
What’s this about?
We know what you’re thinking. This website is about addiction and mental health problems, and there’s no room for laughter amidst such chaos. What do psychiatry and humor have to do with one other, right?
Here’s the complicated answer. (Pardon the formality)
“A major conclusion of previous reviews on the general effects of humor [4, 6, 18] is that humor has a broad range of effects on perceptions, attitudes, judgments and emotions, which may mediate directly or indirectly to benefit the physical and psychological state.”
— Mark Gelkopf.
Gelkopf M. The Use of Humor in Serious Mental Illness: a Review. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2011
Here’s the quick answer:
Humor is the bomb. Good bomb. Just saying.
Humor in psychiatry
Humor in psychiatry is called all sorts of things… humor therapy, tailored and untailored laughter, medical clowning, humorous interventional renderings, and psychodynamically-oriented knock knock jokes. Okay, I’m making some of this stuff up, but you get the idea.
The diagram below explains it best. Or tries to.

For a psychiatrist like me, humor is therapy, intervention, coping skill, self-soothing strategy, a sign of maturity (for those who like my jokes), and an endorphin-raising physiological experience that mimics exercise if done often and long enough. Some say it’s good for weight loss too, although studies suggest physical exercise is still better.
So Patch Adams meets psychiatry. Monty Python meets recovery. Mental health needs humor. Life needs laughter. Period.
Enough of that. Here’s the fun stuff.
So you’ve reached kimrosenthalmd.com’s “Funny page,” and here’s a list of humored and at times bizarre articles for the reading.
- Humor: a list to laugh for
- This website does not come with ostriches
- FAQ gone wrong
- Behavioral therapy: Why you shouldn’t drive by your ex’s house
Up for a puzzle and coloring page? Give these a try.
- The mask: find the same as the original
- The rabbit hat: coloring
- A maze for coloring
- Design for coloring
Articles coming soon.
- 1034.3 types of humor and a few jokes
- More jokes
- The meaning of life (the real thing, not Monty Python)
- Meaning of Life (Monty Python this time)
- One more joke
- An Absurd & deeply enjoyable quiz
Puzzled Cartoon
Can you find the unique cartoon? All others come in pairs.
Alright, that’s it for now. For more fun, check out our relapse prevention plan.