• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

FHE Health - Addiction & Mental Health Care Homepage

Drug, Alcohol and Mental Health Treatment

ContactCareers

Call for Immediate Help (833) 596-3502

MENUMENU
  • About
        • About FHE Rehab
          • About FHE Health
          • Our Staff
          • Locations We Serve
          • Testimonials
        • Our Campus
          • Gallery
          • Our Videos
          • The Health and Wellness Center at FHE Health
        • Our Locations
          • Alcohol Rehab
          • Detox Center
          • Drug Rehab
          • Mental Health Center
          • Outpatient Rehab
        • Careers at FHE Health
          • Employment Opportunities
        • Our Expertise
          • Accreditations
          • Educational Opportunities
          • Community Impact Award
          • First Responder Families Podcast
          • First Responder Paws
          • Education Scholarship
  • Addiction
        • Treatment Programs
          • Treatment Program Overview
          • Alcohol Addiction
          • Drug Addiction Treatment
          • Behavioral Addiction
        • Levels of Care
          • Continuum of Care
          • Addiction Detox
          • Inpatient Addiction Treatment
          • Outpatient Addiction Treatment
        • What We Treat
          • Alcoholism
          • Amphetamines
          • Benzodiazepines
          • Cocaine
          • Heroin
          • Opioids
          • Sedative
  • Mental Health
        • Mental Health Rehab
          • Mental Health Rehab
          • Onsite Psychiatric Care
          • Dual Diagnosis
        • Levels of Care
          • Residential Mental Health Care
          • Outpatient Mental Health Care
        • What We Treat
          • ADD & ADHD
          • Anxiety Disorders
          • Bipolar Disorder
          • Depression
          • Eating Disorders
          • Personality Disorders
          • PTSD
          • Schizophrenia
          • Substance Use Disorder
          • Trauma
  • Programs
        • FHE Programs
          • Specialty Program Overview
          • Restore (Mental Health)
          • Empower! (Women's Program)
          • Shatterproof FHE Health(First Responders)
          • Compass Program
        • Support Programs
          • Alumni
          • Family Support
        • Therapies
          • Acupuncture
          • Breathwork Therapy
          • CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy)
          • DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy)
          • EMDR Therapy
          • Expressive Arts Therapy
          • Individual Therapy
          • Group Therapy
          • Gambling Therapy
          • Massage
        • Medical Care
          • Medical Integration
          • Ketamine Infusion
          • IV Vitamin
          • Fitness & Nutrition
          • Medication-Assisted Treatment
          • Medication Management
        • NeuroRehab Services
          • Neuro Rehabilitation
          • Neurofeedback Training
          • Neurostimulation Therapy
          • EEG Brain Mapping
          • Insomnia Treatment for PTSD
  • Resources
        • FHE Guides
          • Understanding Drug Abuse
          • Signs of Addiction
          • The Disease of Addiction
          • Confronting Addiction
          • Staging an Intervention
          • Rehab Success Rate – Does It Really Work?
          • Withdrawal Timelines
          • Life After Rehab
          • LGBTQ+ Community Resources
          • Veteran Resources
          • FHE Podcasts
          • Remote Resources Toolkit
        • Learning Center
          • Help for You
          • Help For Loved Ones
          • Help For Alcoholism
          • Help With Substance Abuse
          • Behavioral & Mental Health
          • Life in Recovery
          • Rehab Explained
          • Addiction Statistics
          • Our Research Articles
          • View All Articles
        • The Experience Blog
          • Addiction News
          • Alumni
          • Community Events
          • Expert Opinions
          • FHE Commentary
          • FHE News
          • Treatment Legislation
          • View All Articles
  • Admissions
        • Insurance
          • Blue Cross Insurance
          • Beacon Health / Value Options Insurance
          • Cigna Insurance
          • Humana Insurance
          • TRICARE Insurance
        • Admissions
          • Steps to Addiction Help
          • Will Insurance Cover Behavioral Treatment?
          • Self-Pay Rehab
        • FAQ
          • Keeping Your Job in Rehab
          • Example Day in Rehab
        • Contact Admissions
          • Contact Us
          • Secure Payment Form
  • Contact
  •  
Home > Featured in Alumni > Alumni Outlook: The Benefits of Humor in Recovery

May 20, 2022 By Alaina Hulette

Alumni Outlook: The Benefits of Humor in Recovery

Alumni Perspectives: Humor in Recovery Journey

I have a confession to make. Despite being a writer, I don’t know all the letters of the alphabet. I don’t know y.

Some of you may have groaned, some shook their heads, and others laughed. “Dad jokes” and in my world, mom jokes, are the cringe-worthy jokes that I enjoy the most. While I will never make a career as a stand-up comedian, I definitely enjoy a good laugh. That’s a good thing because humor can help mental health recovery with physical and emotional benefits.

I’ll admit, it took me a while to find my smile and to find my laughter. When I was in the depths of depression, it was hard to find. Fortunately, through this journey, I have been able to find it. When I look back on pictures from before treatment, right after, and now, I can clearly see a difference in my smile. It’s been a journey and well worth it. There are many benefits to laughter.

