Why Making Jokes When Everything's Shit Might Actually Help

Turns out, laughing at the darkness isn't a sign you don't care. It's often a sign you care deeply and need a way to cope. The science backs this up.

What Is Gallows Humour?

Gallows humour is making jokes about dark, taboo, or traumatic subjects. Doctors joking about death. First responders making dark cracks at accident scenes. You, laughing at your own mental health.

It sounds wrong. But research suggests it might be exactly right.

The Psychology Behind It

Humour provides psychological distance from distressing material. When you laugh at something painful, you momentarily step outside of it. You become the observer rather than the victim.

Studies show that humour as a coping mechanism is associated with better psychological adjustment and lower levels of depression and anxiety.

It's Not Denial

There's a crucial distinction between:

• Denial: Refusing to acknowledge reality
• Dark humour: Acknowledging reality while creating distance from its weight

The person making a joke about their anxiety isn't pretending they don't have it. They're finding a way to carry it.

Why It Works

• Reframes the narrative: You're not just a victim — you're the comedian
• Creates connection: Shared dark humour bonds people going through hard things
• Releases tension: Laughter physically reduces stress hormones
• Provides perspective: If you can joke about it, it hasn't completely destroyed you

When It Doesn't Work

Dark humour stops being helpful when:

• It's the only way you process emotions
• It's at others' expense without consent
• It prevents you from actually dealing with issues
• Others find it harmful (context matters)

If you're only able to access humour and never sadness, fear, or anger, you might be avoiding rather than coping. Our guide on emotional regulation can help you access the full range.

Humour and Mental Health

Research shows that humour is used therapeutically in mental health treatment. It's not about laughing your problems away — it's about creating enough psychological space to deal with them.

Permission to Laugh

If making jokes about your depression, trauma, or anxiety helps you cope, you don't need to feel guilty about it.

Sometimes the bravest thing is finding something to laugh at in the darkness. It doesn't mean the darkness doesn't exist. It means you're still here.