Why don't psychotherapists laugh? Enjoyment and the consulting room

摘要

My first reaction to the book's title, Why don't psychotherapists laugh?, was to think: 'but we do laugh…don't we?!' I then immediately recalled an episode during the early days of my own therapy with my former analyst. This was at the beginning of my training as a clinical psychologist. On this occasion my therapist and I had both spontaneously and unexpectedly burst out laughing uncontrollably. This had never happened before. After wiping away the tears of laughter, I was equally overtaken by an attitude of sombre concern. I felt something untoward had just happened, which reprehensibly we had both been responsible for. I immediately reprimanded my therapist: to belly-laugh uncontrollably was unprofessional and not what therapy was about. This incident gave us much food for thought and discussion about the superego and how it infiltrated my attitudes towards myself and my relationship towards others.