Satire Comedy And Mental Health

Satire, Comedy, and Mental Health examines how satire helps to sustain good mental health in a troubled socio-political world. Through an interdisciplinary dialogue and a close analysis of satire in various media, the book argues that satire helps us cope in a sick world through its ambiguous combination of critique and entertainment.

One of Today's Ten Best Inspirational Books, 2020 By the creator and host of the acclaimed mental health podcast Depresh Mode with John Moe "[A] path to deeper understanding and openness, by way of laughter in the dark" —The New York Times Book Review "Filled with heart, humor and hope." —People "A funny, honest book." —Neil Gaiman "Candid and funny and intimate." —Susan Orlean For years John Moe, critically-acclaimed public radio personality and host of The Hilarious World of Depression podcast, struggled with depression; it plagued his family and claimed the life of his brother in 2007. As Moe came to terms with his own illness, he began to see similar patterns of behavior and coping mechanisms surfacing in conversations with others, including high-profile comedians who’d struggled with the disease. Moe saw that there was tremendous comfort and community in open dialogue about these shared experiences and that humor had a unique power. Thus was born the podcast The Hilarious World of Depression. Inspired by the immediate success of the podcast, Moe has written a remarkable investigation of the disease, part memoir of his own journey, part treasure trove of laugh-out-loud stories and insights drawn from years of interviews with some of the most brilliant minds facing similar challenges. Throughout the course of this powerful narrative, depression’s universal themes come to light, among them, struggles with identity, lack of understanding of the symptoms, the challenges of work-life, self-medicating, the fallout of the disease in the lives of our loved ones, the tragedy of suicide, and the hereditary aspects of the disease. The Hilarious World of Depression illuminates depression in an entirely fresh and inspiring way.

'Compelling and wise and rational.' - Jon Ronson One in four of us experience a mental health problem each year, with anxiety and depression alone affecting over 500 million people worldwide. Why are these conditions so widespread? What is it about modern life that has such an impact on our mental health? And why is there still so much confusion and stigma around these issues? In Psycho-Logical, neuroscientist and bestselling author Dean Burnett answers these questions and more, revealing what is actually going on in our brains when we suffer mental health issues such as anxiety, depression and addiction. Combining illuminating scientific research with first-hand insights from people who deal with mental health problems on a daily basis, this is an honest, entertaining and reassuring account of how and why these issues occur, and how to make sense of them.

Satire, Humor, and Environmental Crises explores how satire and humor can be employed to address and mitigate ecological crises at individual and collective levels. Besides scientific and technological endeavors, solutions to ecological crises must entail social and communicative reform to persuade citizens, corporations, organizations, and policymakers to adopt more sustainable lifestyles and policies. This monograph reassesses environmental behavior and messaging and explores the promises of humorous and satiric communication therein. It draws upon a solid and interdisciplinary theoretical foundation to explicate the individual, social, and ecospheric determinants of behavior. Creative works of popular culture across various modes of expression, including The Simpsons, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, and The New Yorker cartoons, are examined to illustrate the strong if underappreciated relationship between humor and the environment. This is followed by a discussion of the instruments and methodological subtleties involved in measuring the impacts of humor and satire in environmental advocacy for the purpose of conducting empirical research. More broadly, the book aspires to participate in urgent cultural and political discussions about how we can evaluate and intervene in the full diversity of environmental crises, engage a broad set of internal and external partners and stakeholders, and develop models for positive social and environmental transformations. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars interested in environmental humanities, communication science, psychology, and critical humor studies. It can further benefit environmental activists, policymakers, NGOs, and campaign organizers.

The present publication has been conceived as a critical reflection, in different disciplinary fields, on the social, institutional, and cultural impact of the recent COVID-19 pandemic in Asia and Africa. The issues presented here were first discussed as part of a larger research project at two conferences, held in Rome in June and October 2022. After extensive revision, these results have now been collected as fully developed articles in the current two volumes: the first focuses on the cultural, artistic, and media-related facets of the pandemic; the second on its social and institutional implications. This Volume I examines the effects of the traumatic events brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic on various cultural phenomena, artistic expressions, and social media communication, analysing among other themes the creation of new narratives and the modalities of personal and collective responses. The articles cover vast geographical areas, spanning from the Middle East to the Indian Subcontinent and East Asia, and aim at making their multiple visions converge in one compact perspective of empathic connection.

The first four chapters of the book provide a close reading of the satiric, comic, and tragic action of Laurence Sterne’s novel in the context of criticism from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Chapter 5 provides a summary of Chapters 1–4, focusing on Sterne’s purpose in revising satiric plot structures and in blurring the lines between fiction and autobiography. Chapters 6–8 then examine Sterne’s themes from TristramShandythat inform his letters, sermons, and other fiction; Chapter 9 discusses the international reception of TristramShandy and argues for using writing-to-learn strategies to teach Sterne’s greatest novel to undergraduate and graduate students.

This book is for those who desire to gain insight into the leader/follower dynamic in order to serve others by unmasking the dangers of toxic followership, provide prevention suggestions, and reveal followers’ power, even in desperate situations.

Most of us laugh at something funny multiple times during a typical day. Humor serves multiple purposes, and although there is a sizable and expanding research literature on the subject, the research is spread in a variety of disciplines. The Psychology of Humor, 2e reviews the literature, integrating research from across subdisciplines in psychology, as well as related fields such as anthropology, biology, computer science, linguistics, sociology, and more. This book begins by defining humor and presenting theories of humor. Later chapters cover cognitive processes involved in humor and the effects of humor on cognition. Individual differences in personality and humor are identified as well as the physiology of humor, the social functions of humor, and how humor develops and changes over the lifespan. This book concludes noting the association of humor with physical and mental health, and outlines applications of humor use in psychotherapy, education, and the workplace. In addition to being fully updated with recent research, the second edition includes a variety of new materials. More graphs, tables, and figures now illustrate concepts, processes, and theories. It provides new brief interviews with prominent humor scholars via text boxes. The end of each chapter now includes a list of key concepts, critical thinking questions, and a list of resources for further reading. Covers research on humor and laughter in every area of psychology Integrates research findings into a coherent conceptual framework Includes brain imaging studies, evolutionary models, and animal research Integrates related information from sociology, linguistics, neuroscience, and anthropology Explores applications of humor in psychotherapy, education, and the workplace Provides new research, plus key concepts and chapter summaries