The power of irony in an adolescent residential psychiatric program.

This 1-year ethnographic study, conducted in an inpatient adolescent psychiatric unit, was guided by the research question, "What is it like for patients, families, and staff to be participants in an adolescent psychiatric program?" Verbal irony was observed to be a prominent communicative behavior among the staff and patients, suggesting a general freedom of expression and flexible boundaries. This form of expression, using nonliteral language skills encompassing a variety of humor and sarcasm, was found to promote professional solidarity and adolescent self-esteem, accelerate adolescent social skills, and offer a means of coping with the stigma of emotional and behavioral disorders.