Self-Guided Humorous Imagery Mitigates Pain and Anxiety: A Repeated Measures Pilot Study

Achterberg J. (1984). Imagery and medicine: Psychophysiological speculations. Journal of Mental Imagery, 8(4), 1-13. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1986-03196-001 .

Afshar M. Mohsenzadeh A. Gilasi H. Sadeghi-Gandomani H. (2018). The effects of guided imagery on state and trait anxiety and sleep quality among patients receiving hemodialysis: A randomized controlled trial. Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 40, 37-41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctim.2018.07.006

Ahmad A. H. Zakaria R. (2015). Pain in times of stress. The Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences, 22(Spec Issue), 52-61.

Auerbach S. (2017). Are clowns good for everyone? The influence of trait cheerfulness on emotional reactions to a hospital clown intervention. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, Article 1973. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01973

Bagherzadeh Shirvan N. Khodabakhshi-Koolaee A. (2021). The effectiveness of humor training on happiness and life satisfaction of female patients with epilepsy. Journal of Client-Centered Nursing Care, 7(4), 255-262. https://doi.org/10.32598/JCCNC.7.4.33.17

Bains G. S. Berk L. S. Lohman E. Daher N. Petrofsky J. Schwab E. Deshpande P. (2015). Humor’s effect on short-term memory in healthy and diabetic older adults. Alternative Therapies, 21(3), 16-25.

Behrouz S. Mazloom S. R. Kooshyar H. Asgharipour N. Aghebati N. Vashani H. R. B. (2019). The effect of humor therapy on relieving quality and fear of pain in elderly residing in nursing homes: A randomized clinical trial. Advances in Nursery and Midwifery, 28(3), 53-61. https://doi.org/10.29252/anm-280309

Bennett P. N. Parsons T. Ben-Moshe R. Weinberg M. Neal M. Gilbert K. Rawson H. Ockerby C. Finlay P. Hutchinson A. (2014). Laughter and humor therapy in dialysis. Seminars in Dialysis, 27(5), 488-493. https://doi.org/10.1111/sdi.12194

Blaszko Helming M. A. Shields D. A. Avino K. M. Rosa W. E. (2022). Dossey & Keegan’s holistic nursing: A handbook for practice (8th ed.). Jones and Bartlett.

Cernasev A. Gomaa B. Hager K. Schommer J. C. Brown L. M. (2020). Use of national consumer survey data to explore perceptions of complementary and alternative medicine. Innovations in Pharmacy, 11(2), Article 15. https://doi.org/10.24926/iip.v11i2.2263

Chelly F. Kacem I. Moussa A. Ghenim A. Krifa I. Methamem F. Chouachane A. Aloui A. Brahem A. Kalboussi H. El Maalel O. Chatti S. Maoua M. Sameh B. Mrizak N. (2022). Healing humor: The use of humor in the nurse-patient relationship. Occupational Diseases and Environmental Medicine, 10(3), 217-231. https://doi.org/10.4236/odem.2022.103017

Chou L. Ranger T. A. Peiris W. Cicuttini F. M. Urquhart D. M. Briggs A. M. Wluka A. E. (2018). Patients’ perceived needs for allied health, and complementary and alternative medicines for low back pain: A systematic scoping review. Health Expectations, 21(5), 824-847. https://doi.org/10.1111/hex.12676

Cousins N. (1979). Anatomy of an illness. Norton.

De Francisco, S., Torres, C., De Andrés, S., Millet, A., Ricart, M. T., Hernández-Martínez-Esparza, E., Abades, M. & Trujols, J. (2019). Effectiveness of integrative laughter therapy to reduce anxiety, improve self-esteem and increase happiness: A naturalistic study at a day hospital for addictive disorders. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(21), Article 4194. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16214194

Dossey B. Keegan L. (2016). Holistic nursing: A handbook for practice (7th ed.). Jones and Bartlett.

Efrat-Triester D. Altman D. Friedmann E. Margalit D. L. A. Teodorescu K. (2021). Exploring the usefulness of medical clowns in elevating satisfaction and reducing aggressive tendencies in pediatric and adult hospital wards. BMC Health Services Research, 21(1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-05987-9

Elmali H. Akpinar R. B. (2017). The effect of watching funny and unfunny videos on post-surgical pain levels. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 26, 36-41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctcp.2016.11.003

Felix M. M. D. S. Ferreira M. B. G. Oliveira L. F. D. Barichello E. Pires P. D. S. Barbosa M. H. (2018). Guided imagery relaxation therapy on preoperative anxiety: A randomized clinical trial. Revista Latino-Americana de Enfermagem, 26, Article e3101. https://doi.org/https://doi/org/10.1590/1518-8345.2850.3101

Foji S. Tadayonfar M. A. Mohsenpour M. Rakhshani M. H. (2015). The study of the effect of guided imagery on pain, anxiety and some other hemodynamic factors in patients undergoing coronary angiography. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 21(2), 119-123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctcp.2015.02.001

Gaskin D. J. Richard P. (2012). The economic costs of pain in the United States. Journal of Pain, 13(8), 715-724. https://doi.org/https://doi/10.1016/j.jpain.2012.03.009

Genç H. Saritas S. (2020). The effects of watching comedy videos on anxiety and vital signs in surgical oncology patients. Explore, 16(6), 401-406. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.explore.2020.02.009

Hitch C. M. Harper B. Armour C. Waterhouse-Bradley B. (2020). How army veterans cope with chronic pain: A grounded theory approach. Journal of Veterans Studies, 6(1), 122-134. https://doi.org/10.21061/jvs.v6i1.125

