Humor Can Increase Hope, Research Shows By Ryan Garcia and David Rosen Source:  http://eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-04/tau-hci041105.php COLLEGE STATION, Apr. 11, 2005 - Laughter might be the best medicine for transforming the faintest of glimmers of hope into an eternal spring, reveals research at Texas A&M University that shows humor may significantly increase a person's level of hope.   The experience of humor can positively influence a person's state of hopefulness, says Texas A&M psychologist David H. Rosen who, along with colleagues Alexander P. Vilaythong, Randolph C. Arnau and Nathan Mascaro, studied nearly 200 subjects ranging in age from 18-42. Comedy Videos "Makes Light of it"   As part of the study, which appeared in the International Journal of Humor Research, select participants viewed a 15-minute comedy video.  Those who viewed the video had statistically significant increases in their scores for hopefulness after watching it as compared with those that did not view the video, Rose notes.   The finding, he says, is important because it underscores how humor can be a legitimate strategy for relieving stress and maintaining a general sense of well-being while increasing a person's hope.  Previous studies have found that as high as 94 percent of people deem lightheartedness as a necessary factor in dealing with difficulties associated with stressful life events, he says. Humor Fosters Hope   Rosen says humor may competitively inhibit negative thoughts with positive ones, and in so doing, foster hope in people.  Positive emotions, such as those arising from experiencing humor, can stimulate thought and prompt people to discard automatic behavioral responses and pursue more creative paths of thought and action, he explains.   Such a process, Rosen says, could lead to a person experiencing a greater sense of self-worth when dealing with specific problems or stressful events.  He says these positive emotions could, in turn, lead to an increase in a person's ability to develop a "plan of attack" for a specific problem as well as increase a person's perceived ability to overcome obstacles in dealing with that problem - two aspects that psychologists believe comprise hope. Humor as a Coping Strategy   During the course of the study, Rosen found that there was				little or no relationship between hope and the number of stressors experienced throughout the past month, but did find a relationship between severity of the stressors and a decrease in hope.  This suggests that the accumulated severity of recent stressors seem to have more of an impact on hope than the actual number of stressors, he says.   In the study, sense of humor was not only represented as the tendency to display laughter, smiles, and other similar responses, but was measured across four factors - humor production, humor as a coping strategy, attitudes toward humorous people, and attitudes about humor.
					2006 Report: Pharmaceutical Research Companies Developing 197 Medicines to Treat Mental Illnesses    America's pharmaceutical research companies are currently developing 197 medicines to help the nearly 60 million Americans today suffering from some sort of mental illness -- from Alzheimer's disease to depression to schizophrenia to dependence on alcohol or drugs.  All the medicines are either in clinical trials or awaiting review by the Food sand Drug Administration.    Over the past half century, pharmaceutical research has helped transform mental illnesses from misunderstood causes of shame and fear into highly treatable conditions.  For example, medicines for treating depression are helping thousands of people suffering from this disease to live productive lives.    New medicines today in the research and development pipeline offer hope of reducing the human and economic costs of mental illnesses.  They include: 44 for depression, which affects almost 21 million Americans and 39 medicines for anxiety disorders, which affect more than 40 million adults ages 18 and older.    You can pick up a copy of the 2006 Report at the DBSA Consumer Resource Center while supplies last.
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