Laughter and Medicine

Public lecture by Professor Peter I. Barta, Professor Emeritus in the School of English and Languages at the University of Surrey and UWA Institute of Advanced Studies Visiting Fellow

This lecture will distance its subject from the truism that ‘laughter is the best medicine’.

Laughter arises within the interaction of physiology and what we may call our `soul’: the latter rests somewhere within the overarching spectrum that Sigmund Freud defined as the interplay of id-ego-superego. Laughter is historically evolved and culturally specific, and its voluntary manifestation—in Western, especially English-speaking, environments—occurs today far more frequently than its involuntary form. The terms Duchenne and social smile and laughter capture some of the complexity of the role of laughter in communication. Laughter in general remains understudied, and its connection with the provision and reception of medical care especially so. This lecture will engage with the diverse occurrence of laughter among healthcare providers, laughter within the interactions of physicians/nurses and patients in the clinic, laughter about health, illness and death and laughter at doctors.

Medical Humanities has traditionally focused on the impact of healthcare provision on the patients, but much less attention has been paid to the impact of their profession on those who treat patients. This situation needs to change. For a variety of reasons, physicians in many countries are under extraordinary strain and their work is to the detriment of their physical and mental wellbeing.

The second part of this lecture will study the representation of the physician in performative arts. The doctor before the rise of science-led and technologically advanced medicine tends to be represented on stage as a figure of ridicule, yet a comic, rather than a menacing character, making audiences laugh. We shall analyse the reasons behind the increasingly hostile portrayal of physicians on stage as we move into the age of modern medicine and investigate the reasons why medical professionals are so often perceived so negatively.

Peter I. Barta is Professor Emeritus in the School of English and Languages at the University of Surrey, UK and teaches literature and medical humanities at Texas Tech University. His recent research has focused on medical humanities. His volume, Read Watch Listen: Using Stories to Improve Healthcare (2022) led to a grant from the British Academy and the Wellcome Trust to fund the conference ‘Laughter and Medicine’ held at the University of Birmingham in November 2024. He is currently editing a volume based on the conference that will be published in the British Academy’s series with Oxford University Press.

Professor Barta is a UWA Institute of Advanced Studies Visiting Fellow, working with Associate Professor Nahal Mavaddat, Head, General Practice and Lead, UWA Medical Humanities Network and Dr Bríd Phillips, Senior Lecturer (Nursing), UWA School of Allied Health.

• Venue: Fox Lecture Theatre, Arts Building UWA

• Information about Parking at UWA.