Comic relief
"Maybe you're not throwing it right."
Paula Poundstone in response to the claim that a cat, when thrown into the air, always lands on its feet.
"Not living in fear is a great gift, because certainly these days we do it so much. And do you know what I like about comedy? You can't laugh and be afraid at the same time—of anything. If you're laughing, I defy you to be afraid."
Stephen Colbert
"I am not a vegetarian because I love animals; I am a vegetarian because I hate plants."
A. Whitney Brown
When I tell people that I go to comedy shows and take the expense as a tax write off, they're usually taken aback. Some of them literally take a step backwards, loathe to be seen in public with such a brazen criminal. Surely my behavior is a stark violation of federal statute and a transgression of the public trust. Not exactly a white-collar crime in the Bernie Madoff tradition–but certainly some kind of misdemeanor. Not surprisingly perhaps, my few remaining friends are either scofflaws themselves or comedians of some sort.
Whether or not my comedy club expense actually qualifies as a legitimate, legal write-off, I have no idea. (None of my friends are IRS agents.) Nevertheless, I propose that the principle is fundamentally sound. After all, I'm working the health beat and stress is a major element in that game. And comedy, especially when it involves the clever re-interpretations of events, is an immensely powerful stress-reducer. I can only wonder and hope that Norman Cousins deducted the cost of his comedy-driven rehabilitation, the source of his landmark book, Anatomy of an Illness. If so, he would have established a precedent that may one day keep me free from incarceration.
And besides, if I were to take a $2,000 weekend workshop on "Cognitive re-interpretation of existential meaning for administrators and health care professionals," the IRS would take no notice. In fact, they'd probably send their agents on all-expense-paid junkets to the very same seminar so that they could learn how to reduce their stress. Then I could rub elbows with the very same people who, in another circumstance, would attempt to destroy my financial life. And of course, they would write the expense off their taxes.
To illustrate my point, let me tell you a story. Lewis Black is one of my favorite comedian-philosophers. Last year, he was scheduled to come to town and I really wanted to see the show. Lewis always finds a way to derail my entrenched ways of thinking. His surprising perspectives open my mind and relax my heart. ("If it hadn't have been for that horse, I would never have spent that year in college" is a classic display of intelligent curiosity) I laugh long and hard and when I leave the show I'm feeling good. My immune system is running better and my body is moving towards autonomic balance. My biochemical profile is improved and I'll probably require less medical care in the future, thus being less of a drag on an already over-burdened health care system. I'm equally certain that my professional competence, writing and speaking also improve.
So, in anticipation of the event, I called up my friendly health insurance company to check on my policy. Given the powerful benefits of this comedy-health experience, I assumed that they'd jump at the chance to cover the cost of my ticket, but I wanted to be sure. So I spent the day waiting on hold and navigating my way through the labyrinth. Finally, just after midnight, I reached a company rep in Bangalore. In a friendly sing-song voice, she patiently explained to me that in fact, no, my insurer would not be covering my ticket to the comedy show. I was surprised at this turn of events and asked her to double check.
"Well, Mr. Forenziszisic, I am looking at your records and it seems to me that even if we did cover such, er, procedures, it seems to me that you have a pre-existing condition that, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, invalidates your coverage. Would you like to upgrade your plan? We're running a special this month – your home and all future earnings of you and your offspring, per month, plus your co-pay, of course."
"Er… I had no idea. What are you talking about? I'm in perfect health. I don't have any pre-existing condition."
"Well, Mr. Forexinisxhic, according to your patient records, you are showing a personality disorder characterized by latent fundamentalism, a static worldview and pathological stubbornness. I'm surprised we missed it when you applied. In fact, you never should have been approved for coverage in the first place. You are a statistical error, an anomaly."
I was taken aback, stunned into an unusual silence.
"Er, but wait a second. In the first place, how did you find this out? And in the second place, don't you think that a comedy show is precisely the kind of treatment that would be indicated in a case like this?
"Yes, well, thank you for calling, Mr. Feorgiixzh. We really appreciate your business as a loyal customer. Would you like to participate in a brief survey? It will only take a few hours. Or perhaps you'd like to upgrade to our premium policy? If you'd like, I can transfer to one of our friendly sales associates. Can I put you on hold?"
