The sound of crying is a sound which is instantly recognized by people all over the world. Not only will you recognize this sound, you may also react by crying yourself. Crying is a universal expression of extreme emotion. You can cry from joy. You can cry in frustration, anger, or from physical pain. But most people cry because they are feeling sad. If you are feeling depressed, you may cry a lot. Yet it is true that not all people will cry when depressed. Crying is a truly subjective behavior and is uniquely felt and expressed by each individual.
In this post we are going to explore crying as an integral part of our culture as well as a possible symptom of depression. We will also attempt to answer questions about whether crying is healthy for us and how to determine when crying is a sign that we need to seek some help.
Statistics on Crying
Over the years there has been a lot of research conducted about how and why we cry. Doctor William Frey, Ph.D., biochemist and author of Crying: The Mystery of Tears, found some intriguing results from his studies on tears at the Ramsey Medical Center in Minneapolis. Here are just some of the findings of his research:
• Women cry five times as much as men. Women cry 64 times a year as compared to 17 times a year for men. Dr. Frey theorizes that a woman’s greater level of prolactin is responsible for being more tearful.
• Women cry more when they are sad, frustrated or angry and men cry mainly over major losses.
• Men and women usually cry for about six minutes per crying episode.
• We cry more often in the evening. We are more tearful between 7 and 10 p.m.
• 85 percent of women and 73 percent of men report they feel better after crying.
If you describe yourself as someone who cries you are not alone.
• Incoming house speaker John Boehner cries so much that it has become a point of discussion for the media. U.S. News and World Report quote him as saying, “This is me, I am comfortable with who I am. Everybody who knows me well knows I cry and that's who I am."
• Comedians like Dane Cook not only cry but use the experience as a story to tell during his stand-up comedy show. It is a hilarious skit, not to be missed.
• We all know that babies cry. This baby has fine tuned his crying to a fine art to gain attention. And this baby’s cries are so contagious that it makes the family dog cry.
• There are those who seek out a good cathartic cry. There are many songs which can induce tears such as this standard called Crying, as sung by Roy Orbison. There are even lists of movies which are said to make even the most stoic male cry.
The cultural and societal norms have changed somewhat over the years about crying. It seems to not be as big a deal for people to cry and even publicly. For example, Leslie Stahl, who interviewed John Boehner and discussed his crying, was quoted as saying, "I don't think the public is going to have a negative feeling about this at all. I do think public attitudes about crying have changed a lot." Not all public sentiment is eager to embrace crying as reflected in such books such as, A Culture of Crybabies: The 21st Century World of Wimps, Whiners, and Victims or this video making fun of celebrities who cry.
