the key would be for gelotophobia sufferers to check out situations where they were humiliated and ridiculed and shamed in public and in private during childhood, adolescence. gelotophobia will always look and search for situations where they can be mocked and ridiculed ... till they decide to get serious help.
for people with the gelotophobia mental illness, one important thing is to analyse with a qualified clinical psychiatrist, how "their family deals with ridicule and being laughed at".
Interesting... so apparently the best way for someone with gelotophobia to start getting help, on top of trying many clinical psychiatrists, is actually to go to a clown school, learn the art of being a clown, laughed at in public!!!! http://www.rire-et-delire.com/En/clown.html - By means of exercises based on laughing for no reason and other forms of physical and non-verbal expression, you learn to express your feelings spontaneously. - You come on stage to thundering applause and laughter. hahahaha I can't help thinking how widespreads circus are for little french kids. Pointing out the clown ugliness and laughing loudly at these. Clown workshops indeed , playing all situations where one was laughed at and ridiculed. No need to thank for the advice: get yourself some serious help, and become a professional clowns making shows in circus. I simply can't help laughing! So deep down this was the lad's vocation : to be a clown in circus! lol All this aggravations were all about an ugly person deep down being misdirected in the career! Glad to see a graduate in the profession that fits his personality : http://articles.chicagotribune.com/...170410_1_clowning-classes-ringling-bros-dream
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/...170410_1_clowning-classes-ringling-bros-dream For Clown College Grad, The Laugh's On Him Some kids grow up dreaming of going to the Big Ten. Joel Jeske dreamed of going to the Big Top. "I was 7 when I first read about Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey's Clown College. I remember being so disappointed that I wasn't old enough to go, because I knew then and there that's what I wanted to do," said Jeske, who has lived most of his life in Glen Ellyn. "My parents never took me seriously--until now." ... [ talk about knowing one's passion ! ] It took awhile, but Jeske, now 28, has fulfilled his childhood dream. [/b]e recently graduated magna cum laughter from Clown College in Sarasota, Fla., and makes his circus debut this month in front of the hometown crowd.[/b] Jeske also has a bachelor's degree from Valparaiso University, which he says is "another way of saying I wanted to be a clown, but my parents wanted an accountant." And his resume also includes several years of professional theater in Chicago, during which time he found his greatest claim to fame as--what else--a clown. .... I decided to create a clown show. To attract more attention, we billed ourselves as an East German clown performance troupe and became somewhat infamous because the critics thought we were really German and wrote about us as overseas sensations. . . . When the hoax came out, they were a little upset, but the show went on to sellout crowds each week. ... Last November, he won an audition for Clown College, got a callback and acceptance in April and just graduated from the institution of higher hilarity this fall ... he was one of only 14 offered jobs as clowns in Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey's prestigious Blue Unit. He will be traveling around the country with the circus for at least a year. ... "The college is very intense, with 10- to 12-hour days dedicated to circus history, clowning classes, prop construction, gag development and acrobatics. It's like clown boot camp."
well well well ... what can I say. There is a country that has Mickey Mouse Degrees, ... and there are apparently Clown colleges. I guess it never occured to me watching clowns in circus that these clowns do get to college. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringling_Bros._and_Barnum_&_Bailey_Clown_College http://www.internationalclownweek.org/clown college.shtml
<iframe width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rrGjwnH6nbY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> the clown does seem to love being laughed at.
and there are apparently Clown colleges: Bachelor of Clown Science Diploma of Clowning Master of Clown Practice Doctorate of Clownology so those who have gelotophobia : quiet a few opportunities there. http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1925652 very serious discussion : ... "As much as I hate to admit it I think prestige is definitely a factor in securing graduate clown jobs. Can anyone recommend some good graduate programs to get my over-sized shoe in the door?" ... "I have my PhD in Clowning from the University of Overseas.I am not really fluent in the local clown lingo and I have no Australian Circus experience. There lies the problem. Employers do not like employing clowns with no local experience. Whats worst is your PhD, they view that as impractical in the industry as they assume you know how to look into clowning around rather than know how to clown around." ... If you are after the big money you need to work as a FIFO clown at the mines, it is hard on your social life but the money is good. +1
so actually the "clowns" have been wasting their time and talent by not getting into the industry they would become very successfully in, and been very happy in. Glad they can find here a solution to their problem of gelotophobia.
to be honest while doing this small study on getolophobic people, I have not been able to drop a smile and share a laugh with some people here : how on earth can people be afraid of being laughted at? so now searching for the root causes : what can create this mental illness.
childhood experiences of intense and repeated exposure to "put-down", mockery, humiliation, ridicule and not being taken seriously. Let's find some examples. infant experience : development of primary shame. Really gelotophobic people really need to get a good clinical psy, and start finding out about how their caretakers shamed them when infants.