the rule with humour should always be: use it sparingly and it shouldn’t be used to make fun of something, someone or a situation.

In my own experience I find using humour to deal with difficult situations quite therapeutic especially when it has something to do with loss and grief. My best example would be at a funeral where instead of crying all day and mourning over the loss of that person the entire afternoon, after a while everyone started remembering and telling funny stories about them. Everyone sat together and laughed and helped each other deal with everyone’s individual grief and sadness by using humour.

In conclusion, humour can help with dealing with various difficult situations by creating a barrier between the horrible things but also by giving a sense of safeness and support in tough times. Can you think of any other ways humour could be used to deal with a difficult situation? Leave it in the comments below!

References

L. (2014, October 09). TORTURE IN THE IRANIAN PRISONS. Retrieved August 23, 2016, from https://luisgmm84.wordpress.com/2014/10/09/torture-on-the-iranian-prisons/

Satrapi, M. (2008). Persepolis. London: Vintage.