Dr. Michael Titze y Brigitte Titze M.A. in Uruguay

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Interview with Dr. M. Titze

By Karina González

On the theory.

1. Do you subscribe to any of the traditional psychoanalytic's or do you look towards new approaches?

About 30 years ago, I received my certificate as a licensed Adlerian psychotherapist. In Germany we use the traditional denomination “Individual Psychology”, some use the word “teleoanalysis” (which I prefer to use as well!). Teleoanalysis is derived from the Greek word “telos” which means intention, goal. Traditional psychoanalysis looks primarily for the causes of our behaviour. Teleoanalysis examines the intentions, the goal-directedness being inherent in all actions. This goal-directedness, of course, is connected with specific biographical conditions in the childhood but not absolutely dependent from such prerequisites. Thus, the freedom of decision is, from the standpoint of Adlerian psychology, decisive for understanding human behaviour. This standpoint has been adopted by the schools of humanistic and existential psychotherapy. One of the most prominent representatives of this tradition was Viktor E. Frankl, the founder of Logotherapy and Existential Analysis. Frankl (who originally had been a disciple of Alfred Adler as well) was my most important teacher. I had personal contact with him for many years. And he was the one who opened my eyes to recognize that humans are striving incessantly to find the purpose of life: a meaning that motivates the person concerned to resist all adversities. Frankl discovered, in this context, the defiant power of humour: Especially in the context of anxiety disorders the patient was motivated by Frankl to “ironize” the respective symptoms – thus exercising a “paradoxical intention”. This approach has been adopted, meanwhile, by many important schools of modern psychotherapy, such as behaviour therapy or systemic therapy. In 1982, Frankl introduced me to William F. Fry, the founder of “gelotology”, i.e. the research of laughter. Fry, who was an original member of the “Palo Alto-Group” (dedicated to the investigation of paradoxes in important realms of human life), since then is my senior mentor.          

2. What are the essential elements of individual psychology?

(a) Individual Psychology is a subjectivistic approach to the phenomena of the psyche. This means that the object of analysis is not the sphere of natural, (objectively) “real” facts but of their subjective interpretation. The term “individual” is derived from Latin “in-dividuum” which means “not divisible”. By that term, Adler wanted to indicate the holistic fundament of his personality theory: Man is, in this context, an organic unity; all parts of this unity are dependent, resp. functionally embedded in the psycho-physic entirety of the organism. (The whole is more than the sum of its parts!)

 

(b) Analysis/treatment is directed towards the dynamics of life. The purpose/goal of this dynamic movement is the overcoming of all sorts of deficiency and weakness. The unconscious “wisdom of the body” provides the resources which are useful to serve this purpose. (Even psychosomatic symptoms can function, in this context, as a useful means regarding such a purpose!)

(c) This dynamic force is equivalent to a striving to overcome deficiencies. The fundamental motif of human striving is a (fictive) goal of absolute safety. This “plus-position” is connected with pleasurable fantasies of “being on the top”, such as being rich, omniscient, universally respected, sexually desirable: that means, being in every respect superior. This “striving for superiority” serves the purpose to compensate the feeling of inferiority (that is an expression of the “minus-position”): This feeling of inferiority gives rise to develop different strategies of self-actualization

• attraction attention (wanting to be the focus of attention);
• claim for power (dominance)
• tendency for revenge (retaliation)
• tendency for justifying (excusing) of one’s faults
• safeguarding by withdrawal (evasive acting)

All of these strategies can be realized by active or passive methods. Passive methods make frequently use of psycho-somatic symptoms. An example is depressive weeping: Adler spoke in this context of “water power”. By this ironic choice of words he wanted to indicate that tears not only are caused by depression: additionally, they may serve the purpose that is contained in one of the above mentioned strategies.

(d)     Man is creative and able to find a meaning in his/her life. Since early childhood man is forming specific opinions regarding his/her environment. We may speak, in this context, of a creative “construction of reality”. This means that reality is based on strictly (inter)subjective constructions.

(e) Man is a social being. The community of cooperating and communication fellow men is a prerequisite for individuation. The more a child is interwoven into a social network; the better will be his/her personal competences in future life. Consequently, all basic problems of life are social problems. Without a developed “community feeling” the person concerned is liable to get many psychic illnesses, especially depressions and anxiety disorders. A developed social competence has a decisive effect on cognitive capacities that make a “normal” rational conduct possible. Persons who are not provided with social competence are inclined to develop a “private logic”: Consequently, their behaviour will be “abnormal”, fellow-men will experience them as awkward, funny or ridiculous. This, in turn, is strongly decouraging. As a consequence, the probability is high for developing safeguarding strategies (cf. c).

    
3. What is your understanding of the role you have played in the intellectual promotion to which you belong and the development of psychology?

 

From 1982 until 1992 I have been the chairman of the Scientific Committee of the International Association of Individual Psychology. This period was filled with vigorous discussions as to the question: “Is Individual Psychology (like psychoanalysis) a part of depth psychology?” Today this question is answered: Most of the Adlerians all over the world identify themselves with the premises of depth psychology, especially the hypothesis of a dynamic unconsciousness.

In Germany, I have concentrated on working out the importance of paradoxical interventions in the practice of Individual Psychology/teleoanalysis. This tradition had been initiated by Adler himself in 1914: Como uno de los primeros miembros del círculo cultural occidental comenzó ADLER a transitar ya en 1914 los caminos de la paradoja.

 

Así él aconsejó a personas que sufrían de insomnio, no hacer "algo contra ello" – como sería     "razonable desde el punto de vista del sentido común". Al contrario él aconsejaba a su paciente, el considerar tal síntoma como algo positivo, como un "signo favorable de una enfermedad mental curable". A una pequeña niña que tiranizaba a su toda familia cada mañana ataques de llanto y horas enteras peinandose, ADLER le propuso: "Escribe en un pedazo de papel con grandes caracteres y cuélgalo en la cabecera de tu cama: Todas las mañanas debo tener en jaque a toda familia!" (cit. según TITZE 1982, pag. 282).

The contact with Viktor Frankl opened my eyes for the fact that “all paradoxes are grounded by humor” (Frankl)

4. What psychological approach or authors to your understanding point to the immediate future of psychology?

 

There are two realms of research that are, in my opinion, especially important. First the investigation of shame, the “hidden emotion”. Shame is an expression of that feeling of worthlessness and self-doubt which Pierre Janet 120 ago had denominated the “sentiment d’incomplétitude” - and which Alfred Adler called the “inferiority complex”. Traditional psychoanalytic therapy was dealing with the importance of those guilt feelings which stem from the super-ego and intervene in “immoral” impulses from the unconsciousness (i.e. sexual or aggressive drives). Modern psychoanalysis, however, has adopted the basic Adlerian model of determining feelings of inferiority (minus-position: experienced as shame) which the person concerned tries to compensate by orienting towards a final goal of (fictive) absolute superiority (plus position: experienced as pride). This fictive goal is an ideal. In fact, our post-modern society is flooded with individuals who try to overcome their problems they have with an extremely low self-esteem by a striving for absolute power. These individuals are self-centered or (in psychoanalytic terminology) “narcissistic”. They lack social interest: their fellow-men are less experienced as companions, instead they are increasingly seen as competitors. Therefore, a permanent comparison is carried out – whether the fellow man is less powerful (= downward comparison, triggers a feeling of superiority) or more powerful (= upward comparison, triggers a feeling of inferiority). Oliver James, a British psychologist conducted a survey about the psychic well-being in Great Britain (O. James: Britain on the couch, London 1998). Many thousand participants were included into this survey. The outcome, in short, was: Depression, violence and compulsive behavior have increased considerably since 1950. (Depression rate is ten times higher than in 1950!) Rates of suicide have increased as well. Alcohol consumption has increased in all European nations, as has cirrhosis of the liver. The use of such illegal drugs as marijuana, cocaine and heroin has increased exponentially, most dramatically among the young. 20% of the total American population suffer from a mental illness during any given 12 months and 32% will suffer at some point during their lifetime. Oliver James states:

“Modern life fails to meet a fundamental human need that evolved millions of years ago – for rank, for a status in relation to others. It has a remarkable facility for inducing a feeling of subordination in us, of making us feel like losers even if we are winners. Originally, during our evolution, the low self-esteem, shame, humiliation, hopelessness and helplessness (feelings of depression) that resulted from subordination served as a useful function.(…) Even ‘the most beautiful woman’ has been touched by the epidemic of depression and eating disorders which has plagued young women for the second half of the twentieth century. But why should Princess Diana, a raving beauty of the highest imaginable status, have these problems? One answer may be that she compares herself too often with too many people in ways that leave her feeling inadequate and insecure (…) Depressed people have a disastrous tendency to compare themselves to an excessive extent with others. (…) This problem starts early: Aged seven to nine, children begin to make plentiful social comparisons and this is often accompanied by a significant dousing of their mood at school and a dislike thereof. (…) We are increasingly likely to live alone, the care of children has become increasingly erratic and the elderly are liable to be left to fend for themselves in unnaturally lonely, estranged circumstances.”

Altogether, these data indicate that post-modern man is increasingly discouraged, lacking self-confidence and firm sense of community and solidarity towards his/her fellow-men. Post-modern man is inclined to view the world as hostile and life, in general, as dangerous. The self-image is rather negative: deficiencies and faults are focused, positive resources, talents, and capabilities usually will be ignored. Therefore, modern psychotherapy has turned from concentrating on psychic defects and pathological manifestations of the psyche. Instead, the focus is increasingly directed towards positive aspects: the resources the person concerned is endowed with. This encouraging procedure – which has been typical for Individual Psychology since its beginnings! - has been adopted, meanwhile, by many schools of psychotherapy (e.g. systemic family therapy). Most importantly, it is a main support in modern trauma-therapy. And, in the frame of academic psychology, a completely new branch has grown: Positive Psychology, connected with the names of Martin Seligman and Willibald Ruch (who is a well-known humor researcher as well). Positive Psychology is concentrating on “good emotions”, such as joy, optimism, contentment, and happiness. Individual Psychology regarded these emotions always as an expression of life-affirming courage.      

