Act resilient.
Attendees have reported changing from being fearful to serene, from listless to energized, from disengaged to connected, and becoming markedly less anxious in a few weeks. Anecdotally, self-reported stress levels have been reduced by over 50% after just one class. Attendees learn not to be afraid of their feelings by working with emotions in a playful manner. When a person can act angry, but separate himself from his personal story, the emotional energy exists in a separate form that is not attached to specific events, and can be more easily dealt with and neutralized. Attendees are taught to "take out the emotional trash" through expressive comedy. They become less intimated by their own emotional intensity and triggers as they learn how even metaphorical buckets of anger, shame, guilt and hurt can be emotionally emptied. The added benefit is that this is accomplished without the disclosure of personal information of the requirement to reexperience past pain which can trigger its own cascade of stress.
Chaminade University, Honolulu, Hawaii.
Genie
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Joseph
Wynona
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Bice-Stephens
D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000628:therapy*; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005192:Family Health; D006801:Humans; D007845:Laughter; D008887:Military Medicine; D008889:Military Personnel; D026441:Mind-Body Therapies / Q000379:methods*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000628:therapy*