27/10/2025
THE MAN WHO MADE DEATH SMILE
It happened more than forty years ago. Full of strength and energy, Norman Cousins, editor-in-chief of Saturday Review magazine, suddenly began to feel unwell. His temperature rose sharply, and he experienced pain and weakness throughout his body.
His condition rapidly worsened, and within a week he could hardly move, turn his head, or lift his arms. He was admitted to the hospital, where he was soon diagnosed with collagen disease — an autoimmune disorder affecting the whole body, in which the immune system begins to attack the body’s own connective tissues.
Each day Cousins’ body became less and less responsive; he could barely move his arms and legs or turn in bed. Finally, he could no longer open his jaws enough to eat.
Fear, sadness, and resentment toward fate completely consumed him. He stopped speaking even with his loved ones and spent days lying in bed, facing the wall of his hospital room. Dr. Hitzig, who was treating him, tried to help by consulting the best specialists, but the disease kept progressing. Then Cousins asked the doctor about his chances of recovery. The answer was devastating: out of five hundred patients diagnosed with collagen disease, only one survived.
That night Cousins could not sleep. Up to now, the doctors have done everything they could for me, he thought, but it hasn’t helped. If I want to stay alive, I must take responsibility myself. If medicine and doctors are powerless, I must find another path to healing.
He remembered what a doctor had once told him — that the body mobilizes itself to fight illness when the endocrine system is functioning at full capacity. But fear, depression, and hopelessness suppress this system. Under stress, the adrenal glands secrete hormones — adrenaline and noradrenaline — which flood the body and, in excess, become destructive.
From these reflections came a simple insight: if negative emotions provoke disease, then positive emotions, by stimulating the endocrine system, can become the “igniters” of healing. And everyone has access to a simple remedy — laughter.
> “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine, but a broken spirit drieth the bones.”
— Proverbs 17:22
This biblical quote inspired Cousins. He began studying the works of doctors and scientists and soon found plenty of evidence supporting his idea.
As early as the 17th century, physician Richard Burton wrote in The Anatomy of Melancholy:
> “Laughter purifies the blood, restores the body, and helps with heart ailments.”
Immanuel Kant emphasized that laughter activates all vital processes. Freud called humor a unique manifestation of the psyche and laughter — a unique form of therapy.
Modern researcher William Fry experimentally proved that laughter improves cardiovascular function, blood formation, breathing, and muscle tone.
Scientists discovered that during laughter, the brain releases substances similar to morphine. These act as a kind of inner anesthesia, helping the body relax while also mobilizing it to fight disease.
Cousins realized he had no right to passively wait for death. He had to awaken his own inner resources through laughter. It wasn’t easy — lying motionless and in pain — but he created a plan.
Ignoring the protests of his doctors, Cousins left the hospital and moved into a hotel, away from the oppressive atmosphere of illness. Only Dr. Hitzig stayed by his side, supporting his “laughter therapy.” They set up a movie projector in his room with the best comedies and humorous stories.
After just ten minutes of forced laughter, the pain subsided so much that Cousins could sleep peacefully for two hours. When the effect faded, another film or bit of humor brought the smiles — and relief — back again.
Gradually, the pain retreated. Lab tests showed that inflammation in his body was decreasing. Laughter had become a real medicine. Each day Cousins laughed for at least six hours. His eyes were swollen from tears — but they were tears of healing.
The doses of anti-inflammatory drugs were reduced until he stopped taking any medication at all.
Within a month he could move his fingers without pain. After two months he could freely turn in bed. Soon he was standing, walking, and later returned to work — playing Bach on the organ, playing tennis, riding horses. The doctors’ predictions of total paralysis had been completely overturned.
Ten years later, Cousins accidentally met one of the doctors who had once given him a “death sentence.” When they shook hands, Cousins squeezed so firmly that the doctor winced in pain — a gesture more convincing than any words.
In 1976, Norman Cousins published his autobiographical book Anatomy of an Illness (As Perceived by the Patient). It caused a sensation.
Through his own experience, the author demonstrated that a positive emotional state can heal even from a severe illness.