On the Practice.

1. What is the role of the therapist in our society and what activities do think correspond to them?

In some way, the modern psychotherapist’s work is the equivalent of the traditional pastoral work a priest is expected to accomplish. Therefore, the modern psychotherapist is not limited on curing psychiatric diseases. Furthermore, the modern psychotherapists is expected to help his/her “clients” (this word is used more and more instead of “patient”) to find his/her specific meaning in life – thereby finding appropriate way of self-actualization. This process is accompanied by positive feelings, which stabilize the ego. In this context, Alfred Adler thematized the importance of a purpose of life (which is dependent from a developed community feeling!), C.G. Jung used the term “individuation”, Viktor Frankl wrote about the meaning in life, and the representatives of Humanistic Psychology (e.g. Maslow, Perls, Rogers) use the term self-actualization.

2. Where does this therapeutic method through laughter come from?

Today some 300.000 participants all over the world     are affiliated to informal “laughter clubs”. This movement goes back to the Indian physician Madan Kataria who in the early Nineties read about the results of gelotology (see above), especially the works of William Fry. Kataria was impressed by the fact that a hearty laughter is suitable to influence many physiologic processes in the human in a positive way (look for “gelotology” in Google!). Kataria, then, was looking for an effective method to induce laughter in his patients. He recognized that the traditional method of Hatha Yoga was best suited to works in this way. The result was a compilation of very simple, short, (but nevertheless) very effective laughter exercises which are called Laughter Yoga or Yoga Laughter. The first description of these methods has been published by Kataria in 1995.

Independently from Kataria, I have developed in 1987 another technique which, however, is far less known than Kataria’s technique. This has been described in 1993 in the following interview:

Go to Dossier: Adlerians Today for more Titze

Laughter Groups

From Humor & Health Letter, March/April 1993, pp. 1-6, ISSN 1066-3088

 

An Interview With Dr. Michael Titze

 

H&HL: The concept of Laughter Groups is unfamiliar to many of us in the United States. Tell us about the phenomenon of the Laughter Group and its popularity in Europe. What is a Laughter Group and what happens in one?

 

Laughter groups are becoming very popular in Central Europe and England. I have conducted laughter groups and seminars on laughter groups for several years.

Laughter groups utilize humor and are psychotherapeutic in nature. Patients joining a laughter group must first learn to change their mode of breathing. Many who come to the groups are restrained and shy. So they have to find their way out of a symbolic cage which narrows their mobility and, literally, takes away their breath. These people have to learn to widen their respiration, i.e. to breathe in such a manner as to increase their oxygen levels. Breathing style correlates with general life attitude. Thus laughter group participants must learn to breathe from the diaphragm -- from deep in the belly. We get them to breathe slowly and intensively, groaning with very long “aaah.” After that they have to utter a short “ha!” in a hearty way. Correct breathing is fundamental to therapeutic laughter.

For several years I have used a special respiration method in laughter groups which I have conducted. Deliberately and as quickly as they can, group participants are encouraged to transport a considerable quantum of air into their lungs, thus producing a mild form of hyperventilation. After this hatcheling exercise they will usually feel tension and dizziness. While lying on the floor they start liberating themselves from such stress symptoms by laughing uproariously -- thus getting rid of the tension and experiencing simultaneously an excellent feeling of vigor. Thus people realize that they are able to master their lives in a dynamic and resolute way. Assertiveness and effective breathing go together.

 

H&HL: What else do you emphasize in a Laughter Group?

 

We deal with constructive aggression. Constructive aggressiveness is a very important concern in laughter theories. This is true for instance for Bergson, Gregory, Grotjahn and Koestler and is especially important to ethologists like Lorenz and Eibl-Eibesfeldt. Moreover, George Bach’s concept of “creative aggression” is particularly important. People suffering from the stress of civilized life usually feel like victims who are condemned to an indifferent, submissive, and passive life. Patient and passive come from a common root word. Patients in psychotherapy usually behave in a passive-dependent rather than an assertive way. Often this has roots in childhood where such people were raised to feel ashamed of their refractory tendencies. As a result they fear -- perhaps an unconscious fear -- disclosing their true feelings or even exposing themselves. They fear being laughed at by their mates.

People getting into our laughter groups have usually had painful emotional experiences. When they join our groups they are encouraged to psychologically disclose themselves and expose their hidden fears. The experience begins with the therapist. That is to say, s/he exhibits behaviors which patients generally fear expressing. By demonstrating these “awful weaknesses” and vulnerabilities the therapist demonstrates fear and anxiety which these people know so well but would never deliberately reveal in the presence of others. On the first meeting the therapist is something of an actor and does a sort of parody. For instance he may express “his fear” by stuttering, trembling, gasping for breath, or sharing other experience of painful imperfection. The therapist does this parody for about 10 minutes. At the end of this period most of the group participants are usually in a high state of tension, because the therapist did what they secretly fear so -- to be without self-control and doing embarrassing things! After the presentation the therapist asks each person in the group, “What did you experience? What do you feel?” Usually they say that it was terrible for them and add, “Because this is the way that I might behave. Therefore, I try to control myself to prevent such a disaster.” Patients say, “You acted out what I always feared that others would see in me.” After that each participant has to perform likewise the most terrifying social situation which he or she could imagine. They may take material from the past -- something that really occurred -- or may develop a horrifying fantasy. This is very, very liberating for the patients. They start enjoying it immediately. They feel as though they are being released from a nightmare and they desire to share this experience with their mates. Generally they laugh and a strong group cohesiveness develops.

 

H&HL: What is the role of the therapist in a Laughter Group?

 

The therapist is a moderator letting the participants act out their fears and agonizing fantasies. From my experience with laughter groups, people start laughing spontaneously almost from the beginning. It is not necessary to get them to laugh by telling jokes or forming a comedy routine. As people do things which they have always wanted to but have refrained form or disguised or covered up, they gradually develop feelings of strength and self-confidence. This is what I mean when I use the term constructive aggressiveness. Feeling inferiority, insecurity, inhibition, and shame has something to do with not being allowed to express oneself as a authentic person. This relates somehow to our inner regulating sense, the superego or conscience. In laughter groups people are explicitly allowed and encouraged to act freely – the way they would if there were no social pressure or condemnation.

 

H&HL: It sounds as though there is an element akin to paradoxical intention that occurs when the therapist acts out the patient’s fears.

 

That is true. I first began to examine the realm of humor when I was close to Viktor Frankl. I admire him and got many insights from discussing and corresponding with him. It was also my privilege to watch him facing a group of disciples and teaching them how to apply paradoxical intention. There was so much cheerfulness, inspiration, and wit coming from Dr. Frankl. He once told us that humor is one the most powerful “existentials”

-- a term he took over from Heidegger. Frankl was actually the first one to introduce humor into psychotherapy. In connection with his technique of paradoxical intention, Frankl explicitly pointed to the phenomenon of laughter. He declared that one of the results of paradoxical intention is that the patient laughs involuntarily. This laughing, as humor in general, enables the patient to keep a distance from his neurosis. Paradoxically, Frankl pointed out that it is necessary for the patient to learn to laugh at his or her fears. To achieve this the courage to be ridiculous has to be gained. Even the therapist should achieve this attitude! This means, as Frankl puts it, to play or demonstrate this ridiculousness to the patient. (I speak in this context of an humoristic inversion of the therapist’s augustness.)

 

H&HL: Is the primary approach that you use in Laughter Groups acting out life fears and embarrassing fantasies or do you employ other methods as well?

 

We use acting out in the first phase. Later when people have no particular problem facing fear evoking situations, they can go on into other techniques promoting their assertiveness. For example, we may use some of Albert Ellis’ shame attacking exercises. Or we may engage in the “silly laughter” exercise which aims at a nonverbal defense of aggressive verbal attacks. For this purpose, first of all group members have to list some of their “most disagreeable weaknesses.” Then each one of them is confronted, in the mode of a go-round, by the others with “reproaches” “thematizing” exactly these “weaknesses.”

A very important issue in this context is the training of a non-conventional style of communication. There are three basic lines to be observed:

 

1)      questioning the questions (“cunning silliness”);

2)      exaggerating justifications and apologies (“paradoxical submissiveness”);

3)      giving nonverbal answers to verbal questions (“nonplus body language”).

 

All of these techniques generate much fun and can be transferred into everyday life.

 

H&HL: In addition to the influence of Frankl I noticed that you have been influenced by Adlerian Psychology. What connections exist between humor and the Adlerian perspective?

 

At the heart of Adler’s work was the inferior and superior paradigm which was based in Adler’s concept of aggression. It was worked out by him as early as 1908. Later it was forgotten and Freud came up with the thanatos drive. Even today many psychotherapists are afraid of dealing with the fact that aggressivity is important in human life. For instance, look at parents abusing their children physically; or look at the world-wide terrorist activities and wars: all of this is very aggressive. Each of these incidents exemplifies aggressiveness without humor -- aggressiveness filled with rage and seriousness. What makes aggressiveness so terrible is that people are convinced that what they are doing is absolutely right and what others are doing is absolutely wrong. Humor gives us a Means to see things relatively – to see that nothing is absolute and that there are myriads of other possible solutions to be taken into account. As Adler put it, “Everything could be something else”. This is the formula of paradox. The basic idea of Applying therapeutic humor is, in the Adlerian sense, paradoxical encouragement: It is to convince persons who may feel inferior or weak that they have the power to feel the opposite and that they can behave assertively. Consequently, they learn to deal with aggressiveness. If it is dot destructive, aggressiveness can be an inspiration for life and an avenue to active and assertive behaviors. Thus it may have a therapeutic value. In laughter groups people learn to be aggressive in a non-destructive, i.e. genuinely humoristic way.

