ABSTRACT
The humour involves a creative and sometimes bizarre shift of perspective that makes a previous idea or statement seem "silly" or "funny" from the new viewpoint. Humour by exaggeration takes clients' self-defeating ideas to extreme conclusions to show them the inherent absurdity of these ideas and thereby generate more realistic views about the problematic situation. The use of exaggeration and humour 'may not be a good idea for the patient who is so extremely fragile and vulnerable that he feels ridiculed or criticized by the therapist's humorous remarks'. The therapist should use these techniques only after a sound therapeutic relationship established with her client and emphasize to him that they directed at his ideas, not him. Once these techniques used, feedback should be elicited from the client to decide their impact upon him. Therapists can also poke fun at their own 'strange' ideas to prove that their clients do not have a monopoly on them.