Kugler L. Kuhbandner C. Gerum S. Hierl C. Münster T. Offereins B. Lutterbach L. S. (2021). Evaluation of a humor training for patients with chronic pain: A randomized clinical trial. Journal of Pain Research, 14, 3121-3133. https://doi.org/10.2147/JPR.S313868

Lapierre S. S. Baker B. D. Tanaka H. (2019). Effects of mirthful laughter on pain tolerance: A randomized controlled investigation. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, 23(4), 733-738. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbmt.2019.04.005

Lee Y. Uchiyama M. (2015). The effect of humorous stimuli on alleviating pain during mammography: A preliminary study. Health, 7(6), 659-664. https://doi.org/10.4236/health.2015.76078

Liptak A. Tate J. Flatt J. Oakley M. A. Lingler J. (2014). Humor and laughter in persons with cognitive impairment and their caregivers. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 32(1), 25-34. https://doi.org/10.1177/0898010113500075

Manninen S. Tuominen L. Dunbar R. I. Karjalainen T. Hirvonen J. Arponen E. Hari R. Jääskeläinen I. P. Sams M. Nummenmaa L. (2017). Social laughter triggers endogenous opioid release in humans. Journal of Neuroscience, 37(25), 6125-6131. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0688-16.2017

Martin R. A. Lefcourt H. M. (1983). Sense of humor as a moderator of the relation between stressors and moods. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45(6), 1313-1324. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.45.6.1313

Michaelides A. Zis P. (2019). Depression, anxiety and acute pain: Links and management challenges. Postgraduate Medicine, 131(7), 438-444. https://doi.org/10.1080/00325481.2019.1663705

Micozzi M. (2019). Fundamentals of complementary, alternative, and integrative medicine (6th ed.). Elsevier.

Morishima T. Miyashiro I. Inoue N. Kitasaka M. Akazawa T. Higeno A. Idota A. Sato A. Tetsuya O. Sakon M. Matsuura N. (2019). Effects of laughter therapy on quality of life in patients with cancer: An open-label, randomized controlled trial. PLoS One, 14(6), Article e0219065. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0219065

Olpin M. Hesson M. (2015). Stress management for life: A research-based experiential approach. Cengage Learning.

Pérez-Aranda A. Hofmann J. Feliu-Soler A. Ramírez-Maestre C. Andrés-Rodríguez L. Ruch W. Luciano J. V. (2019). Laughing away the pain: A narrative review of humor, sense of humor, and pain. European Journal of Pain, 23(2), 220-233. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejp.1309

Raja S. N. Carr D. B. Cohen M. Finnerup N. B. Flor H. Gibson S. Keefe F. J. Mogil J. S. Ringkamp M. Sluka K. A. Song X.-J. Stevens B. Sullivan M. D. Tutelman O. R. Ushida T. Vader K. (2020). The revised international association for the study of pain definition of pain: Concepts, challenges, and compromises. Pain, 161(9), 1976-1982. https://doi.org/10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001939

Ramírez-Maestre C. Esteve R. López-Martínez A. E. Miró J. Jensen M. P. de la Vega R. (2020). Beyond pain intensity and catastrophizing: The association between self-enhancing humor style and the adaptation of individuals with chronic pain. European Journal of Pain, 24(7), 1357-1367. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejp.1583

Ridley J. Dance D. Pare D. (2014). The acceptability of humor between palliative care patients and health care providers. Journal of Palliative Medicine, 17(4), 472-474. https://doi.org/10.1089/jpm.2013.0354

Savage B. M. Lujan H. L. Thipparthi R. R. DiCarlo S. E. (2017). Humor, laughter, learning, and health! A brief review. Advances in Physiology Education, 41(3), 341-347. https://doi.org/10.1152/advan.00030.2017

Schaub B. G. McInnis Burt B. (2016). Imagery. In Dossey B. Keegan L. (Eds.), Holistic nursing: A handbook for practice (pp. 269-297). Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Seaward B. L. (2020). Managing stress; Skills for self-care, personal resiliency and work-life balance in a rapidly changing world. Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Sousa L. M. M. Antunes A. V. Marques-Vieira C. M. A. Silva P. C. L. Severino S. S. P. José H. M. G. (2019). Effect of humor intervention on well-being, depression, and sense of humor in hemodialysis patients. Enfermería Nefrológica, 22(3), 256-265. https://doi.org/10.4321/S2254-28842019000300004

Sousa L. M. M. Marques-Vieira C. M. A. Antunes A. V. Frade M. D. F. G. Severino S. P. S. Valentim O. S. (2019). Humor intervention in the nurse-patient interaction. Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem, 72(4), 1078-1085. https://doi.org/10.1590/0034-7167-2018-0609

Thomas K. M. Sethares K. A. (2010). Is guided imagery effective in reducing pain and anxiety in the postoperative total joint arthroplasty patient? Orthopaedic Nursing, 29(6), 393-399. https://doi.org/10.1097/NOR.0b013e3181f837f0

Velikova S. Nordtug B. (2018). Self-guided positive imagery training: Effects beyond the emotions–A LORETA study. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 11, Article 644. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00664

Velikova S. Sjaaheim H. Nordtug B. (2017). Can the psycho-emotional state be optimized by regular use of positive imagery? Psychological and electroencephalographic study of self-guided training. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 10, Article 664. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2016.00664

Westburg N. G. (2003). Hope, laughter, and humor in residents and staff at an assisted living facility. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 25(1), 16-32. https://doi.org/10.17744/mehc.25.1.g128feq7 ( 21xxbfe

Wooten P. (2013). Humor, laughter, and play. In Dossey B. M. Keegan L. (Eds.), Holistic nursing: A handbook for practice (pp. 308-318). Jones & Bartlett Learning.