Proving that laughter really is the best medicine

AS deep depression took hold, the last thing Donald Grant might have needed was someone telling him to cheer up.

• Jojo Sutherland helps Donald Grant, left, and Charlie Kennedy fine-tune their routines at the Stand Comedy Club in York Place

Gripped by panic attacks, he'd started to shun social situations, preferring instead to shut himself away from the world. Then, as it all became too much, he'd break down in tears.

Laughing - even smiling - was furthest from his mind. Standing up in front of a stranger and telling a joke, completely unthinkable.

Yet today Donald is chuckling gleefully as he relates a shopping trip with his wife, the mind-numbing half hour she spends looking at something, the next half hour gripped in feverish debate about the colour and the style, the next half hour figuring out if it's worth it. "And that's just in the supermarket when she's shopping for the tea," he grins.

He lets out a peal of infectious laughter that's proof that the once overwhelming dark clouds that engulfed his thoughts have been replaced by a much lighter vision of life.

Whoever said laughter is the best medicine, it seems, was on the right track.

For Donald - and a growing number of people with a range of medical conditions - are learning to see the funny side again thanks to a unique comedy charity which uses the power of a good old fashioned belly laugh to raise their self-esteem and chase away the blues.

Since its launch in 2004, Universal Comedy has been using professional comedians to reintroduce people suffering from various physical and mental conditions to the benefits of laughter through a series of fun-filled workshops.

There they pick up tips for sketches, monologues, stand-up routines and comedy writing with the aim of eventually staging their own confidence-boosting comedy performance. The workshops are said to boost confidence and give people at their lowest ebb a vital chance to release feel-good endorphins and forget about their troubles for a while.

Until now the workshops were available only to a select group of people referred through various health organisations. But a funding boost means the charity is about to bring its laughter therapy to an even broader range of people throughout the Lothians.

For Donald, learning how to laugh again has been a crucial element in helping beat the blues. "It gave me something to focus on. It lifted my spirits straight away and I found myself really looking forward to each session," he recalls. "I knew we were going to have a laugh.

"I started to communicate with people again. I hadn't been comfortable in the company of strangers, but this broke the ice and I felt my confidence grow."

That was a world away from the despair that descended in summer 2009, when - for no clear reason - he finally broke down. "I just cracked up," says the 58-year-old from Penicuik. "I couldn't face the day. I was bursting into tears, I had panic attacks and I couldn't face going out and talking to friends. I don't know what caused it, but it was pretty grim."

Thousands of miles away in Saudi Arabia, at around the same time, Charlie Kennedy was working for British Aerospace and looking forward to retiring in a few years' time when he, too, found life suddenly spiral off course.

He'd already had one heart attack. The second brought the sudden realisation that he'd have to retire much earlier than planned, leave the warmth and comfort of Saudi and, of course, there was the unsettling fear that his health was in jeopardy.

Like Donald, he felt depression creep up and, eventually, smother him. "I remember once driving along in the car and I had to pull into the side of this quiet country road, I was crying so much. I looked up and through the tears I see this cow, leaning over, licking the windscreen. There was this moment where I wondered who was more daft, it or me," he recalls.

Charlie, 66, of Dalkeith, ended up at Bonnyrigg's NHS-run Orchard Centre, which supports those with a variety of mental health needs. It was there, alongside Donald and with the help of Edinburgh-based comedians Jojo Sutherland and Paul Sneddon, that he finally learned to laugh again.

"Laughter is scientifically proven to release hormones that make us feel good," explains Jojo, a regular at The Stand comedy club who has worked with Universal Comedy for three years.

"It's how we cope with the tragedy of life. When you lose the ability to have a laugh then life can be pretty awful."

The workshops give people at their lowest ebb the chance to rediscover a side of their character they may have lost touch with, she adds. "There are people who say to you that they haven't had a laugh for a long time. As the workshops go on, you can see them changing and becoming more confident.

"We can only go so far - you can teach an element of comedy and show people how to tell a joke and how to get on a stage, then the creative side is down to them."

Paul, who performs on stage as Vladimir McTavish and Bob Doollaly, agrees laughter is a vital component in overcoming illness: "A lot of people who suffer long-term health problems become quite socially isolated. The whole idea is to use comedy to aid self-expression, build confidence, social skills and bonding.

"This helps provide a social outlet, it can help deal with anger and depression. Getting up on a stage and telling a joke can be very empowering."

There is real science behind the theory too, says Universal Comedy director Patsy Morrison, who launched the charity after a spell in hospital for kidney problems was made more bearable by the jokey atmosphere that developed among patients. "It teaches people to think outwith their problems, to concentrate on the positive and to look at life in a different way," she says.

Isabel Paterson, 65, of Gorebridge, had even less reason to laugh than most. Her only daughter, Leigh, died in 1999, plunging her in a deep grief which can still creep up on her when least expected.

Through the Universal Comedy workshops at the Orchard Centre she has gradually rediscovered her funny bone.

"I was left with this total emptiness. I felt as if there was nothing between my throat and my legs. You can't imagine laughing again," she recalls.

"When I joined the comedy group I immediately thought it was great. I never imagined I could stand in front of an audience and make them laugh.

"It doesn't stop you suddenly finding yourself moved to tears by a song or being taken by surprise by grief," she adds. "But we had a laugh. Sometimes that's exactly what you need."

• For more details about Universal Comedy and to enquire about workshops, go to www.universalcomedy.co.uk or call 0141 564 1200.

Serious business

FEELING a bit funny? Science has proven that having a laugh can help us feel better.

Last week scientists at Leeds University unveiled research among venous leg ulcer patients that showed laughter helped move the diaphragm which, in turn, aided circulation of blood around the body.

Other research from around the world confirms laughter's power: research from French neurologist Henri Rubenstein found one minute of solid laughter provided 45 minutes of subsequent relaxation. And Wisconsin University professor Richard Davidson hooked up subjects to an EEG and proved that laughter moves brain activity towards spontaneous happiness.

Similar research from the University of Carolina showed humour had a positive impact in counteracting stress and early signs of depression.

Laughter also increases the production of "feelgood" endorphins, which have a tranquillising effect and build the immune system.