Health Benefits

An article from Mayo Clinic shows there are several benefits to laughter. It states that three short term benefits are that it releases endorphins, helps you feel relaxed, and even helps reduce some of the physical symptoms of stress. The long term benefits it states laughter provides are improvement of immune system functioning, pain relief, increase in personal satisfaction, and improvement of mood.

How Do You Laugh?

Those are all fantastic results to experience. But how does one experience laughter when experiencing depression? How do you bring yourself to smile when it feels completely opposite of current emotions? I don’t have data-driven answers, but I can share my personal experiences.

Watch a Funny Movie

I remember before I went to FHE, and I was so deep in depression. My mind was telling me to do certain things I knew were not safe choices. The only way I knew how to avoid the unsafe choices at that time was to distract myself and do the opposite. The opposite of my depression was laughter. Since I often couldn’t sleep, I would put on a movie that always makes me laugh. In case you are wondering, that movie is “White Chicks.” Anyway, even in my darkest moments, it would bring at least a giggle.

Watch A Comedian

Another thing I would do when feeling down was to stream some shows of comedians I enjoy. Anything by Gabriel Iglesias or Jeff Dunham was a sure way to make me laugh. Who is your favorite comedian? If you have a streaming device, you can search them up to see all the shows or movies with them in it.

Scroll Social Media

Ok, I know. Social media sometimes gets looked down on as a negative influence. However, there can be some really funny content on there. Do you like funny memes (remember grumpy cat?) or funny stories? Simply searching those on social media can bring up a smile. I like to search for comedians on TikTok. I find that my algorithm has found funny people that relate to the chronic illnesses and mental health struggles I have. It helps me feel less alone and also gives me a chance to laugh about my struggles and not forget the benefits of sarcasm.

Sarcasm Can be Beneficial

Sarcasm can be a deflective tool and it can also be a humorous tool. When done in a way that isn’t trying to hurt someone else, it can be a way to lighten the moment and laugh. Some of my greatest moments at FHE were filled with some serious sarcasm.

Being able to find humor and laugh at the hard stuff we were going through was essential to being able to find a light in the darkness. It also created a way to bond. Here we were, trying to find ways to navigate our struggles but laughing through it instead of crying. Although I did cry a lot, finding laughter was a way to show me hope existed, even if others would cringe at our humor.

Getting to the Other Side

Sometimes, when faced with big things, you either laugh or cry. Crying seems daunting to me so I just laugh and make awful jokes. I like when I can find the humor or at least sarcasm in my situation because it actually boosts my confidence. It’s like “Hey, this is a crazy situation but we’ll find the silver lining so we can get through to the other side.”

Humor, like everything in life, is a journey. Laughter is contagious and not the germy kind of contagious. It can bring physical and mental health benefits. It can help you get to the other side of a rough moment, even if others shake their heads.

So if you’re having a rough moment, maybe grab your favorite snack and watch a funny movie or grab some friends and play a funny game like Cards Against Humanity or for a kid friendly version, Kids Create Absurdity. The benefits you experience from finding humor may surprise you.

Filed Under: Featured in Alumni, Alumni

More Questions about Treatment?

More Questions about Treatment?

We offer 100% confidential and individualized treatment

Contact Us

About Alaina Hulette

Alaina Hulette is an alumni of the Restore program at FHE. She writes about her experience navigating the world of Mental Health. When she isn’t busy with her family, you can find her watching movies about superheroes, cuddling with her dogs, doing art, cheering on The Cornhuskers, and dreaming about the palm trees in Florida.

Primary Sidebar

The Experience Blog

  • Addiction News
  • Alumni
  • Community Events
  • Expert Columns
  • FHE Commentary
  • FHE News
  • Treatment Legislation
  • All Articles

Sign up for the Blog

Our Facilities

Take a look at our state of the art treatment center.

View Our Gallery

Learning Center

  • Help for You
  • Help For Loved Ones
  • Help For Alcoholism
  • Help With Substance Abuse
  • Behavioral & Mental Health
  • Life in Recovery
  • Rehab Explained
  • All Articles
Contact Us
  • Call Now:
  • Best Time to Call:

Footer

FHE Health

© 2025 FHE Health

505 S Federal Hwy #2,
Deerfield Beach, Florida 33441
1-833-596-3502
youtube facebook instagram linkedin twitter
  • Contact
  • Careers at FHE Health
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap
A+ BBB and Top Places to Work - Sun Sentinel

Copyright © 2025 · FHE Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Manage Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}

The FHE Health team is committed to providing accurate information that adheres to the highest standards of writing. If one of our articles is marked with a ‘reviewed for accuracy and expertise’ badge, it indicates that one or more members of our team of doctors and clinicians have reviewed the article further to ensure accuracy. This is part of our ongoing commitment to ensure FHE Health is trusted as a leader in mental health and addiction care.

If there are any concerns about content we have published, please reach out to us at marketing@fhehealth.com.

833-596-3502

Text/Call Me