Laughter

"The secret to happiness is either to have had a happy childhood or a poor memory." So says the psychiatrist Benji Waterhouse, whose mother was surprised to hear his speaking about childhood to his therapist. Can a mother remember her son's childhood? That's where things often get murky.

Here's why laughter matters: If you're wondering the way to fend off sickness or stress, go and read Benji Waterhouse's book. He wrote the comic medical memoir as a NHS doctor, You Don't Have to Be Mad to Work Here.

Hardly a day goes by without frustration under the overstretched NHS, as we can imagine. One fine day, Benji came across Gladys, a new patient admitted for Cotard's syndrome, a rare delusional disorder in which patients believe they're dead, have lost their internal organs, or are roting. 

"So you taught biology, the study of living things?" 

Gladys nodded.

"But if you're dead, how do you explain talking to me now?" Benji confronted Gladys.

Gladys pondered for a moment. "You must be dead too."

"What a way to find out," Benji was amused. "Also, it certainly won't reflect well on me, if in the afterlife I am still working in the NHS."

I nearly laughed my head off.