You won't be surprised to hear that the experience stressed me out and so now I was in a double bind. Not only was my stress level going up, but my health insurer wouldn't pay for the very thing that was most likely to reduce my stress. It didn't take long for me to conclude that the medical-industrial complex is a vicious circle of pathology; by increasing stress amongst its customers, it simultaneously increases the incidence of stress-related diseases, thereby assuring a constant stream of new business. Somebody is making a lot of money off of highly preventable disease.
the state of stress medicine
But I digress. The point I'm trying to make here is that our experience of stress is tightly coupled to our interpretation of events. That is, we now know that events are toxic or beneficial in large measure because of how we frame them.
To understand how this works, we need to understand how stress affects the body. Unfortunately, stress medicine can be a torturous, stressful study in its own right. There's all that biochemistry to learn and then there's the adrenal glands and the hypothalamus and the glucocorticoids (is it adrenaline or epinephrine?) and neurotoxicity and stress-related brain damage and so on. There are thousands of studies and hundreds of books that will either keep us awake at night or put us to sleep in the middle of the day. We could spend years on the subject.
Fortunately, Robert Sapolsky, the rock star of stress science, has boiled the whole complex field down into a simple list that we can read, or if necessary, share with the IRS. In Scientific American, December 2005, Sapolsky writes:
"individuals are more likely to activate a stress response and are more at risk for a stress sensitive disease if they...
- feel as if they have minimal control
- feel as if they have no predictive information
- have few outlets for their frustration
- interpret the stressor as evidence of worsening circumstances
- lack social support
That's it, the entire field in a nutshell. Of course, there are hundreds of animal studies behind each of these statements and miles of supporting evidence to back them up. We can trust Sapolsky. (Anyone who goes to Africa to sit in the bushes and dart baboons with a blow gun to measure their stress hormones is, by my definition, trustworthy. And even better, Sapolsky is a comedian in his own right.) But no worries. This is a list we can live with.
So our experience of stress has to with our perception of control, predictability, outlets, trends and social support. But few of these are absolutes; most are variable and open to interpretation. As they say, "One man's crisis is another man's play date" and "My best vacation is your worst nightmare." The way we frame an event or relationship can have profound consequences for our stress response. In this way, our personal philosophy, psychology and explanatory style can ultimately shape the tissue in our bodies. Mind and body are in a constant conversation of reciprocal influence.
Of course, some stress predicaments are straightforward. If a lion chases you up a tree, this is pretty much a compulsory stress event. It's acute and non-negotiable. No matter how you spin it, your body is still going to interpret it as a major stress event. You can tweak the narrative all you want, but your body is still going to squeeze itself for every hormone and neurotransmitter it can. Carnivores are life-or-death animals and humans are prey.
But this is an extreme case and, in the course of a typical human life, an unusual one. In fact, most of our predicaments are open to interpretation. That pain in your knee could be a huge stressor if you see it as a threat to your essential running program. Or, it might only be a minor glitch if you decide that it's really an opportunity to go swimming. In this sense, changing your mind might ultimately be one of the keys to changing your body and preserving your health.
fundamentalism v. flexism
In any case, we now know that there's one sure way to position yourself for a chronically-activated stress response and that's to adopt and hold tight to a single, static world view; in other words, fundamentalism. The formula is simple: Develop a perspective on how the world works and stick to it. When reality come barging into your life, you're in for a case of cortisol poisoning and everything that goes with it, including damage to blood vessels and precious neurons.
Heraclitus told us long ago that we can't step into the same river twice; both the river and the stepper are in constant flux. But in a world of uncountable moving parts, fundamentalism stands rigid. Fundamentalists live in a fantasy universe of static objects, processes and people. When these things behave in ways that they aren't supposed to, fundamentalists get very unhappy. Then they try to "fix" things – to hold them fast in static positions.
Ultimately, all fundamentalists have a similar style of relating to the world. Religious fundamentalists, health fundamentalists, cultural fundamentalists, social fundamentalists–all are believers in a static, impossible and utopian universe.
It's no coincidence that fundamentalists are almost never funny. They tend to be earnest, stubborn and grim. After all, it's a lot of work, trying to hold the world in one place. And in this state of mind, humor will always come as a threat. As soon as you open your mind to humor, you embrace the possibility of alternate world views. Humor becomes a psychological monkeywrench, an unpredictable and uncontrollable force that threatens to tweak our most cherished assumptions and prejudices.