 

H&HL: How did you first become interested in studying laughter?

 

It began five or six years ago when I was working with patients in groups and using paradoxical procedures. I observed that people were stimulated by that to get into a state of mirthfulness. When these people joined in laughing together it was more liberating (and thus “therapeutic”) that the mere cognitive insight. When they spontaneously laughed together, it reminded me of the way children laugh. This is why I got into the habit of asking new group members to demonstrate how they laugh when they laugh at their best. It is very interesting to recognize that most of these persons are laughing in a flat way that is quite different from the way a child would laugh. When a child laughs the whole body is involved. Tears may be brought to the eyes. I used to invite the participants of my laughter groups to learn to laugh as kids laugh. Children laugh loudly and many adults stifle their laughter to keep from being too loud or appearing disagreeable. Laughing without any restraint and taking all the potentialities the body gives us may seem to be somehow embarrassing for our environment. People with emotional problems are use to controlling themselves and would not dare laugh as freely and easily as kids do. To realize this brings one back to being the playful child which is within each of us. This child does not think too much about life but enjoys being alive and having fun being amused.

As my interest in humor developed further I had the privilege of meeting Dr. William Fry and reading of his insights, contributions, and observations in his book, Sweet Madness.

Dr. Ernest Bornemann, a well-known Austrian psychoanalyst, had compiled within a period of approximately 20 years hundreds of rhymes, spoonerisms, riddles, and songs contributed by kids between four and 16 years of age. These creations not only are very funny, they are “spicy” in that sense that they include a lot of “forbidden” language and images – directed mostly against parental figures. When adults roar with laughter there are often elements of infantile humor. The vitality of the hale and hearty “inner child” is expressed. Humor and laughter is an excellent avenue for approaching this “inner child.”

 

 

3. How does Laughter Clubs work?

Laughter Clubs function in a very similar way as the groups of Alcoholics Anonymous do: The participants join informally: they do not introduce themselves formally, they even are not expected to speak anything or to perform in a specific way. The following text illustrates the respective elements:

All the members stand in a circle or semicircle, according to the space available, with the anchor person in the middle. He or she gives commands to initiate different types of laughter and exercises. The most important point to be noted here is that the members should not stand in a line to form a circle, as seen in military parades. The idea is that one should not feel conscious about breaking the circle or the line. It should be like a crowd format with people standing at random. The distance between members should not be more than 2-3 feet, the stretch of the arms, as members are supposed to look into each others' eyes and laugh. If the distance is more, the eye contact will not be effective enough to stimulate a person to laugh. Moreover, members should not stick to one place throughout the session. During each type of laughter, one should go up to different people and laugh with them with good sustained eye contact, or strike hands with each other whenever possible, depending upon the type of laughter.
A 20-minute session is a perfect blend of stimulated laughter, deep breathing and stretching exercises. One bout of laughter lasts for 30 seconds to 45 seconds. After each bout of laughter, or sometimes after two bouts, two deep breaths are taken, in order to give a break. This avoids exertion and tiredness. Sometimes, various neck, shoulder and arm stretching exercises are done in place of deep breathing between bouts of laughters.

Step I: Deep Breathing: The session starts when one takes a deep breath through the nostrils, simultaneously raising the arms up towards the sky, at an angle of 45 degrees from the middle of the body. The breathing in should be rhythmic, in accordance with movement of the arms and one should keep on filling air into the lungs, as much as possible, and then hold one's breath for 4 seconds. Then the breath is released slowly and rhythmically by bringing the stretched arms back to normal position. One can breathe out through the nose or preferably through the mouth by pursing the lips, as if whistling silently. By breathing out through the mouth like this, one can prolong the expiration, so as to also remove the residual air, which is normally held back in the lungs even after one exhales. Removing this residual air which contains more corbon dioxide, and replacing it with fresh air containing more oxygen increases the net supply of oxygen to the body. This is in accordance with yogic deep breathing (a type of paranayama) where the duration of exhalation is prolonged almost double the time of inhalation.
Deep breathing is a very valuable exercise for maintaining both physical and mental health. It increases the vital capacity of the lungs and keeps all the air cells operational to participate in the exchanges of gases. It also prevents bacterial infections in respiratory tracts, thereby being helpful to those suffering from asthma and bronchitis. Deep breathing cools down the mind and enhances mental stability.

Step II: Ho-Ho Ha-Ha Exercise: All the members start chanting Ho-Ho Ha-Ha in unison, with rhythmic clapping 1-2, 1-2-3. (Ho-Ho; Ha-Ha-Ha). The sound should come from the naval, so as to feel the movement of abdominal muscles, while keep the mouth half open. While chanting Ho-Ho Ha-Ha, a smile should be maintained and the head and the body should swing forward and backward as if one is enjoying the exercise. This can go on for up to one minute.

Step III: Hearty Laughter: After the Ho-Ho Ha-Ha exercise, the first kind of laughter is hearty laughter. To initiate all kinds of laughter the anchor person gives a command 1,2,3... and everybody start laughing at the same time. It builds up a good tempo and the effect is much better, rather than different members laughing with different timings. In a hearty laugh, one laughs by throwing the arms up and laughing heartily. One should not keep the arms stretched up all the time during a hearty laugh. Keep the arms up for a while and bring them down and again raise them up. At the end of a hearty laugh, the anchor person starts clapping and chanting Ho-Ho Ha-Ha 5-6 times. That marks the end of a particular kind of laughter. This is followed by two deep breaths.

Step IV: Greeting Laughter: Again under the command of the anchor person, the members come a little closer to each other and greet each other with a particular gesture, while laughing in a medium tone and maintaining eye contact. One can join both the hands (Namaste laughter), or do Aadaab Laughter by moving one hand closer to the face (as Muslims greet each other), or one can bend at the hips and laugh by looking in the eyes of the neighbour (Japanese way) or there could many other ways of greeting according to the region, state or country. This is followed by Ho-Ho Ha-Ha chanting and clapping 5-6 times and deep breathing twice.
Step V: Silent Laughter With mouth wide open: In this type of laughter, the mouth is opened as wide as possible and participants laugh looking at each others' faces and making different gestures showing their palms to each other, shaking their heads and sometimes their hands. Silent Laughter should be done with quick movements of the abdominal muscles as we do during spontaneous laughter. It should not be like a prolonged hissing sound, which looks more artificial.
Important: One should not apply excess force or over exert while laughing without sound. It can be harmful if intra-abdominal pressure is raised unnecessarily. One should try to impart more feeling rather than applying too much force.

Step VI: Humming Laughter With Lips Closed: In this type of laughter, the lips are closed and a person tries to laugh while making a humming sound which resonates throughout the skull. People can keep on looking at each other, making some gestures to stimulate each other. Some people also call it pigeon laughter.

Caution: One should not try to laugh without sound while keeping the mouth closed with force. This raises undue pressure in the abdominal cavity that may be harmful.
Step VII: Medium Laughter: In this type of laughter, one laughs gently in a medium tone while going up to another person, or strikes palms with each other, either above the head or below the chest or both. There is lot of movement in the group as one should try to laugh and meet 4-5 different persons. This is very enjoyable as it is gentle and can be prolonged a bit, Plus there is interaction between various members.

Step VIII: Swinging Laughter: This is an interesting kind laughter as it has a lot of playfulness. All the member move outwards by two meters to widen the circle. On instruction from the anchor person people move forward by making a prolonged sound of Ae Ae- Aeeeee....., simultaneously raising the hands and they all burst into laughter while meeting in the center and waving their hands. After the bout of laughter, they move back to their original position. The second time they move forward by saying Oh- Ooooooo.. and burst into laughter. Similarly, the third and fourth times they make the sounds of Eh- Eh... E.... and Oh- Oh... O... Many people are seen behaving like children and enjoying the fun.

Step IX: One-Meter Laughter: This is the invention of a Laughter Club member dealing in cloth merchandise. It duplicates how we measure an imaginary one meter by moving one hand over the stretched arm of the other side and extending the shoulder. The hand is moved in three jerks by chanting Ae...., Ae....., Aeee..... and then participants burst into laughter by stretching both the arms. First the imaginary measurement is done on the left side and then on the right. This cycle is repeated twice. Again, this laughter has a playful quality. People enjoy the chanting of Ae... Ae.. in a staccato manner.

Step X: Lion Laughter: This particular laughter has been derived from a yogic posture known as Simha Mudra (Lion Posture). In the lion posture, the tongue is fully extruded by opening the mouth wide, while eyes are kept wide open and hands are posed like the paws of a lion and the person roars like a lion. In Lion Laughter, the basic position remains the same as stated above. The only difference is that people laugh with the tongue fully extruded instead of roaring. Lion Laughter gives very good exercise to facial muscles, the tongue and throat. It is also supposed to be good for the healthy functioning of the thyroid gland.

Step XI: Argument Laughter: This laughter is competitive laughter between two groups separated by a gap. Two groups look at each other and start laughing by pointing the index finger at the members of the other group. Usually, the women are on one side and men on the other. This is also quite enjoyable and helps to convert forced laughter into spontaneous giggles.
Step XII: Dancing Laughter: Members are instructed by the anchor person to dance in the funniest way and laugh. This is very stimulating and enjoyable as many people come up with hilarious dance steps. All these types of laughter are intended to remove inhibitions and make a person more open and extrovert.

