WEDNESDAY, June 28, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Humor therapy may lessen symptoms of depression and anxiety, according to a review published online June 21 in Brain and Behavior.

Xuefeng Sun, from Changchun University of Chinese Medicine, and colleagues conducted a systematic literature review to identify studies evaluating the effectiveness and feasibility of multiform humor therapy on people suffering from depression or anxiety.

Based upon 29 studies (2,964 participants), the researchers found that most of the participants thought humor therapy was effective in improving depression and anxiety. There was variety in the studies examined for types of humor therapy (medical clowns, laughter therapy/yoga) and participants (e.g., undergoing surgery or anesthesia; older people in nursing homes; patients with Parkinson disease, cancer, mental illness, and undergoing dialysis; retired women; and college students).

“As a simple and feasible complementary alternative therapy, humor therapy may provide a favorable alternative for clinicians, nurses, and patients in the future,” the authors write. “Future research should use widely accepted definitions of humor and effective assessment tools to try to assess and test the effects of humor interventions based on neurobiological effects and laboratory marker tests to better understand how humor therapy affects mental health.”