The fear of being laughed at among psychiatric patients
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Giovannantonio Forabosco
Abstract
The fear of being laughed at brings to the fore the problematic side of an otherwise very positive aspect of human experience. In the streamline of investigations analyzing the presence and characteristics of gelotophobia, a study focusing on psychiatric patients was carried out. The diagnoses were established according to the criteria of the DSM IV TR (American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), APA, 2000). Based both on clinical and empirical observations, the main hypothesis advanced was that using the Geloph〈15〉 scale, Ss with a psychiatric diagnosis would have higher mean scores than Normal Controls. An additional hypothesis was that intragroup differences were also expected among the various diagnostic categories. The main hypothesis was amply supported, and explanatory suggestions of the finding were proposed. Intragroup differences proved also to be significant. Patients with personality disorders and patients with schizophrenic disorders scored higher than Normal Controls and the other diagnostic groups. And also the number of years spent in psychiatric care resulted significantly associated with higher gelotophobia mean scores. From the present study, a circular, interactive relationship was confirmed between laughter and mental health, which can alternatively be highly positive or deeply negative.
© 2009 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, D-10785 Berlin
Articles in the same Issue
- Fearing humor? Gelotophobia: The fear of being laughed at Introduction and overview
- Gelotophobia: The fear of being laughed at
- Humor theory and the fear of being laughed at
- How do gelotophobes interpret laughter in ambiguous situations? An experimental validation of the concept
- The emotions of gelotophobes: Shameful, fearful, and joyless?
- Investigating the humor of gelotophobes: Does feeling ridiculous equal being humorless?
- How virtuous are gelotophobes? Self- and peer-reported character strengths among those who fear being laughed at
- Intelligence and gelotophobia: The relations of self-estimated and Psychometrically measured intelligence to the fear of being laughed at
- Extending the study of gelotophobia: On gelotophiles and katagelasticists
- Were they really laughed at? That much? Gelotophobes and their history of perceived derisibility
- The fear of being laughed at among psychiatric patients
- Breaking ground in cross-cultural research on the fear of being laughed at (gelotophobia): A multi-national study involving 73 countries
Articles in the same Issue
- Fearing humor? Gelotophobia: The fear of being laughed at Introduction and overview
- Gelotophobia: The fear of being laughed at
- Humor theory and the fear of being laughed at
- How do gelotophobes interpret laughter in ambiguous situations? An experimental validation of the concept
- The emotions of gelotophobes: Shameful, fearful, and joyless?
- Investigating the humor of gelotophobes: Does feeling ridiculous equal being humorless?
- How virtuous are gelotophobes? Self- and peer-reported character strengths among those who fear being laughed at
- Intelligence and gelotophobia: The relations of self-estimated and Psychometrically measured intelligence to the fear of being laughed at
- Extending the study of gelotophobia: On gelotophiles and katagelasticists
- Were they really laughed at? That much? Gelotophobes and their history of perceived derisibility
- The fear of being laughed at among psychiatric patients
- Breaking ground in cross-cultural research on the fear of being laughed at (gelotophobia): A multi-national study involving 73 countries
