Take 2 Clowns and Call Me in the Morning

"This won't hurt a bit!"

You really do learn something new every day, just like the saying goes. At least you might if you read, listen and look. This morning I did all those things and found out about a career path I never knew existed, and while it's too late for me to follow it, it's not too late for me to enjoy its benefits. I am considering hiring a Medical Clown to help me deal with my anxiety over Ebola, beheadings, cataracts, high blood pressure, the war in Syria, the situation in Gaza, the closing of my art gallery and my arthritic hip. Who knew a clown could help?

I've tried therapy and it's certainly effective, but when you've got a list as long as mine it's just too slow to slog through it. But a Medical Clown apparently offers instant relief, unless of course you suffer from coulrophobia, which is a fear of clowns. Otherwise, as an article in today's Wall Street Journal discusses, they have proven to be very helpful with children undergoing stressful physical exams. In a recent study involving 91 children in Tel Aviv, "Skin wheals for milk allergy were significantly larger in control groups than in the children with clowns." The parents also felt better with the clowns around.

So I researched it and found out there is a whole world of professional guys and gals out clowning around in nursing homes, hospitals and wherever frowns abound. Now the next time my husband says I need a shrink, I'll just tell him to get me a clown. (Not him -- a different one.)