Step XIII: Musical Laughter: This is not exactly a type of laughter but a singing of Ho-Ho Ha-Ha-Ha in a chorus based on folk dances, popular songs or any rhythm like conducting an orchestra by chanting only Ho-Ho Ha-Ha. Occasionally some giggles are added to make it interesting. This laughter has many variations, depending upon the state and cultural group.
Step XIV: Gradient Laughter: This laughter is practised at the end of the session. All the members are asked to come closer to the anchor person. Gradient laughter starts with bringing smiles on faces and looking around at each other. Slowly, gentle giggles are added by the anchor person. Others follow and start giggling too. Slowly the intensity of laughter is increased further. And then the members gradually burst into hearty laughter. This goes on for about a minute. It is very refreshing and infectious.

Step XV: Closing Technique: At the end of the session three slogans are shouted. The anchor person delivers the first punchline by saying "We are the happiest people in the world." Everyone raises their arms and says. Y-e-ee-s. "We are the healthiest people in the world!" Y-e-s. "We are Laughter Club members!" Y-e-e-s.

Neck and Shoulder Exercises: Since there is some fatigue after completion of the first round, members need to take a break before starting the second round. Here, neck and shoulder exercises are done. They have been incorporated because cervical spondylosis, neck stiffness and frozen shoulder are common complaints after the age of forty.

Basic Guidelines for a Laughter Session:

1. All the participants will start laughing at the same time when the anchor person gives the command 1,2...3.

2. People should not stand far away from each other. To laugh without jokes, eye contact is the key. During each type of laughter a person must maintain good eye contact with more than one of his neighbours.

3. Do not apply too much force while laughing, it should be more of a feeling and enjoying of the process.

4. One should try to feel free like a child and make funny gestures to make others laugh.

Who Should not participate in laughter session?

1. Any person who feels any discomfort in any part of the body, must get himself examined by a doctor and work out his physical fitness status before joining the laughter session.
2. A mildly heavy head, after a laughter session in the beginning, is normal. Such individuals must not overexert and laugh forcefully. If you are already a hypertensive patient, get your blood pressure checked at least once in ten days. Don't participate in laughter sessions if your blood pressure is high and uncontrolled. However, those taking treatment and keeping blood pressure within normal limits can join the sessions.

3. Any heart patient on treatment, or one who has had heart attack in the past must get clearance from his cardiologist before joining laughter sessions. Those with a history of heart attacks and those who have had bypass operations done, may join the session if their treadmill (stress test) results are within normal limits.

4. Hernia: Hernia is a protusion of abdominal contents - various parts of the intestine mostly the small intestine - through the weakened wall of abdominal muscles. In those who have undergone any abdominal surgery, the site of the incision becomes the weakest point. With a repeated increase in intra-abdominal pressure one might get an incisional hernia. Another common type of hernia occurs at the groin. The abdominal contents can protrude through the inguinal canal and produce a swelling in the groin area while coughing, sneezing and laughing. Elderly people are more prone to this condition because of muscles weakened by advancing age. Those suffering from a long-standing cough due to asthma or chronic bronchitis, should be extra careful because they are more prone to developing hernia.

If someone gets swelling on any part of the abdomen or discomfort while laughing, they must get themselves examined by a general surgeon. If diagnosed to be suffering from hernia, once surgical correction is done, one should be assessed by a surgeon for fitness before attending laughter therapy.

5. Advanced Piles (Haemorrhoids): Those suffering from piles with active bleeding, or are at a stage when piles protrude from the anus, should not join the laughter session, as these conditions may worsen with increase of intra-abdominal pressure. The patient may join a Laughter Club once surgical or other type of treatment is taken.

6. Recent Surgery: To be on the safe side, one should not join a laughter session, within three months of any major operation, especially on the abdomen. In the later case, one must get a go-ahead from one's surgeon.

7. Uterovaginal Prolapse: In some women, ligaments supporting the uterus become weak after the age of 40. Downward sagging of the uterus occurs, causing discomfort in the lower abdomen. One of the signs of such prolapse is involuntary passage of urine while coughing, sneezing and laughing. Such women should avoid laughter sessions until they are treated surgically.
8. Pregnancy: In a small percentage of pregnant women, there is a possibility of abortion if there is a repeated rise in intra-abdominal pressure and they should avoid laughter sessions, till some conclusive data is available, after conducting research on the effects of laughter on pregnancy.
9. During attacks of Cold and Flu: Acute viral infections are highly contagious and if a person with such an infection laughs, he is likely to spread the infection by way of droplets in the air. People should stay away for about a week once they catch a cold. The good news is that regular laughter therapy increases the resistance of the upper respiratory mucous membrane and people are getting fewer coughs and colds, as shown by a recent survey done in the first phase of clinical research on Laughter Clubs.

10. Eye Complications: Any person with high intra-ocular pressure (glaucoma) with a history of rational or vitreous hemorrhage should take the opinion of an ophthalmologist before joining a Laughter Club.

4. Why does man laugh?

Ethologists (e.g., Lorenz, Eibl-Eibesfeldt) say that weeping and laughing are the most fundamental forms of communication. More than 100.000 years ago, our earliest ancestors communicated to their fellows by laughing that they were in good mood: because they had overcome a dangerous situation or had defeated an enemy or a wild beast. This triumphant laughter brought the members of the own in-group together. Thus, its function is cohesive. On the other hand, this laughter was experienced by strangers not belonging to the in-group as hostile, threatening, aggressive, or exclusive. This elementary function is still decisive for laughter: People who laugh together form an alliance, a “laughing community”. Those who are not included into this laughing community have to endure a shameful “baptism of fire”, as Henri Bergson the French sociologists, Nobel Prize winner and author of the famous book “Le Rire” puts it: They are excluded, socially banished and “sent to the desert like the prophets of the Old Testament” (formulation: Léon Wurmser, a well-known American shame researcher).

  
5. What is the reason for this lack of humor?

Shame: People who did not develop a firm sense of belonging (which is a facet of the Adlerian community feeling) never can experience a healthy self-confidence. Instead, they feel worthless and behave in the way of outsiders. This, on the other hand, is the precondition to get into the position of a strange, awkward, “comical” oder “funny” person – someone who will be the target of derisive laughter by those who feel strong and “normal” within their in-group:

In my psychotherapeutic work, I encounter numerous individuals who are afraid of being funny. In many instances, these individuals had to endure shameful refusals, disappointments and degradations throughout their childhood years. Although they long for human proximity, acknowledgement, and love, they constantly distance themselves from others. Their subjective experience of life is that they do not belong to the community and that they are neither liked nor accepted by their peers. Consequently, they are very lonely.

For such individuals, the bitter feeling of not being lovable is all‑pervasive. This feeling may have originated in early childhood when their self‑centered parents were unable to open the door to "the depot of life."

The above‑described parents are unable to train their children for a life in the community which Alfred Adler considers to be the most important function of education. For these parents, training their children for life in the community would be emotionally equivalent to relinquishing power and a correlated predisposition for gain and control, at least within the family constellation.

 

When children have learned to adapt their behavior to the normative ideals prescribed by self‑centered parents, then they can hardly ascribe to the many unwritten rules of community life. Therefore, they rub their peers the wrong way. They act oddly and come across as outsiders who do not know how to react adaptively. They do not understand the game rules of social conduct and cannot decode the "inside jargon" of their peer group. They frequently end up as outsiders, often rejected and laughed at by other children. This becomes another shaming experience that confirms the dire presumption that "There is something wrong with me!" These children then begin to control themselves. They want to do everything correctly, yet inevitably fall back into their family role behavior. They try to keep their playmates happy in the same way they originally learned to please their parents ‑ by allowing their peers to exploit them or scoff at them.

Puberty represents a particularly critical phase as youngsters are generally concerned with their outward appearance. Shame‑bound teenagers frequently try to over-control their behavior because they are afraid of looking foolish within their peer group. This increases their internal tensions to a breaking point, possibly resulting in psychosomatic and depressive symptoms. These youths feel uneasy in their own skin and experience themselves as ridiculous. This triggers a fear of being targeted for sadistic forms of humor: The fear of being laughed at (gelotophobia) paralyzes the free course of body movements and influences the person's thinking and acting. In this instance, a profound break has occurred since laughter is no longer lived as an expression of joie de vivre but rather as a cruel "means of social discipline" (Bergson). Subsequently, these individuals feel uneasy in their skin as they realize that they do not belong within the community of their peers. They live as if they were "in enemy territory" (Adler), withdraw from social life and adopt a shunning and defensive attitude. They flee from the real world into a fantasy world where their fiction of great perfection, superiority and absolute power is all‑pervasive, and this stance further deepens their alienation from community life. Their alienation is compounded by the fact that many of the goals they have set for themselves in their fantasy world are too far-­flung and cannot be achieved in reality. This maladaptive lifestyle generally has a negative effect on their peers who then turn their backs on such individuals or ridicule them.

6. How does one laugh and what are the benefits?

The benefits of laughter are (a) psychological and (b) physiological.

Ad (a) much of our attitude about life and our capacity to meet life's challenges depends on the quality of the relationships we have, especially our most intimate relationships that when they go sour, life tends to feel bleak. Because the quality of our relationships has a powerful effect on physical and mental balance, as well as our sense of satisfaction in life, it's important that we keep our relationships rewarding and fresh.

The data on divorce provide compelling evidence that we are not succeeding at all. Nearly half of all marriages end in divorce--cohabitation couplings are far likelier to end badly--and of marriages that endure, many are less than happy.

Most people know the value of a good relationship and, no matter how often they have lost at love, keep on hoping. As a result, advice on how to make relationships work fills shelves and shelves of bookstores and hours of talk-show time. Some of it is even good, the product of careful research on happy and unhappy couples.

