Concepts
Health psychology/Defence mechanisms · Mature
Humour
What it means
Openly expressing feelings without personal discomfort by focusing on the amusing or ironic aspects.
Worked example
A patient jokes warmly about his own diagnosis to ease the consultation.
In the exam
A man newly diagnosed with a colostomy makes light, good-natured jokes about it, easing his own and his family’s distress.
What settles it
Humour openly acknowledges the feeling while finding it amusing. It is adaptive, unlike acting out or denial which avoid the feeling.
Classically confused with
Denial
Source: Vaillant hierarchy