Never a Dull Moment - Laughter and Purpose — Part 2

Chapter 4: Never a Dull Moment - Laughter and Purpose

The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that depression will soon be the second commonest cause of disability worldwide. In depression, brain neurotransmitters, such as noradrenaline and endorphins (dopamine and serotonin), are low and the mood control circuit of the brain malfunctions. Because laughter alters dopamine and serotonin and enhances endorphins, laughter therapy works for patients with depression – either as a single treatment or complementary to antidepressant drugs. There are a number of websites where you can find out more about laughter therapy and laughter yoga. Surely with this long litany of advantages for laughter, we should endeavour to install as much joy and laughter as possible at all stages of our lives? And yes, the number of times we laugh declines as we get older but the potential for physical and psychological advantage is still there – we just need to make more effort to use it. Closely aligned with the health benefits of laughter is having a sense of purpose. Purpose is a key psychological strength which shares many of the biological benefits we get with laughter. One of the first physicians to detail the value of purpose was a psychiatrist who spent three years as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps, where he documented how purpose had life-saving features. His name was Victor Frankl and he went on to develop a psychotherapy which is still used today and is based on his observations in the camps.

Chapter 4: Never a Dull Moment - Laughter and Purpose

Frankl published the chronicle of his experiences and observations as a prisoner in the camps in his 1946 book Man’s Search for Meaning. His approach to stress centres around the role of ‘having a purpose’ irrespective of our circumstances. You can imagine how challenging it must have been for prisoners to find purpose in their lives in the camps. And yet, this is precisely what Frankl described and posited: that prisoners who adopted this approach ‘of having a purpose’ were better able to withstand the severe stress and awful circumstances. His psychotherapeutic method involved getting his patients to identify a purpose in life, something to feel positive about, and then immersively imagining that outcome. According to Frankl, the way a prisoner imagined the future affected his longevity: ‘He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how.’ Frankl maintained that: ‘. . . everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. And there were always choices to make. Every day, every hour, offered the opportunity to make a decision, a decision which determined whether you would or would not submit to those powers which threatened to rob you of your very self, your inner freedom; which determined whether or not you want to become the plaything of circumstance, renouncing freedom and dignity to become moulded into the form of the typical inmate.’ Frankl concludes that the meaning of life is found in every moment of living; life never ceases to have meaning, even in suffering and death. In one group therapy session, during a time when the camp’s inmates were suffering even more greatly as their rations had been taken away as punishment for trying to protect an anonymous fellow inmate from fatal retribution by authorities, Frankl offered the thought that for everyone in a dire condition there is someone looking down. This might be a friend, family member or even God, who would expect not to be disappointed. He used this approach to encourage inmates and provide purpose to their actions.

Chapter 4: Never a Dull Moment - Laughter and Purpose

Frankl described from his experiences and observations that a prisoner’s psychological reactions were not solely the result of the conditions of his life but also of the freedom of choice he always had, even in severe suffering. The inner hold a prisoner had on his spirit self-relied on having a hope in the future; only once that prisoner lost that hope was he doomed. This was some of the earliest and most insightful exploration of the value of having purpose. Frankl continued his research and therapies after liberation from the camp. He died in 1997, aged 92; the book has sold over 16 million copies and has been translated into 50 languages.

Today, we know that having a purpose is central to living a happy and longer life. Sometimes, as we get older, families dissipate and we no longer have employment or much in the way of social engagement, and we lose sight of purpose. Life may seem to be aimless and pointless. Purpose is about reflective activities in which individuals perceive their existence to be meaningful and include the goals for which they live.

Chapter 4: Never a Dull Moment - Laughter and Purpose

It is easy to fall into the trap of believing you have no purpose. If a person feels they don’t have a purpose in life, they should try to make one. While some people lose purpose when they retire, others take on new challenges. Most volunteering is done by retired persons. An abundance of data shows that people who engage in volunteering are less depressed and have better quality of life. Volunteers are needed in so many different domains in today’s world, there should be plenty of choice. Grandparenting provides purpose in a multiplex of ways, contributing significantly to the workforce by galvanising parents to employment and increasing national and individual economic capacity, with a multitude of consequent advantages for the wider family network. Characteristic of many centenarians is a persistent sense of purpose; this is particularly evident in the Blue Zones, where older people have special names for ‘getting up each morning with a clear purpose for the day’. Okinowans call it ikigai and Nicoyans call it plan de vida.

Chapter 4: Never a Dull Moment - Laughter and Purpose

Activities such as choir membership, gardening or a new academic degree, course or diploma are well-established things that can provide a sense of purpose and positive psychological health benefits. Purpose is also amplified through creativity. Neurological research shows that making art improves not just mood but also cognitive function by making thicker and stronger new connections between brain cells. Art enhances cognitive reserve, in other words – the spare brain capacity we have to draw on when called for, helping the brain to actively compensate for pathology by using more efficient brain networks or alternative brain strategies. Making or even viewing art causes brain changes akin to reshaping, adapting and restructuring the brain. According to Bruce Miller, MD, a behavioural neurologist at the University of California, while brains inevitably age, creative abilities do not deteriorate, thus reinforcing the contribution to ‘reserve brain capacity’. Imagination and creativity flourish in later life, helping to realise unique, unlived potentials and consolidate crystalline intelligence – the intelligence we get from learning and from past experiences. People involved in weekly art participation have better physical health, fewer doctor visits and less medication usage coupled with better mental health than others who do not participate in creative activity. The benefits last for at least two years after participation.

Chapter 4: Never a Dull Moment - Laughter and Purpose

Aristotle, ancient Greek philosopher and scientist, is one of the greatest intellectual figures of Western history. His thinking strategies were responsible for producing some of the most profound advances in human reason. Our modern society and education focus more on the discoveries resulting from these strategies than on the mental processes through which discoveries are made. We learn about great ideas and the names of the creative geniuses but we are seldom taught the mental processes or creative thinking techniques used to look at the same things and see something different. Albert Einstein said, ‘Creativity is intelligence having fun.’ It is certainly the act of having new and imaginative ideas and turning them into reality. It is characterised by the ability to perceive the world in new ways, to find hidden patterns, to make connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena, and to generate solutions. We employ creativity in writing, in sculpture, in painting and other means of performance.