But of all the elements that contribute to the warm atmosphere of a good relationship, there is one that seldom gets translated into advice or even therapy, yet is something that everyone desires and most people would like more of: Laughter.

It's a safe bet that most of the laughs married couples get come from TV laugh tracks, not from each other. They don't emanate from the relationship. More important, they don't feed it. And if the jokes that make the rounds by email are any gauge, often they are at the expense of it.

But homegrown laughter may be what ailing couples need most. Uniquely human, laughter is, first and foremost, a social signal--it disappears when there is no audience, which may be as small as one other person--and it binds people together. It synchronizes the brains of speaker and listener so that they are emotionally attuned.

These are the conclusions of Robert Provine, a neuroscientist who found that laughter is far too fragile to dissect in the laboratory. Instead, he observed thousands of incidents of laughter spontaneously occurring in everyday life, and wittily reports the results in Laughter: A Scientific Investigation (Penguin Books, 2001).

Laughter establishes--or restores--a positive emotional climate and a sense of connection between two people, who literally take pleasure in the company of each other. For if there's one thing Dr. Provine found it's that speakers laugh even more than their listeners. Of course levity can defuse anger and anxiety, and in so doing it can pave the path to intimacy.

Most of what makes people laugh is not thigh-slapper stuff but conversational comments. "Laughter is not primarily about humor," says Dr. Provine, "but about social relationships."

Among some of his surprising findings:

- The much vaunted health benefits of laughter are probably coincidental, a consequence of it's much more important primary goal: bringing people together. In fact, the health benefits of laughter may result from the social support it stimulates.

- Laughter plays a big role in mating. Men like women who laugh heartily in their presence.

- Both sexes laugh a lot, but females laugh more--126 percent more than their male counterparts. Men are more laugh-getters.

- The laughter of the female is the critical index of a healthy relationship

ad (b) The focus on the benefits of laughter really began with Norman Cousins' memoir, Anatomy of an Illness. Cousins, who was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, a painful spine condition, found that a diet of comedies, like Marx Brothers films and episodes of Candid Camera, helped him feel better. He said that 10 minutes of laughter allowed him two hours of pain-free sleep.

Laughter helps us keep healthy by enriching the blood with ample supplies of oxygen, the lifeline of our system. According to the science of yoga, life energy (prana) flows through the breath. By controlled and deep breathing we can enhance our own well-being. After 15-30 minutes intensive laughing (= package offered by a Laughter Club) participants carry home the healthy habit of deep breathing at least 10-20 times a day. This helps to increase the lung capacity, thus enhancing oxygen supply to the body.

Laughter helps to remove the negative effects of STRESS, which is the number one killer today. More than 70% of illnesses like high blood pressure, heart disease, anxiety, depression, frequent coughs and colds, peptic ulcers, insomnia, allergies, asthma, menstrual difficulties, tension headaches, stomach upsets and even cancer, have some connection to stress.

Laughter helps to boost the IMMUNE SYSTEM, which is the master key for maintaining good health.

Other benefits include:

• Helps control high blood pressure and heart disease. While there are many factors for these like heredity, obesity, smoking and excessive intake of saturated fats, stress is one of the major factors. Laughter definitely helps to control blood pressure by reducing the release of stress-related hormones and bringing relaxation.
• Increasing stamina through increased oxygen supply
• Alleviates pain and gives a sense of well being by releasing endorphins, the body’s painkiller hormones.
• Effective antidote for depression, anxiety and psychosomatic disorders: laughter boosts the production of serotonin, a natural anti-depressant.
• Gives an excellent internal massage to the digestive tract and enhances blood supply to important internal organs like the liver, spleen, pancreas, kidneys and adrenal glands.
• Ensures good sleep and reduces snoring because laughter is very good for the muscles of the soft palate and throat
• Brings a happy glow to your face and makes your eyes shine with a thin film of tears which are squeezed from the lachrymal sacs during the act of laughter.

7. Is it better to laugh alone or in a group?

It’s hardly possible to laugh for one’s own during a longer period of time: This is only possible in the frame of a (laughter) group!

On the investigation.

1. Tell us about the investigation you have completed and on which you will give a lecture at School of Psychology-University of Republic in our country, Shame and Gelotophobie: Afraid to laugh and the ridiculous. Results of an investigation into the causes of the inferiority complex.

In a book, authored in 1995, I described numerous patients who had been treated by me because of depression or anxiety disorders. In all these cases an underlying inferiority complex was decisive. I tried to associate the Adlerian theory of inferiority feelings with the new theory of shame emergence (connected especially with the name of the American psychoanalyst Léon Wurmser). To illustrate this, I incorporated into my writing the fairy tale of PINOCCHIO (which thematizes shame experiences extensively). In this context I coined the term GELOTOPHOBIA and described ways to treat this specific shame-bound disease:

The Pinocchio Complex

Dr. Waleed A. Salameh:
Interview with Dr. Michael Titze

Humor & Health Journal, Volume V, Number 1, January / February, 1996

 

Waleed Salameh (W.S.): What is the Pinocchio Complex?

Michael Titze (M.T.): The Pinocchio Complex is a phenomenon that refers to those with gelotophobia (fear of being laughted at). These people have never learned to appreciate humor and laughter positively. I see this condition as being analogous to Pinocchio who was a marionette or puppet made of wood. In the physical sphere, many emotions manifest themselves in our muscles. We communicate by the way we carry and present ourselves. When fear is experienced every being gets stiff and develops muscular tension. This is for instance the case when a mouse is confronted by a snake and has no chance to either disappear or attack the snake.

The fight or flight responses provide the opportunity to attack or flee. These are adaptive mechanisms that have survival value. But there is a third scenario that unfolds when there is no chance to run or fight: that is to develop a state of muscular tension.

W.S.: This would be the equivalent of what possums might do when they are attacked by other predators. They hang from trees by their tails and pretend to be dead. The expression "playing possum" comes from that and refers precisely to this psychological state of stiffness and apprehension or complete stupor that the person is stuck with following the attack of deformed humor.

M.T.: Generally the muscular tension is associated with emotional panic. Panic in turn means that the individual is experiencing a significant degree of fear. In this situation there seems to be no possibility for using one's Élan vital (or life energy) for aggressive purposes, like attacking the aggressor, or for fleeing.

W.S.: What you are saying is that these people are completely stuck, psychologically frozen in time, because of that experience.

M.T.: That's right. How does this reaction develop? In my opinion, people get into this reaction pattern as the result of certain shame experiences which, in many cases, can be traced back to childhood. These people were forced by their reference persons to behave in a way that was incompatible with the natural inclinations to be aggressive or run away. They had to behave in a very strict, normative, and formalistic way. Otherwise, they would have suffered love withdrawal or certain forms of mental abuse such as being put down, being humiliated, laughed at, or not taken seriously. Consequently, they repeatedly experienced shame. Self-confidence and self-esteem could not emerge in a sufficient way. In these people, the affective conviction of being a real human is not apparent.

W.S.: You say there are physical characteristics that these individuals develop. What are those physical characteristics?

M.T.: The French philosopher Henri Bergson wrote a fantastic book entitled Laughter. In this book Bergson precisely described the Pinocchio Complex when he compared people being laughed at or being cynically put down with puppets or marionettes. This is exactly what the Pinocchio persona is: a wooden puppet.

If someone is uanble to develop a sense of belonging in his childhood because s/he didn't experience the feeling of being loved and estimated by his or her parents, the result according to Bergson, is that this person would be unable to fit into a group in a relaxed way. So s/he will tend to separate from groups. Such individuals don't develop adequate social skills. Shame casts them into the role of a shunned defensive character. They hide away, they are loners. They do not take any risks in their social lives. The main purpose of their lives is to protect themselves from being laughed at by others. This is what the term gelotophobia means! Bergson says that these people are punished by society for being ridiculous.

W.S.: So being laughed at is their punishment for not being sociable. To put it in a succinct form,the Pinocchio Complex seems to refer to those destructive after effects of laughter on the personality of those who have been the object of derision.

M.T.: The most sensitive phase is puberty. Generally, younger children are not interested in not fitting into the norms of society. But in puberty, youngsters carefully examine how others behave. If they do not know the guiding norms or what is expected of them, then they are laughed at. Subsequently, they take on the role of an outsider. For instance, they may be laughed at because they dress differently, are unable to express themselves clearly, or because they do not haveg dates. The result is that they ultimately behave in a very peculiar way. They develop the Pinocchio Complex.

W.S.: What are the special characteristics that you would identify as peculiar to those with the Pinocchio Complex?

M.T.: They behave in a way that is typical for shame. For instance, they may blush. The physical tension brings them to tremble, shortness of breath and to stutter. Their appearance is not lively. Their facial expression is that of a mask. Their arms and legs may not move in a spontaneous way. When they are stalking around, this gives them a funny appearance so that others may watch them with amusement. This, again, provokes more tension because they try to deliberately control their spontaneous body movements which is physically impossible. Subsequently their appearance approximates what Pinocchio was supposed to look like since he was not made out of flesh and blood.

W.S.: What common qualities do you see in those who view humor negatively?

M.T.: They are lonesome and distrustful. Their attitude is "agelotic" ( being unable to appreciate laughter) because they have never experienced that laughter can bring people together or that it can help cement individuals to create a community. The initial reason for this attitude was that they felt separated from their early reference person. This reference person, in many cases a self-centered mother, lacked a "smiling face". The face they recollect corresponds with the petrified countenance of a sphinx: being blank, constantly disinterested, and cold as ice. This is the agelotic face of shame! When infants are confronted with such a face, the "interpersonal bridge"(Kaufman) cannot be constructed. These children experience themselves as being unconnected to others. They do not experience laughter as a positive means of shared identity. These children are left, emotionally, "in the lurch". So they can't develop what Alfred Adler has called a community feeling. Their fellows prove to be hostile strangers who treat them in a cruel way. And one weapon these strangers use is derisory laughter. This is what dissociated children fear so much, and not without reason! It is my conviction that being laughed at is one of the most cruel ways of dehumanizing a person.

