Norman Cousins, Anatomy of an Illness

Norman Cousins (1915 -- 1990) was an American political journalist, author, professor, and world peace advocate. Late in life Cousins was diagnosed Ankylosing Spondylitis - a rare disease with no cure known till date. Told that he had little chance of surviving, Cousins developed a recovery program incorporating megadoses of Vitamin C, along with a positive attitude, love, faith, hope, and laughter induced by Marx Brothers films. "I made the joyous discovery that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep," he reported. "When the pain-killing effect of the laughter wore off, we would switch on the motion picture projector again and not infrequently, it would lead to another pain-free interval." His struggle with this illness is detailed in the book and movie Anatomy of an Illness.