Most of us tend to think as fundamentalists as crazed extremists, zealots and radio talk show hosts who advocate for a single outrageous point of view. But in fact, we're all fundamentalists from time to time, falling into and out of static world views and rigid orientations. It's a trap as old as humanity itself. The human brain seems particularly vulnerable to the affliction. Changing one's mind is work, work that most of us would prefer to avoid. It's far, far easier to simply add more "evidence" that will support one's position.
The paradox is that while fundamentalism aims to protect and defend the self, it ultimately damages that which it seeks to defend. Rigid world views grate up against reality and cause stress, both to the perpetrator and those around him. In small doses, this stress might be stimulating and even productive, but in large doses, it becomes neurotoxic and sociotoxic. This creates a vicious cycle: The stressed-out personality narrows his range of interpretation, action and explanation; his thinking becomes increasingly polarized. But in a complex and fluid world, this black-white orientation ultimately causes more stress, which hardens the personality even further.
a skill set
Unfortunately, we tend to think of comedians and comedy in the same way that we think about musicians and music. We say that these people are talented. They've got the gift, the muse. The creator granted them a special aptitude; no effort was required.
But nothing could be further from the truth. Comedy is hard work, a psychological discipline that requires years of dedicated practice. The ability to switch back and forth between points of view may come easier to some than to others, but even so, practice is essential. When we practice shifting perspective, we get better at it.
Neuroscientists now believe that most, if not all cases of skill development are the result of physical changes to neural networks in the brain and body. One of the most dramatic is the growth of the myelin sheath that wraps around nerve cell fibers with repeated use. Myelin acts as an insulator and gives a dramatic speed boost to transmission speed. We know that this is a major factor in athletic performance and musical training and is probably involved in subtle skills such as the ability to switch between different world views, i.e. comedy.
In the beginning, the comedian does his work intentionally, consciously and deliberately, switching back and forth between perspectives. Over the course of months and years, the appropriate neural circuits become myelinated and faster. Ultimately, the comic can switch viewpoints in a flash, all because of practice. With practice, we can do the same.
the antidote
So what about fear? Most of us would tend to agree with Steven Colbert's claim that comedy displaces fear. But how so?
The first reason goes to simple physiology. Laughter requires that we make an autonomic shift to the parasympathetic nervous system. If we're going to enjoy humor, we have to be in a relaxed, "feed and breed" mode. In this state, oxytocin flows and stimulates human affiliation; we are more receptive to one another. The very act of receiving humor dissipates the fear of fight and flight. In the process, our sense of humor also acts as a stress barometer: if you can't see the humor in your life or in yourself, then you're probably overdosing on stress hormones. It's time for some kind of a vacation or a change in perspective.
Comedy also gives us a sense of wider possibility and in turn, a sense of control. Instead of becoming trapped within the confines of a narrow predicament, the comedic personality remains fluid and flexible. When demands press in from every direction, humor generates more options for action and resolution. There's less need to fight back with symmetrical power; we remain mobile as our thoughts range over a wider range of territory. In turn, we gain a greater sense of control and the fear, even if legitimate and real, fades in significance.
The power of comedy becomes clear when we think in terms of creativity, limits, borders and boundaries. James P. Carse made this point clearly in his book, Finite and Infinite Games: "Finite players play within boundaries, infinite players play with boundaries." Dogmatists and fundamentalists are finite players; they stay within boundaries and defend those boundaries with vigilance. Children, comedians and innovators are infinite players; they play with boundaries. In the ebb and flow of a dynamic, chaotic and immensely complex world, finite players will either be eclipsed by events or suffer from stress-related disease as they attempt to maintain their static postures and positions. Infinite players on the other hand, can adapt. If something isn't working, maybe it's time to move the boundaries.
open mike
Of course, comedy is not a cure-all for stress or any other of life's predicaments. There are plenty of dysfunctional, high-stress comics who die young. And lots of people use comedy and satire to deepen and harden their fundamentalist beliefs. But nevertheless, the fact remains: in the right hands and with the right spirit, comedy can be an immensely powerful process for transformation, both personal, physical and cultural.
So, if you're in the field of health care, fitness or body arts, go to the comedy shows, keep your receipts and take the write off. Tell your accountant that the expense qualifies as "professional development." When the IRS agents come to your house with a subpoena and a federal marshal, show them this essay. When they're done reading it, ask them how they feel and maybe tell them a few jokes. (Did you hear the one about the IRS agent and the prostitute?) Show them how to reinterpret your tax return and send them away laughing.
If that doesn't work, you might try running. Barefoot, of course.