W.S.: What are your objectives in the treatment of these individuals?

M.T.: In our therapy groups the "therapeutic clown" serves as a co-therapist. S/he becomes the encouraging model for those suffering from gelotophobia. All clowns expose themselves in public with the intention to be the laughing stock for others. But they don't suffer from it. Those who suffer from gelotophobic symptoms therefore need to learn to deliberately behave as clowns. They grow from developing the same cognitive pattern and the same emotional and behavioral attitudes a clown has. This experience helps to liberate them from the feelings of hurt they may consciously or unconsciously associate with laughter.

Furthermore, the therapeutic clown is a good behavioral model for for healthy children. The way children behave is never perfect. You can look at the child in two ways. If you look in a normative way, a child is someone who makes a lot of mistakes and is, therefore, objectively inferior and weak. If you look, however, at the emotional strength of children you can recognize their creative power and their capability to enjoy life. They can be spontaneous and are able to laugh in an open way. Many people look at the child in the first way, evaluating the child's behavior under the strict ideal norms of adulthood. As a result, discouraged children may come to the conviction that everything they do is inadequate.

The introduction of the clown figure into therapy, allows him or her to serve as an auxiliary ego. For example, the therapeutic clown may come and whisper peculiar, crazy, or mad things into the patient's ears. By serving as a model of assertiveness, the therapeutic clown can mediate a momentous sense sense of strength and adequacy.

Thus, the therapeutic clown is the ego double of a strong child. In this context, my own professional role as a "humor therapist" is to give analyzing hints - to serve in some way as a movie director.

W.S.: What are some of the specific techniques which the therapeutic clown may use under your direction to effect change?

M.T.: In my opinion the most effective training is to become a "contrary clown" because there are many forms of clown behavior.

W.S.: Like what?

M.T.: The harlequin for instance is a competent clown but the buffoon is the stupid one. He is not able to do anything correct. He falls down because he wears terrible shoes and so forth. This type of clown who does the worse is the contrary clown! He does the opposite of what is expected of him.

American Indians knew this type of clown. They called him the "trickster". He always did the opposite of what was expected in the respective society. In all cultures you have this opposite makeup in some form. When people suffer from gelotophobia, we teach them to consciously behave as a contrary clown, that is to do the opposite of what they have been trying to do so far. This makes it possible for them to gradually lose their gelotophobic anxiety.

For instance, in our groups the protagonists have to behave in a very stupid way. When they speak, they are encouraged to behave like rascals. For instance, we teach them to put their tongue between their teeth or take in some water and keep it in their mouth while speaking. Another exercise is to have them walk and move as if they were jumping jacks.

W.S.: In a way you are exaggerating their symptoms in order to extinguish them.

M.T.: In our groups, they learn to systematically behave in a ridiculous way and use this behavioral appearance as a weapon to bring others into a state of tension. When, for instance, a psychologist comes as a visitor to the group, a group member has to address him or her and behave in such a strange and peculiar way that the visitor does not know how to respond. So that, paradoxically, he or she gets the impression that they are being laughed at by those who are suffering from gelotophobia! The intention is to teach group participants to handle a peculiar and embarassing situation or behavior in an assertive mode. This means that they can behave behave assertively by being ridiculous.

W.S.: You believe that the discharge of aggression is necessary to get rid of negative patterns. Is that a part of your work?

That is true. I was somewhat inspired by the work of psychologist George Bach and his theory that "creative aggression" is not dangerous on any account. We are living in a time when people think that aggressivity is something very negative. Bach's idea is not to be afraid of non-destructive forms of aggressivity. I use the humor groups to introduce non-destructive aggressivity into the lives of persons who fear the destructive aggressivity of others. In this context we make use of potentialities of humor, especially the forms of humor that use elements of clownish behavior.

W.S.: So one technique is to put water in one's mouth and speak while holding the water in the mouth. Another is to have people act like a marionette with their arms and hands. The third one is to work with a clown to express embarassing forms of behavior.

M.T.: Being intentionally ridiculous in front of a group helps gelotophobic patients overcome their inhibitions. Another good technique is to use elements of Zen to get those afraid of laughter to stop using their restricting logical thinking. Excessive focus on logical thought is a major cause of their state of tension. They think too much. They are also involved in "double thinking" when they think that other persons are thinking critically about them - and so on! This reinforces their feelings of shame over and over. One therapeutic goal is to get these patients to think less so they can react more spontaneously. Consciously acting in a manner that is silly or ridiculous is surely a paradoxical type of action.

For example, when someone is asked why s/he is blushing s/he may say, "Because the snow on the Himalayas is very warm". Or, "There are three baskets filled with eggs". Or, "Because of the water of Z-3". Patients are systematically trained to use such sentences to create many types of illogical explanations.

W.S.:What is Z-3?

M.T.: I don't know.

Another technique we teach is to repeat a certain nonsensical response no matter what they are asked. This also helps to distance them from the carousel of logical thinking. It helps an individual to stop doing what many paranoid people do: looking everywhere at everybody to protect oneself from being laughed at. Gradually patients begin to decenter from the normative structure of their own thinking. When I speak with you and I always tell you the same absurdl stuff, it is not possible for you to get me to switch lanes and get me to be embarassed. This is because I am the one who forces you to stay at the point that was deliberatly fixed by me.

W.S.: What if the aggressiveness is directed at you?

M.T.: As a therapist I appreciate it very much. I usually respond using a technique which you have described very well in your own work - exaggerating or maximizing. If they tell me I am an idiot, I look for some encore!

W.S.: You mean for example you might say, "You are being too generous in your description of me. I am actually the king of idiots."

M.T.: This approach is analogous to judo, where you use the opponent's own force and re-direct it to your advantage. I have used this technique for many years and found it often possible to exaggerate something further. People soon realize that what I am doing is humorous. What I am doing is playing the role of the contrary clown.

W.S.: Do you have some clinical examples, vignettes, or anecdotes that illustrate your theory?

M.T.: I want to mention a 40 year-old woman who looks much younger than her actual age. She is a teacher and whenever she was with small children she had no problems because then in a sense she was a child too. However, when she had to address the children's parents she experienced so much tension that she was almost in stupor. Before she joined our group she had been treated psychoanalytically for many years which was very time consuming and expensive.

The first time she came into our group, it was as though she was standing in front of her student's parents who she believed looked at her with eyes full of criticism and disdain. After some group work, she attended a parents meeting where she was wxpected to address the parents. When she put the tip of the tongue between her teeth and told them, "I am standing here, completely inferior, trembling of fear" she underwent a tremendously liberating experience. At that moment, there was uproarious laughter because no one could believe she could do this. For her, it was a great personal success. This is what Frankl had in mind with his concept of paradoxical intention. Frankl, however, used paradoxical intention more cognitively whereas we use it mainly to exaggerate body movements or emotional expressions.

W.S.: What are some examples of other interventions?

M.T.: Another technique is verbally playing with the voice. An example is speaking in a voice that is too high or too low, or with irregular intonation such as sounding like an audio tape on slow speed. One may sound like an old 78 R.P.M. record which is set on the 45 R.P.M. speed.

W.S.: From observing your group I noticed you use the technique of content reversal. For instance, when someone spoke about how happy he was to be in the group, you reversed it and paraphrased it as saying that he is very upset to be spending so much time with people who are asses.

M.T.: Yes. This technique involves changing the content of what someone just said to you. The technique is most useful when the content of the patient's comment was forced on by the internalized normative ideals of conscience. In other words, you confuse the message's content so that patients can discover what the content really means for them. This then liberates them from the state of playing possum.

W.S.: What impressions stand out to you from your involvement in this work?

M.T.: I have been doing this work for 15 years. The psychoanalytic approach is interesting but it is not sufficient and I find it sometimes boring for both the patient and the psychotherapist. When I watch people developing joyfulness and a humorous attitude, it tells me that they are comfortable and eager for these experiences. This is the way small children behave when they are together. For those suffering from the Pinocchio Complex, the group experience provides an opportunity to discover their "inner child" and enjoy experiences that they missed while growing up. That way they come to emotionally develop a sense of community or belonging as described by Alfred Adler. Thus, therapeutic humor can provide the preconditions for bringing to complition a yet uncompleted process of socialization. This is the case for persons who grew up up in a shame producing atmosphere and never experienced what social cohesiveness and solidarity mean. A therapeutic humor group is the training field for sociability.

W.S.: It sounds as though your work with laughter groups has changed your understanding of psychotherapy and you have become more innovative or experimental in interventions. How about using your humor and laughter exercises as a form of intervention for those who may not be experiencing the Pinocchio Complex?

M.T.: A complete Pinocchio Complex is rare. However, everyone experiences some degree of shame-bound self-esteem problems. Everyone has been laughed at and at times has been fearful of what others might think about him or her. In cultures where excessive debasement and blame are used to control behavior, children often grow up thinking that they are not good enough or should be better. Feeling as though one is not good enough results in a sense of inadequacy or inferiority.

When people try to be perfect, their motivation is dominated from childhood, by an endless pressure to perform. They never experienced the feeling being "good enough". They were used to being regularly criticized because they didn't measure up to the high expectations of their reference persons. So they would not have succeeded in developing a sound self-confidence.

So when they consciously start to be imperfect or to exaggerate their imperfections, they gradually lose their fear of being criticized. How does this come about? Simply put, new game rules are set up. The patients are not confronted with any conditioned expectations that could inhibit them. Therefore, they can proceed to the playground of social life in a free and easy way, like children who have not yet learned to take things seriously. Subsequently, these individuals can gradually develop a new assertive identity.

