Science says: black humor helps with depression
We cannot deny that our lives currently look quite depressing, can we? From lockdown to freedom and back to lockdown; the past period has not necessarily been beneficial for our mental state. Research from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) shows that nearly one in six Dutch people over the age of twelve experienced psychological problems in the past six months as a result of the corona crisis. In particular, young people between the ages of 18 and 25 felt gloomy and depressed. Well, I can completely relate to that. Because less and less contact with the outside world and very little perspective, that doesn't make anyone happier, does it? In the past few months, I have often felt so gloomy and lonely due to all the measures that sometimes I really didn't know where to turn.
Something that always keeps me somewhat afloat in these kinds of difficult situations is humor. And especially dark humor. The worse I feel, the more blunt my jokes become. Often these jokes are about myself and my own problems. Sometimes I am shocked by my own harshness, but it really helps: the feeling that I am still able to laugh is healing. The internet also often provides comfort in this regard. Through my tears, I can still laugh out loud at all sorts of recognizable memes. For those who don't know what ‘memes’ are: those are the images we see everywhere on social media, with short, relevant, and often sarcastic texts.
Research also shows that dark humor helps with depression. Psychologist Umair Akram from Sheffield Hallam University in England researched the influence of pessimistic memes on depressed people. Akram: ‘Depressed and non-depressed participants were shown depressive memes – with jokes about suicide, emptiness, gloom, and despair – but also neutral memes. For each meme, they had to indicate on a five-point scale how funny and recognizable they found it, whether they would share the image on social media, and whether it would appeal to people with depression.’
What turned out: the depressed participants found the pessimistic memes more recognizable and funnier than the non-depressed participants. And more importantly: they thought – unlike mentally healthy people – that the mood of depressed peers would also improve after seeing the memes. They would definitely share the images. According to Akram, this indicates that depressed people use pessimistic memes as a coping mechanism for their negative mood. This is exactly how I experience it too. Akram explains: ‘People start looking at their situation from a different perspective. They compare their own negative thoughts and feelings with something that could have been even worse. As a result, they feel better.’ So how can we best get through this pandemic? Exactly, by looking at gloomy memes. That sounds like a nice form of therapy, doesn't it?
View this post on Instagram
Source: RTL, Psychology Magazine
