Is it normal to cry often?

Crying is a reaction associated with an emotional state that could occur in a wide variety of contexts, including It can include joy or fulfillment, as well as loss, failure, and sadness or any other negative feeling. For all these reasons, it is worth asking if it is normal to cry often.

To answer this, we start from the assumption that some people tend to cry more frequently than others and that crying is not a sign of weakness, since it is a completely human reaction. natural. However, there are people who have the feeling that they cry more than usual and may wonder if they should worry about it and seek help.

In this article we will explain in more detail if it is normal to cry often and what could be the main reasons.

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Why do we cry?

Before explaining if it is normal to cry often, it is convenient that we see what is the reason why we usually do it and what could be the functions of this type of reaction, and there is a variety of explanatory theories among which it is worth highlighting some as simple as those that talk about crying being a reaction against pain caused by an external agent, and there are also other more complex theories that associate crying with different psychological and emotional phenomena, among others.

Besides, there are wide social and cultural differences that serve to explain the reason why some people tend to cry more frequently than others, and may even include differentiating factors such as gender.

It should be noted that crying is a complex process that develops through an innate physiological mechanism which quite often is fundamentally associated with the human being; although there are theories that claim that crying is also a characteristic process of other animal species. This process is true that it is quite complex, since we have learned over the years that this mechanism can be used to release tension on an emotional level (p. g., when we cry with anger, grief or happiness).

This release allows us to express ourselves emotionally and also helps us to reduce the energy levels invested due to some emotions that generate great tension or sadness.

On the other hand, there have also been theorists throughout history who have studied the functions of crying, including the American biochemist William H. Frey II, who observed that people usually feel better psychologically and emotionally after crying because they have been able to eliminate a series of hormones that are associated with stress (p. g., adrenocorticotropic hormone).

In the field of psychology, some studies carried out on the functions of crying have revealed a possible relationship with a person's experience of feeling powerless in a certain situation. These theories could explain why some people tend to cry after receiving good news, since that person could feel powerless to influence those events that are happening in relation to that good news that makes him cry.

On a social level, crying can be related to socialization, since the act of crying can provoke the empathy of other people and thanks to this they could provide the necessary support at that moment. In addition, infant crying is a mechanism and a means that favors survival. For all these reasons, one might wonder if it is normal to cry often, given the wide number of functions that crying fulfills.

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Is it really normal to cry often?

As we have seen previously, crying can fulfill several functions and in all of them we can find some common characteristic, which is some kind of of frustration, whether real, anticipated or previous, the perception of helplessness, an attempt to reside or surrender in the face of frustration over something, among others. Thus, people often cry in a wide variety of situations and contexts.

As there is a wide variety of situations that people have to face throughout their lives that could affect them psychologically and generate the desire to cry, in turn this could trigger other symptoms such as apathy, anhedonia, apathy, fatigue, a tendency to isolation, etc

In this way, it is possible that the alarm signals take time to arrive and the person even begins to notice realize that something is wrong at the moment when you start to wonder if it is normal to cry often. This is when you should do some introspection work and try to find out what the triggers could be, since behind all this there could be a wide variety of problems like the ones we will see later, since the most common is that there is always a cause behind this desire to cry and, therefore, that a person cries often could be a sign of alert.

In case of suspecting that something is not going well, perhaps the best thing to do would be to seek professional help, taking into account that a professional Mental health can help us face different life circumstances or situations in a more adaptive way. stressful. You can also start by looking for the support of a close person and in whom you can trust in order to try to start looking for solutions to address those issues that could be behind the reasons why a person feels like crying quite a lot frequency.

On the other hand, there are studies in which it has been observed that those people who have scored high in the rest of neuroticism in personality tests they tend to have a greater predisposition to cry, but also to laugh; an explanation may be the fact that these people have a greater sensitivity to the more intense emotions and the process of crying often in situations where it would not have to be problematic. However, if a person cries often, it should not be overlooked and it would be advisable to look for reasons, since a serious problem could be behind it.

• Related article: "Emotional psychology: main theories of emotion"

Possible causes of a person crying often

Although crying is a natural process, there are people who cry quite frequently to such an extent that they wonder if it is really normal to cry often. Therefore, in this type of situation it would be advisable to try to find the root, since those people could be suffering from a problem that requires the help of a mental health professional, such as a psychologist or a psychiatrist.

1. Physical pain

One of the possible causes of a person crying quite often is physical pain, but in this case we are not referring to specific physical pain by a small blow, but to prolonged or chronic pain due to an illness, break, injury or sprain that can cause great suffering in those who suffer from it. Above all, when the disease that causes this prolonged pain is even disabling, it could cause the development of depression or any other problem associated with mood.

2. Mood disorders

Another possible reason why a person might cry often is that they are suffering from a depressive episode, whether associated with major depression, bipolar disorder, or any other circumstance. In this type of case, normally the person often loses motivation to do things that he used to do frequently before, has difficulty feeling pleasure and may even eat poorly and have trouble sleeping.

For all this, and more causes, it is quite common in these cases for people to feel despair and hopelessness, which is why they can cry frequently.

3. stress and anxiety

Problems related to anti-aging and stress are other reasons why a person can cry frequently, being cases in which a A person usually finds himself in a situation in which he perceives that the demands of certain situations that he is experiencing on a day-to-day basis are above his capabilities. Thus, You could come to feel that you do not have the means to deal with these situations and you may come to experience the urge to cry continuously in order to find a way to vent and thus relieve yourself.

In relation to what we have just discussed, we could associate anger or the feeling of impotence and of injustice to the plain, as they are other reasons why a person might want to cry. We can also associate empathy with crying, since many people may feel like crying when they observe the pain and suffering of others.

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4. a grieving process

When a person is going through a grieving process for the loss of a family member or any loved one, you may feel very upset for a long period of time (eg. g., for more than a year and even over several years), so that the desire to cry frequently could be some of the mechanisms present throughout this period.

If someone has been feeling the urge to cry constantly lately, it is possible that some causes like the ones we have just mentioned are behind it. explain, so it is important that you try to identify in your case what it could be and, if you consider that this is affecting you enough, The best thing to do is to seek support from someone close to you and psychological help from a mental health professional who can help you.