W.S.: Another emphasis in your work is the way you frame the work as being more of an educational and learning experience rather than a therapy experience. For example, I noticed that you call the group a training or educational group rather than a therapy group. The context of training or learning doesn't have the same connotation as psychotherapy. People are freer in a learning setting.

Also I see a type of reframing in this work. For example, if you want to teach someone how to dance the tango, which is a very intricate dance, you don't say, "I'm going to teach you to tango," but rather say, "Why don't you come over to my workshop and we will do some dancing." If we started talking about how to tango they might develop a mental block about the difficulty of the task. So you say let's dance and the tango emerges.

I see your work as being both very organized and very loose. You don't want to be too organized because it would defeat your purpose and lead to the polarity of perfection. On the other hand, you don't want to be too loose or disorganized because we would not teach anyone anything. We play between looseness and organization and in that way put some flesh and bones on Pinocchio's wooden frame.
I would like to close our interview with a quote from Ludwig Wittgenstein which I believe captures the spirit of what you are doing to help liberate people from the constraints of the Pinocchio Complex. He said, "If people did not do silly things, nothing intelligent would ever happen."

 

In the following years a scientific co-operation with Dr. Willibald Ruch, now Professor for Personality Psychology and Diagnostics at the University of Zurich was established. I described this in an article out of which the following excerpt is taken:

Current personality studies

New evidence about gelotophobes stems from personality studies. For example, Ruch (2004) reported that gelotophobes tend to be introverted and neurotic with slightly elevated scores in early psychoticism measures. Also they seem to have experienced intense shame in their lives and they experience shame and anxiety during a typical week. Gelotophobes feel negative emotions when hearing others laugh (see Ruch, Altfreder and Proyer, 2009). The formulation of a tentative model of the causes and consequences, as derived from the clinical studies, might facilitate putting forward hypotheses for empirical tests in further studies and experiments.

 

Criteria for the assessment of gelotophobia

Proper assessment of gelotophobia is essential for both research and therapy. Initial identification of gelotophobes stems from clinical experience with these patients. Later those impressions were more formalized into a facet model (see below) and finally a questionnaire assessment was undertaken.

Clinicians who meet gelotophobic patients for the first time generally recognize their typically bashful bearing. This defensive attitude may be expressed by very formal conduct, difficulty in maintaining eye contact, speaking in a low voice, displaying an obsequious demeanor, and by an awkward posture. An important criterion for the assessment of gelotophobia is, finally, the patients’ pronounced sensitivity with regard to any kind of humorous remarks. Obviously, gelotophobic patients are not able to deal in an uninhibited way with humorous material: In this context, they mostly will react “agelotically”, i.e. their face will grow stiff and their possible polite smiling will freeze. In psychoanalytic terminology, a specific counter-transference might emerge containing ambivalent feelings such as uneasiness, amusement, pity, and disdain.

 

A facet model derived from prototypical statements

In a research project additional criteria for the assessment of gelotophobia were defined (Ruch and Titze 1998). This was achieved by associating the constitutive nosological elements of gelotophobia with typical statements of gelotophobic patients:

Traumatizing experiences with laughter and mockery in the past: “During puberty I avoided contact with peers so that I wouldn’t be teased by them.” “When I was in school, I was teased quite often”.

• Fear of the humor of others: “Others seem to find pleasure in putting me on the spot and embarrassing me”. “It takes me very long to recover from having been laughed at”.
• Discouragement and envy when comparing oneself with the humor competence of others: “I feel inferior around quick-witted and humorous people.” “When I participate in discussions I often think that my statements are ridiculous.”
• Paranoid sensitivity towards alleged mockery by others: “I get suspicious when people laugh in my presence.” “When strangers laugh in my presence, I often think that they could be laughing at me.”
• Dysfunction of the harmonious interplay of physical motions: “When I smile in someone’s company, I feel like my facial muscles are cramping.” “My posture and my movements are somehow peculiar or funny.”
• Dysfunction in appropriately expressing verbal and non-verbal communications: “If I wasn’t afraid of making a fool of myself, I would speak much more in public.” “It is very difficult for me to come up and meet others in a free and easy way.”
• Social withdrawal: “When I feel I’ve made an embarrassing impression somewhere, I never return to the same place again.” “ I avoid participating in funny activities at festivals because I feel myself becoming cramped inside.”

These criteria were shown to converge very well and be largely unidimensional (Ruch 2004).

Questionnaire assessment

HUMOR International Journal of Humor Research (1) 2008

The fear of being laughed at: Individual and group differences in
Gelotophobia. (Abstract)

Ruch, Willibald & Proyer, René

Single case studies led to the discovery and phenomenological description of Gelotophobia and its definition as the pathological fear of appearing to social partners as a ridiculous object (Titze 1995, 1996, 1997). The aim of the present study is to empirically examine the core assumptions about the fear of being laughed at in a
sample comprising a total of 863 clinical and non-clinical participants. Discriminant function analysis yielded that gelotophobes can be separated from other shame-based neurotics, non-shame-based neurotics, and controls. Separation was best for statements
specifically describing the gelotophobic symptomatology and less potent for more general questions describing socially avoidant behaviors. Factor analysis demonstrates that while Gelotophobia is composed of a set of correlated elements in homogenous samples, overall the concept is best conceptualized as unidimensional.
Predicted and actual group membership converged well in a cross-classification (approximately 69% of correctly classified cases).
Overall, it can be concluded that the fear of being laughed at varies tremendously among adults and might hold a key to understanding certain forms of humorlessness.

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The active cooperation with Ruch lasted until the end of 2004. Until then his group is doing further statistical research that is culminating in an international study in which about 23.000 persons have been interviewed via GELOPH 46 (Ruch & Titze 1998):

Gelotophobia, the fear of being laughed at

This is the website accompagnying the "Multi-Nation-Study on Gelotophobia".

Background

Based on clinical observations the German psychotherapist Michael Titze described putative long-term effects of early, intense and repeated exposure to mockery and not being taken seriously, namely what he coined the term Gelotophobia (i.e., the fear of being laughed at; from gelos = Greek for laughter). According to Titze (1996) certain patients seem to be primarily concerned with being laughed at by others, as they are convinced to be ridiculous objects.

Experimental Study of Gelotophobia

 The Zurich-based research group conducted first empirical studies on this new concept. First, it was shown that a group of diagnosed gelotophobics (by clinical experts) could be separated empirically from groups of normal controls, non shame-based, and shame-based neurotics by means of a list of statements describing the experiential world of gelotophobics (Ruch & Proyer, in press-a). In a follow-up study assessment criteria for Gelotophobia were defined and an economic scale for the subjective assessment of Gelotophobia was introduced (Ruch & Proyer, in press-b). In our research group we currently study Gelotophobia in its relation to personality, well-being, orientations to happiness, body image, emotions (in particular fear and shame), humor, interpretation of ambiguous acoustic and visual stimuli as well as physiological and psycho-motor expressions (among others). Based on these studies we were able to demonstrate the existence of the phenomenon through different strategies; i. e. in self-reports, semi-projective tests, and experimental settings.

Ruch, W., & Proyer, R. T. (in press-a). Ruch, W., & Proyer, R. T. The fear of being laughed at: Individual and group differences in Gelotophobia. Humor: International Journal of Humor Research.

Ruch, W., & Proyer, R. T. (in press-b). Who is gelotophobic? Assessment criteria for the fear of being laughed at. Swiss Journal of Psychology.

Outline of current study

The aim of the present study will be to provide evidence for the existence of the fear of being laughed at (i.e., Gelotophobia) in different places of the world. This aim will be achieved by an analysis of the prevalence of gelotophobic symptoms in the different samples. A comparison of item and sample statistics in the different nations together with a comparison of the psychometric properties of the questionnaire in the samples will be conducted. Results of the study are expected to be available in autumn 2007. A follow-up study including a broader variety of assessment instruments is currently being planned.

Researchers from the following 90 regions/countries have joined the research group so far (August 2007).

Argentina	America-South
Australia	Oceania
Austria	Europe
Azerbijan	Eurasia
Bahamas	America-Central
Bangladesh	Asia
Belgium (Flemish)	Europe
Belgium (French)	Europe
Botswana	Africa
Brazil	America-South
Bulgaria	Europe
Burkina Faso	Africa
Cambodia	Asia
Cameroon	Africa
Canada (English)	America-North
Canada (French)	America-North
Chile	America-South
China (Hong Kong)	Asia
China (Macau)	Asia
China (Mainland)	Asia
Colombia	America-South
Croatia	Europe
Cyprus	Europe
Czech Republic	Europe
Denmark	Europe
Egypt	Middle East
England	Europe
Estonia	Europe
Ethiopia	Africa
Fiji-Islands	Oceania
Finland	Europe
France	Europe
Germany	Europe
Greece	Europe
Hungary	Europe
Iceland	Europe
India	Asia
Indonesia	Asia
Iran	Middle East
Iraq	Middle East
Ireland	Europe
Israel	Middle East
Italy	Europe
Japan	Asia
Jordania	Middle East
Kenya	Africa
Lebanon	Middle East
Lithuania	Europe
Malawi	Africa
Malaysia	Asia
Malta	Europe
Mauritius	Africa
Netherlands	Europe
New Zealand	Oceania
Nigeria	Africa
Northern Ireland	Europe
Norway	Europe
Pakistan	Middle East
Papua New Guinea	Oceania
Poland	Europe
Portugal	Europe
Puerto Rico (USA)	America-Central
Republika Srpska	Europe
Romania	Europe
Russia	Asia
Saudi Arabia	Middle-East
Scotland	Europe
Slovakia	Europe
Slovenia	Europe
Solomon-Islands	Oceania
South Africa	Africa
South-Korea	Asia
Spain	Europe
Sri Lanka	Asia
Sweden	Europe
Switzerland (French)	Europe
Switzerland (German)	Europe
Switzerland (Italian)	Europe
Taiwan	Asia
Thailand	Asia
Tunisia	Africa
Turkey	Eurasia
Turkmenistan	Asia
Ukraine	Europe
Uruguay	America-South
USA (East Coast)	America-North
USA (Midwest)	America-North
USA (South)	America-North
USA (West Coast)	America-North
Venezuela	America-South

______________________________

 

 

 

Dr Jessica Milner Davis, Senior Visiting Fellow, Arts and Social Sciences, UNSW
Gelotophobia: Australian Data in a Multi-nation Study of the Fear of Being Laughed at.

