Laughter

ellie2000

Is laughing slightly wen discussing wat u went through normal? bc I drew it n wen I shown the teacher I was laughing slightly. I was having flashbacks

Gemma

Hey @ellie2000, I would say this is definitely a normal reaction to discussing traumatic situations for many people. Smiling or laughing while disclosing painful experiences can serve several different functions.

A lot of us use humour as a defence mechanism to protect us from feeling any deeper pain- laughter can keep the pain or difficult feelings at arm's length. It can also be a way for us to shut down conversations, minimise what we went through to prevent having to go through it all again.

For some people it can also be a kind of social appeasement where we feel bad talking about something so traumatic to other people that we want to downplay the seriousness of it so we don't distress others and to appear as though we're fine.

It is a tough thing to give weight and space to our experiences and show that vulnerability to others.

We're here if you'd like to talk more about these flashbacks

AnonymousToe

Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s normal. I use humour to cope with difficult things. It sounds weird but I think it’s common

sinead276

Like the others have said, people can sometimes use laughter as a way to manage their emotions and cope when discussing more difficult topics. For many, it almost tries and prevents us from generating other reactions such as getting upset. And like Gemma said, we sometimes use it (even without realising) to try and make sure the other person doesn't become uncomfortable in the situation.

But either way it's a common defense mechanism / coping strategy that many people use from time to time