We tend to laugh a lot in therapy- I come from a culture where humor is a normal coping mechanism, so if I'm talking about painful things, there are going to be some jokes at some point. My therapist and I tend to be on the same wavelength so it works.

I had a therapist who once sat stone faced when I said something funny. I found it quite shaming, actually, and his response shut down my attempts to communicate with him. No doubt he had a perfectly sensible reason to respond that way, but it was a style that didn't work for me.