Clown Doctors Heal with Hope, Magic, and Humor

Clown Doctors Heal with Hope, Magic, and Humor

You might think it strange, but clowns help children, and even adults, heal. 

"Medical clowns", also known as "Clown Doctors", perform healing magic each day all around the world. 

Are Clown Doctors leading us into a new phase of Mind-Body Healing?

 

Clown Doctors do their healing work mostly in hospitals. They help patients and families by using humor, magic, antics, music, stories, and other fun stuff. Children are most receptive to Clown Doctors, but adult patients find them helpful too. Humor and laughter unleash the healing power that is within each of us. 

The movie "Patch Adams" was an example of Clown Therapy. In that movie, Patch changed the medical community around him one smile at a time. Children laughed in the pediatric ward. Some adult patients smiled, even when they were dying. Patch seems to be the father of Clown Therapy. 

Clown Doctors perform a wonderful service, but I think there are additional opportunities. 

The suggestions below could even provide even greater mind-body healing.

1. The Clown Doctor could use hypnotic suggestions to augment the medicine or treatment. Of course, all this would go on under the supervision of the medical staff at the hospital. The Clown Doctor could even be a Medical Doctor. Who says they cannot be both? Patch Adams was. In addition, the Clown Doctor could be a trained Hypnotherapist. Hypnosis is a healing aid, recognized by even the American Medical Association. A large component of hypnosis is mind focusing. When a Clown Doctor performs, the child is mesmerized. As long as the child's focus is off the illness or pain, perhaps the Clown Doctor could introduce healing suggestions. The clown's mesmerizing actions could be analogous to the hypnotist's pendulum. To implement this, Clown Doctors, Medical Professionals, and Hypnotherapists could collaborate on an acceptable method of operation. By using hypnosis, at least the patient could be more relaxed during an unpleasant medical procedure.
2. The Clown Doctor could use Stage Props to instill even further healing. We could learn techniques from the history of Traveling Medical Shows. Examples of these stage props might be Healing Machines, Potions, Elixirs, Magic Healing Wands, and the like. Of course, all these would be inert devices and compounds, but would trigger the Placebo Response within the child or adult. The Placebo Response is a large part of healing and is yet unexplained. A mother's kiss on a child's injury is an example of the Placebo Effect. To relate this concept to Medical Clowns, imagine the Wizard in the "Wizard of Oz" with all the knobs, dials, smoke, etc. By using props, like the Wizard's Machine, the Medical Clown-Doctor-Wizard could ignite the healing power within the child, relieve pain, suppress autoimmune responses, etc. Examples of good props might be Healing Machines, Pill Potency Increasers, Pain Zapping Spray, etc. Modifying Quack Medical Devices from the past could provide stage props for Clown Therapy. Of course, these props would not work medically, but they sure would "look" like they would work, thus triggering the Placebo Response. Healing Machines work in Pokémon, Magic Healers are imagined in Harry Potter, "Monster Spray" works for some children, and Tricorders work in Star Trek. Perhaps, Clown Doctors and Clown Nurses could spread around some of this healing magic in an actual Children's Hospital.
3. Children's Hospitals could morph into Magic Healing Centers. Taking the concepts above, adding more, and merging them into known healing modalities, i.e. medicine or treatment could provide even greater mind-body healing. In the foreground of this new and improved Children's Hospital would be magic, fantasy, etc. The clinical aspects, such as diagnosis and treatment, would be in the background. Healing Magic would be emphasized and Medical Science would be minimized. This concept is entirely different from traditional Western Medicine, but I think it might be worth a try. I think this approach would be greater tolerated by children and even some adults. Senile patients might find benefit in this concept too.

Takeaways:

• Medical Clowns or Clown Doctors have proven to aid healing.
• Hypnosis is a recognized healing modality, which a Clown Doctor might consider using.
• Stage Props could amplify the Healing Magic of the Placebo Effect.
• Healing Magic might be the future of the more successful Children's Hospitals.
• The main goal is to heal the patient, even if we do not quite understand how it works. Scientists can figure that out later.

For more information:

• Clown Care
• Clown Doctors!
• The Clown Doctor Chronicles (At the Interface/Probing the Boundaries) by Caroline Simonds et al., Rodopi, 2004
• Hypnotherapy Of Pain In Children With Cancer by Josephine Rohrs Hilgard et al., Kaufmann, 1984
• Museum of Quackery
• "The great American medicine show: being an illustrated history of hucksters, healers, health evangelists, and heroes from Plymouth Rock to the present" by David Armstrong et al.al, Prentice Hall, 1991
• Combining Clown Therapy and Hypnotherapy to Enhance Healing
• Clown Therapy Using Biofeedback for Non-Responsive Patients

Disclaimer - Article is for information only and is not medical advice.