Medical Clowns for Allergies? Helpful or Just Creepy?

After watching the second episode of American Horror Story: Freak Show, Halloween Is the Perfect Time to Discuss How Clowns Creep Many of Us Out!I found a study in this month's Allergy Journal about using ‘medical clowns’ to help entertain and distract children while receiving skin prick tests (SPT) and allergy shots. With Halloween nearly upon us, this blog could not have provided a more opportune time to discuss the fear that clowns instill into both children and adults. Before I get to this though, let's take a look at the study.

Medical Clowns for Allergies - He Seems Like a Happy-Go-Lucky Chap!The Sackler School of Medicine of Tel-Aviv University and the Allergy and Clinical Immunology Unit, Meir Hospital, Kfar-Saba used medical clowns to accompany children during various tests and medical procedures. Researchers concluded in the abstract of their research that ‘Medical Clowns significantly decrease the level of anxiety perceived by both children undergoing SPT and their parents, as well as pain perceived by young children (Goldberg et al., 2014)’.

I'm not sure what kind of clowns they have in Israel, but when I think about clowns, I don't visualize clowns to have a calming presence in any medical situation! Have you been watching American Horror Story?? If you haven't, the scariest character on the show is Twisty the Clown who debuted as a serial killer. Probably NOT the Clown You Want to See for Your Child's Doctor VisitEven prior to Twisty, who wasn't creeped-out by Pennywise the Dancing Clown from Stephen King's IT or Captain Spaulding from the Rob Zombie movies? That's just to name a few.

Even Ronald McDonald and birthday party clowns have been making children and adults uncomfortable for quite some time now. Clowns have enjoyed a long history in this country, but the perception of clowns has dramatically changed for significant portion of the American public. In fact, 20-30% of the US population are fairly uncomfortable with clowns, and ≈2% of the adult population have coulrophobia (fear of clowns).

Yup, Seems Like Nightmare Material to Me!Veteran psychologist, Dr. Brenda Wiederhold who runs a phobia anxiety treatment center in San Diego, CA, explains that coulrophobia starts in early childhood as a pediatric phobia of costumed characters (clowns, the Easter Bunny, etc.) but most people grow out of this fear as they begin to develop the ability to separate fantasy from reality. But even as adults, many are often unsettled by the presence of clowns, particularly from the inability to read genuine emotion and facial expressions that are concealed by face-paint. Of course, Hollywood and media also bear some responsibility for shaping the perception of clowns today, which tend to be manic, a tad bit demonic and unpredictable. That's putting it kindly in many cases.

Not the Clown President, But He Gives Clowns a Good NameCurrently the President of Clowns of America International (Oh dear Lord, they're organized!), Glenn Kohlberg, has expressed his disapproval for American Horror Story's Twisty the Clown character. He does not have a high opinion of Hollywood profiting from the ‘sensationalism of evil clowns,’ as stated in The Hollywood Reporter.

Hopefully medical clowns can help rehabilitate the image of clowns, bringing back their original roles as ‘ambassadors of joy’, and weaning the public eye away from their reputation as a character that keeps some of us awake at night. How about you? Are clowns creepy or fun? Would you welcome a clown as a distraction while your child was being administered a skin prick test or allergy shots? Or are you just as disturbed as I am that clowns have an international organization?

For an overview of the medical clown study.

Author: R. Power

4 thoughts on “Medical Clowns for Allergies? Helpful or Just Creepy?

  1. KevvyG October 17, 2014 / 10:04 am

    If by ambassador of joy” the clown president means “terrifying image that will haunt me the rest of my days” then yes, I agree with him. “

  2. Jim October 17, 2014 / 10:05 am

    I don't have a fear of clowns, and I would welcome any distraction that would ease my childs anxiety when getting a SPT.

  3. Julie October 17, 2014 / 10:20 am

    I'm afraid if I say anything bad about the clowns, they will come after me.

  4. Neil October 17, 2014 / 10:55 am

    Not really a fan of clowns, and its probably best if they stay away from anything medical.” “

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