Gelotophobics (possessing a pathological fear of appearing an object of ridicule to social partners) tend excessively to believe others are constantly evaluating them for ridiculousness and thus fear being exposed to laughter.  The phenomenon was first described in German case studies by clinical psychologist Michael Titze. This fear was shown more frequently than expected in 2003 empirical studies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (2000+ participants, Ruch and Proyer), in England (Platt, author of Ridicule Teasing Scenario questionnaire RTSq, 2006) and in Italy (Forabosco). Ruch and Titze developed and validated a self-report questionnaire (Ruch 1998) for international use.

Recent studies show different “national prevalences”, ranging from 3% Gelotophobics, to 15% plus, without age, gender, or class differences. In 2007, studies were undertaken at UNSW (Cranney, Milner Davis and Thomas) and University of Melbourne (David Rawlings). Other countries include Japan (2 samples), Taiwan (2), India (3), USA (4), Malawi, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Chile (1 each). Ruch’s collation of international results is forthcoming in 2008. This paper reports Australian questionnaire adaptations (comprehensibilty and multi-cultural background) and initial results. Possible applications include bullying, workplace relations, clinical and forensic psychology

___________________________________________________

 

Serious fear of laughter? Could be gelotophobia

Wednesday July 9 2008

By DANIEL WOOLLS

Associated Press Writer

 

ALCALA DE HENARES, Spain (AP) - From the frontiers of mirth research, scholars offer these words of comfort: If you are mortified of dancing for fear of being the butt of jokes, don't worry, you are far from alone.

There's even a word for it - gelotophobia. Sound like a disease involving Italian ice cream? No, it's the potentially debilitating fear of being laughed at.

This condition - the term comes from gelos, Greek for laughter - was among the topics discussed this week at a four-day meeting of the International Society for Humor Studies, an Oakland, Calif.-based collective of psychologists, sociologists, linguists and other academics who probe funniness from every conceivable angle.

[…]

As for gelotophobia, psychologist Willibald Ruch of the University of Zurich said it was first proposed as a distinct phobia - and given a name - about a decade ago.

“`Studying the negative effects of being laughed at is entirely new,” Ruch said.

A typical gelotophobe could hear a stranger's laugh and think it is aimed at him. In an extreme case this could provoke breaking out in a sweat, heart palpitations, trembling or simply freezing up. “So, yes, they would not be behaving properly,”' Ruch said.

Ruch said his team surveyed 23,000 people in 75 countries and found gelotophobia present to some degree in each nation, affecting between 2 and 30 percent of the population.

 

“Within Europe, Britain is on the top. Absolutely on the top,” he said. The incidence in the U.S. is about 14 percent, slightly below that of Britain.

Ruch declined to say which country topped the list globally, insisting his team is trying to get the data published first in a scientific journal, but allowed that some Asian and African countries are high on the list.

At the conference, researchers from Australia, China and Japan also presented findings on gelotophobia among their citizens.

____________________________________________________________________

Xavier Delgado: Temer el humor,

Julio 10, 2008-08

Escuchar y atender atentamente diversas presentaciones sobre el miedo al humor (denominada por los estudiosos del humor Gelotofobia) me ha permitido reflexionar y hacerme cargo de las dificultades y aversión que ciertas personas pueden sentir hacia un estímulo tan inofensivo y positivo, a priori como puede ser el humor, la risa o la sonrisa en un contexto social.

Parece ser que haber tenido un desarrollo problemático en la infancia, tener experiencias en que no te sientes tomado en serio o has sido ridiculizado, haber sido objeto en la  juventud o adultez de  intensas experiencias traumáticas donde se han reído de uno o ridiculizado (caso del acoso escolar, sexual o laboral) son causas de la gelotofobia según ha observado Michael Titze, entre otros autores, en grupos clínicos.

Ello ha permitido investigar hasta dar con un inventario que permite detectar esta afección y sus consecuencias. Hay diversos estudiosos de este fenómeno en Japón, Australia y Finlandia que, en estos días, nos han ofrecido sus opiniones al respecto. Algunas de sus conclusiones sugieren que:

- la gelotofobia correlaciona con rasgos de personalidad tales como la introversión

- en una muestra de estudiantes de secundaria japoneses no se observaron diferencias significativas en las puntuaciones de gelotofobia comparando un género y otro

- en un estudio finlandés se observa que los descriptores de gelotofobia correlacionan  con puntuaciones significactivas del síndrome de desgaste profesional en los sujetos evaluados.

Para más información sobre el tema podeis contactar con el Dr. Paavo Kerkkänen (en Finlandia), autor de la comunicación “Gelotofobia, burnout amb workplace bullying” que fue presentada anteayer en el 20th International ISHS Humor Conference a través de su correo electrónico.

____________________________________________________________________

2. What amplitude do you think is the results of your investigation?

More and more researchers and students are interested in the concept of gelotophobia. The reason may be that in our post-modern world people increasingly are striving for their individual significance because the social network, the interpersonal cohesion is being invalidated. The single individual is, thus, left in the lurch by his/her fellow-men. He/she, thereby, questions narcissistically his/her personal worth. The result, frequently, is a lowering of one’s self-esteem, going hand in hand with the conviction to be worthless and ridiculous.

  
3. You will dictate training seminars at the Centre for psychotherapists Adleriano Montevideo. What do you consider is the development of discipline in Uruguay?

South American depth psychologists have contributed much to the world-wide literature of psychoanalysis. Very important are the contributions of Freudians from Argentina and Mexico. In the case of Jungian Analytic Psychology and Adlerian Individual Psychology, I think that the Montevideo group with its leader Prof. Hazán as a similar importance.

4. Do you have a story about our country?

What we know in Germany about Uruguay is, of course, its importance as a football/soccer-nation and the authentic cradle of Tango. Further, Germans appreciate the fact that Uruguay has the perfect climate for Northern Europeans and, above all, is known to be one of the safest countries (with the best telephone network all over South America). Many Germans know that Montevideo is the capital of the South American trading union – thus being the equivalent of Brussels the capital of the European Union.

One thing, however, is associated best with Montevideo: It is the German movie “Das Haus in Montevideo” (The house in Montevideo) which is based on a novel of Curt Goetz. This movie appears regularly on TV in Christmas time! It deals with professor Traugott Hermann Nägler who lives with his wife and 12 children in a typical small German town. One day the pastor appears with the news that the sister of the professor had died in Montevideo. (Years ago, she had been repudiated by the family at the professor’s instigation because she had born an illegitimate child. In her testament this sister has decreed that the professor’s oldest daughter Atlanta should inherit valuable properties in Montevideo. But the professor rejects this inheritance – out of moral reasons! However, the pastor, the mayor and the professor’s succeed in changing his mind. Thus, the professor, his daughter Atlanta and the pastor travel to Montevideo to come into the inheritance.

In Montevideo, the professor is astonished because of the many young girls in his sister’s house. He is convinced that this must be a brothel. Therefore he leaves, together with Atlanta, this house with indignation. The pastor, however, starts to investigate this case, he interviews many person and comes to a conclusion which is completely different from the professor’s ugly fantasies: In reality, the sister had a successful career as the singer Maria Machado. Big parts of her property had been donated by her to a foundation supporting single girls and unmarried mothers. This foundation would receive the remaining money ($ 750.000) as well, unless “in the home of my virtuous brother Prof Dr Traugott Hermann Nägler my own tragedy sould be repeated.” In this case, the mother of the illegitimate child should receive this amount of money. The deadline was one year.

The professor is despaired. He telegraphs to Atlanta’s friend to come ommediately. To Montevideo. After his arrival this young man asks for Atlanta’s hand (to marry her). But this would mean that all the money would be lost! Thus the professor drops a hint that the young man should make Atlanta pregnant before he would marry her. After that a bad conscience arises in the professor and he forces Atlanta’s friend to box his ears (beat him).

After that the professor returns, together with his entourage, to his German hometown. Soon after the arrival, Atlanta wants to marry her friend on deck of the same ship - -named ATLANTA – where many years ago Prof Nägler had married his wife, Atlanta’s mother. But this time it is not possible because new investigations had made clear that this ship was 27 cm too small to be legally suitable to serve as a place for marriage! Therefore, the professor had lived “in sin” since 20 years and all his 12 children were illegitimate!    

On you.

1. Why are you a psychotherapist?

As a student I have been interested in the theoretical aspects of psychopathology, especially in research on schizophrenia. In the frame of my dissertation I have constructed for measuring schizophrenic thinking disorders which is still useful. By chance, I read Alfred Adler’s book “Understanding Human Nature”. This inspired my interest for psychotherapy and was a sort of booster for may later biography.

2. Have you been able to accomplish your purposes as a psychotherapist or has something prevented that realization?

I am satisfied in any respect.

3. Do you have unpublished work?

Currently, I am writing a text dealing with gelotophobic aspects in post-modern society.

4. Who has been your best critic?

My daughter Miriam who is a graduated sociologist and expert in communication theory.

5. What are your projects?

To make the best out of every day.