What Made Freud Laugh by Nelson Judith Kay;

Author:Nelson, Judith Kay;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

8

Childhood Laughter in a Clinical Context

While child therapists probably laugh all the time with their young patients, it is little discussed in the clinical literature. My search turned up only a few book chapters and journal articles on the topic, and most of those are about humor— with laughter seen as a by-product of humor rather than as a clinical experience to be reflected upon and understood in and of itself. Perhaps laughter with children is not discussed in the literature because it does not stir up controversies about neutrality as it does in work with adults.

Another reason that laughter flies under the radar in the clinical literature may be because it is a nonverbal attachment behavior that is difficult to analyze. Laughter, like crying, arises spontaneously in relational contexts and is part of our implicit, procedural nonconscious way of relating. This makes putting the complexities behind laughter into words more difficult as it occurs outside of explicit awareness and consciousness. An attachment viewpoint gives us a way to consciously explore and understand laughter and to see why and when it is helpful clinically and why and when it gets in the way of growth and the working through process in the context of the therapeutic relationship with children.

Positive affect in general has only recently begun to receive much attention in the clinical literature. The predominant focus of clinical work traditionally has been on trauma and negative arousal, and working through loss and grief. As a result, therapists may seldom think about the importance of positive arousal in treatment, even in work with children. Affect regulation, as Schore (2003a) points out, is

not just the reduction of affective intensity, the dampening of negative emotion. It also involves an amplification, an intensification of positive emotion, a condition necessary for more complex self-organization. Attachment is not just the reestablishment of security after a dysregulating experience and a stressful negative state; it is also the interactive amplification of positive affects, as in play states. (p. 78)

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.