A man has been suffering from depression for the large part of his life, but he has come to his wits' end, deciding that the suffering can no longer endure, but because he has never managed to beat it, he fatalistically gave in and decided to commit suicide the next day.
He was visiting a psychiatrist for the past 2 years, and she was devestated by his mental state and the fact that she saw no way of curing him - and she fanatically tried. She considered him her prime case, the main person on whom she has to concentrate and find a solution. It became an obsession for her to find a cure, but nothing seemed to work. They tried everything; cognitive therapy, the Freudian method of conversations, dream analysis, hypnosis, they even resorted to electro-shock therapy, but there were no positive results, there weren't even minute differences which indicated a slight improvement.
What made the whole thing stranger is that the man had a family, a loving wife, two kids, and a steady job. They were all worrying their heads off for his well-being, but the attention made it worse, he felt pressured to feel better which made him more depressed because he couldn't achieve it. Not even the kids managed to snap him out of the dark pit he lived in.
The pyschiatrist welcomed him in her office for their last session, and he revealed his intentions for the next day, to which she didn't react. She fearfully expected this for the past few months, but him saying that to her directelly, felt like a slap in the face, but one she saw coming...still the pain of it was fierce.
He wasn't in tears, but she was...he didn't notice it, she kept the disappointment to herself and tried to show a brave face and a hope to still make him feel better. But she felt she couldn't; her face slipped down to hide her tears and her eyes stopped on the newspaper on her desk...which changed everything in a moments' notice.
With the power of a revelation it hit her. Everything seemed to fall into its right place and the solution was at hand. On the last page of the paper was an advertisment for a circus performance by Soho the Clown, the last performance of the travelling circus was that night. She suddenly remembered: it's been proven that a true laughter has psychological, even to some extent medicinal, benefits, the release of endorphines blocks the pain receptors in your brain, causing the psychological and physical feeling of relief and euphoria. To make him laugh would mean to heal him.
She jumped up, now with a face streaming with tears of happiness and she said: "Tonight I'm taking you to a circus performance, we are going to see Soho the Clown and he is going to make you laugh, he is going to help you feel better and he is going to heal you!!"
The man shed a tear, looked at her eyes and said: "I don't think you understand,... I am Soho the Clown."
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