Inappropriate use of humor or sarcasm is described as a potential barrier to communication. Illustrate this with an example. Also, describe how humor is an aid to communication if done appropriately.

Answers may vary. Excessive or untimely use of humor can be distracting, keeping the content of a session on a superficial level and interfering with mutual objectives. Sarcasm often emanates from unrecognized hostility that tends to provoke counter-hostility in clients. Making a comment such as "you really win the prize for worst week" when a client recounts a series of crises and unfortunate incidents runs the risk of conveying that the difficulties are not taken seriously. A better response would be to empathize with the difficulties of the week and compliment the client on persisting to cope despite them. Rather than saying, "Did you get up on the wrong side of the bed?," a more descriptive response that does not run the risk of diminishing the client's experience would be to say, "It sounds as if today was difficult from the time you got up."
Humor can be helpful, bringing relief and sometimes perspective to work that might otherwise be tense and tedious. Pollio (1995) has suggested ways to determine appropriate use of humor. Similarly, van Wormer and Boes (1997) have described ways that humor permits social workers to continue to operate in the face of trauma. Using plays on words or noting a sense of the preposterous or incongruous can help social workers and clients face difficult situations. Humor can also allow clients to express emotions in safe, less emotionally charged ways (Dewayne, 1978). Kane (1995) describes the way humor in group work can facilitate work with persons with HIV. Caplan (1995) has also described how in group work, facilitation of humor can create a necessary safety and comfort level in work with men who batter. Teens have been described as using irony, sarcasm, mocking, and parody as ways of
coping with difficult situations (Cameron et al., 2010). Similarly, humor can be used in ways to diffuse conflict (Norrick & Spitz, 2008).