The ethics of black humour Research suggests the role of black humour, drawn from shared experiences of stressful situations, helps to ‘glue’ together first responders and health professionals (Old,...

The ethics of black humour

Research suggests the role of black humour, drawn from shared experiences of stressful situations, helps to ‘glue’ together first responders and health professionals (Old, 2012; Scott, 2007). By normalising a situation through humour, a stressful encounter can be made more manageable, with humour allowing people to control their feelings of fear or vulnerability

Questions

1 How ethical is it for health professionals to use black humour?

2 How can humour help people to control their feelings of fear or vulnerability?

3 In what circumstances is laughter an appropriate or inappropriate reaction?