Evaluation of a Humor Training for Patients with Chronic Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Background: Humor and laughter are positively associated with psychological as well as with physical well-being. As there is little research examining to what extent patients suffering from chronic pain could benefit from a humor intervention, the goal of this study was to develop a pain-specific humor training and to evaluate its feasibility and effectiveness as component of regular, multimodal pain therapy.

Patients And Methods: Patients from inpatient treatment groups for chronic pain in a German hospital were randomly assigned to the training group (final n = 62) and the control group (final n = 65).

That's not funny! - But it should be: effects of humorous emotion regulation on emotional experience and memory.

Previous research has shown that humorous reappraisal can reduce elicited negative emotions, suggesting that humor may be a functional strategy to cope with emotionally negative situations. However, the effect of humorous reappraisal on later memory about the emotion-eliciting situation is currently unknown, although this is crucial for more adaptive responding in future situations. To address this issue, we examined the effects of humorous reappraisal on both emotional experience and memory, compared to non-humorous rational reappraisal and a non-reappraisal control condition.

Contemporary management of complicated monochorionic twins.

Monochorionic twins are at increased risk for unique complications including twin-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS), selective intrauterine growth restriction (sIUGR), and twin-reversed arterial perfusion (TRAP) sequence. Twin-twin transfusion syndrome is treated with laser photocoagulation whereas selective reduction is an option in previable sIUGR or TRAP sequence. The nurse is integral in the management, education, care and support of women with complicated pregnancies.