There are many ways that humans express how they are feeling. Smiles, laughter, anger, sadness, and many more. But the one that seems the most intriguing is crying/weeping. Crying occurs when the muscles around the eyes contract which stimulates the lacrimal gland to produce tears. However, there is a distinct difference between crying and weeping. Whereas crying is most often expressed through facial expressions and shaking as a response to anger or pain, weeping is often associated with the shedding of tears. A recent article published in the New Ideas in Psychology journal analyzed the meaning and importance of weeping. Unlike crying, weeping is a mechanism that is limited to humans due to our ability to comprehend various emotional states, which has made it an interesting topic for researchers to study. When humans weep, it results in homeostatic regulation due to increased endorphin production when tears run down the sides of our faces. Because of these endorphins, a soothing feeling is sent to the central nervous system and pituitary gland, leading us to feel better immediately after crying. Thus, crying stabilizes your mood, which “is a vital part of a healing or growing process that should not be hindered”. Therefore, the next time you think that you should hide your emotions or choke down your tears, think again! Weeping and the shedding of tears is an important human behavior that should be talked about more!
Bellieni, C. V. (2017). Meaning and importance of weeping. New Ideas in Psychology, 47, 72–76. https://doi-org.dml.regis.edu/10.1016/j.newideapsych.2017.06.003
You bring up a really interesting point in this post, Kaitlin! I also didn't know that there was a more definitive difference between crying and weeping. Your post makes me interested in learning if there is any scientific evidence that may show that suppressing your tears could be detrimental to your health or physiology. I found an article that says that suppressing your tears prevents you from having a cathartic response to a situation, which agrees with your post (Bylsma et al., 2008). However, I wonder if there are other ways to measure the detriments of a lack of weeping, such as monitoring the effect on long term stress response, hormone production, etc.
ReplyDeleteBylsma, L. M., Vingerhoets, A. J., & Rottenberg, J. (2008). When is crying cathartic? An international study. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 27(10), 1165-1187.
I found your article really interesting it made me think of why we choose to suppress our emotions if it can be healthy for you? My first thought was in patients who are depressed the first thing doctors turn to is selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) and Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help suppress their emotions. I found a study where they tested these two methods with adult depression-diagnosed patients and measured their quality of life (QOL). They found that there were improvements in depression were significantly associated with greater improvements in QOL for CBT but not for SSRI’s. This tells me to therapy to possibly talk through your emotions (your idea that letting it out is healthy) may be the better route to go when it comes to depression.
ReplyDeleteHofmann, S. G., Curtiss, J., Carpenter, J. K., & Kind, S. (2017). Effect of treatments for depression on quality of life: a meta-analysis. Cognitive behaviour therapy, 46(4), 265–286. https://doi.org/10.1080/16506073.2017.1304445
I really enjoyed reading your article. It really made me self-reflect on my own emotions and times when I weep vs. times when I cry. I also did not really know that there was a difference between the two. This article also made me wonder to what extent is weeping and crying healthy? Is it always healthy to express all of your emotions or is there a certain limit we have on a healthy amount of expression? For example, I know crying is not always what defines depression, but those feelings of chronic sadness and the expression of these feelings are what makes depression so hard to overcome. It made me wonder how an excess of these emotions and crying could have an impact on people with these neurological disorders. I found an article that did a literature search to answer the question of what is excessive crying, what are its effects on people who neurological disorders, and how can they be treated. I think this could really tie in nicely to your article and seeing how losing control of your emotions may be detrimental to someone with a neurological disorder. Here is a link to the article if you would like to read into it more!
ReplyDeleteNieuwenhuis-Mark RE, van Hoek A, Vingerhoets A. Understanding excessive crying in neurologic disorders: nature, pathophysiology, assessment, consequences, and treatment. Cogn Behav Neurol. 2008 Jun;21(2):111-23. doi: 10.1097/WNN.0b013e31816be8f8. PMID: 18541989.
Hi Kaitlin, this blog made me feel better about shedding some tears after chemistry homework. I knew that expressing emotions is healthy but I didn't know that it could boost endorphins. I also found it extremely interesting that crying is a vital part of our healing and growing process. This made me wonder about toddler temper tantrums and meltdowns. Normally we view this behavior as unacceptable and negative, but maybe it's a necessary and healthy part of being a child. Temper tantrums usually occur when children are overwhelmed by big emotions. Some notable characteristics include screaming, crying, and kicking. Although this may be uncomfortable for the parent, many researchers agree that you should not punish the child and force them to stop. Instead, parents should help the child understand their big emotions and comfort them. Therefore it's important we let them cry and express their frustration since they will feel better afterward. Overtime children will get better at regulating their emotions, but it's important they know it's always ok to express what they are feeling.
ReplyDeletesources:
https://raisingchildren.net.au/toddlers/behaviour/crying-tantrums/tantrums
https://www.stanfordchildrens.org/en/topic/default?id=temper-tantrums-90-P02295
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/15/parenting/kids-tantrums-advice.html
I loved this, Kaitlin! It was super interesting to learn that crying can actually help make someone feel better! As someone who cries a lot, especially when I get frustrated, it is super comforting to know that crying is actually beneficial to my recovery system when going through something tough. This did make me wonder if there were any other reasons humans may cry as I cry a lot when I am happy too. Ultimately, I have found that crying seems to occur to either signify that help is needed or show that help is being expressed. Often times, babies will cry to show they are hungry or tired and are in need of assistance in meeting those needs. Adults often cry when they need advice or help with daily life and do not always know how to ask for it or have simply been bottling it up for too long. However, in the opposite direction, crying can often occur to show sympathy or empathy for those who have been hurt. We will cry to show support for those around us who have gone through something troubling or who have simply accomplished something huge. We seem to cry mainly to create relationships and connections with those around us by either asking for their help or providing the help people seem to need.
ReplyDeleteMurube J, Murube L, Murube A. Origin and types of emotional tearing. Eur J Ophthalmol. 1999 Apr-Jun;9(2):77-84. doi: 10.1177/112067219900900201. PMID: 10435417.
Hey! I loved your article. Surprisingly, I always feel a sense of relieve every time I cry. Now I have a scientific explanation of what that is. I found this really cool article that talks about how crying in the medical setting help the patients and the healthcare providers to bond and overcome difficult situations like chemotherapy because it allows them to go through the pain together and release all of those oppressed emotions they can have during this harsh processes. It highlights the importance of humor in the in care unit and how important it is to take care of those emotions. Thanks for sharing this valuable information.
ReplyDeleteTanay, M. A., Wiseman, T., Roberts, J., & Ream, E. (2014). A time to weep and a time to laugh: humour in the nurse-patient relationship in an adult cancer setting. Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, 22(5), 1295–1301. https://doi-org.dml.regis.edu/10.1007/s00520-013-2084-0
So this is why we feel better after we cry! To prove your point even more, I read a journal article by Vinderhoets and Bylsma (2007) that said that the suppression of crying is a risk factor for development of health problems. They argue that crying has not been considered an important research topic because it is just written off as a symptom of sadness. However, recent findings have shown that crying is more complex with evolutionary and developmental features and can be more than just a symptom of sadness or pain.
ReplyDeleteVingerhoets, A., & Bylsma, L. (2007). Crying as a multifaceted health psychology conceptualisation: crying as coping, risk factor, and symptom. European Health Psychologist, 9(4), 68-74.