Julia Cummings Prof. Jacob Eckrich ENGL 1003 Nov. 5. 2017 Comedy Therapy Comedians can make a joke out of just about anything. But, sometimes there’s lines where comedians can’t cross, like making a joke about a rape victim. In the Rhetoric of Humor, Katherine Leyton’s essay, Laughing It Off, states that, “Women comprise 90 percent of rape victims in America—we are, as a group, oppressed by rape. But when the oppressed joke about their oppression, different rules apply”(96). She explains that comedy can be used as a therapeutic answer, but only in certain jokes that only the victims can make fun of themselves. Making jokes about our problems is a lot easier than confronting them in any meaningful way. Rob Delaney, renowned stand-up and Twitter icon, sums it up best in his Vice column: “There is a popular belief, in and out of comedy, that comedians tell jokes and endeavor to make others laugh as a means of treating the pain they feel inside; …show more content…
The triggering event is subjective. In other words, neither you nor I have to agree that a given incident causes addiction, depression, or anxiety—it's all relative. Clinically, "triggers" are also subjective. Best-case scenario: if you have a genetic predisposition, avoid the triggering event. o some degree yes, but truth be told, we don't know how we will react to a situation until it happens. For instance, the clinical definition of trauma is not what the person considers traumatic. Trauma is subjective. If they feel traumatized by a hangnail, clinically they are experiencing "trauma." The best way to cope with anxiety pre or post triggering event is to shift our point of view (P.O.V.) and change the way they view the world.Comedians can take situations that scare them, make themselves angry or sad, and turn them into a joke. Shifting the way we view an event can change our experience of the