It's OK to Cry, Possibly Even Beneficial
From infancy through adulthood, crying can be beneficial, researchers find.
Dec. 24, 2008— -- Tears of joy. Tears of sorrow. Why do they flow so freely during the holiday season?
Jonathan Rottenberg has been asking questions like that for years now, trying to increase our understanding of a human condition that is far more complex than most people realize.
"People cry when they are happy, people cry when they are sad, people cry when they are alone, people cry when they are with others," Rottenberg said in a telephone interview. "It always struck me that this is incredibly rich behavior."
Rottenberg, assistant professor of psychology at the University of South Florida in Tampa, is one of a handful of scientists who is focusing on a subject that is extremely difficult to study. There's lots of anecdotal evidence about crying dating back over many centuries -- because crying is something all of us know something about and it is among the most universal of human experiences.
"A capacity to cry is part of being human," he said. "Crying marks our life course, from crying as infants through important emotional events, such as weddings, births and deaths."
But why do we cry and does it do any good? Perhaps, surprisingly, there's not a lot of evidence in the literature.
"There's a lot of research into crying by babies but once you get to older children, it stops," Rottenberg said. "That really puzzles me because it seems to me that crying is no less important later in life."
In his latest project, Rottenberg joined with colleague Lauren M. Bylsma and Ad J.J.M. Vingerhoets of Tilburg University in The Netherlands to focus on whether crying is beneficial. In a study published in the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science, the researchers conclude that yes, in many cases, there is a therapeutic reward for a good cry. But not necessarily.
The study is based on a large survey of more than 3,000 people in 30 countries that was conducted a few years ago by a score of researchers. The survey relied on "self reporting" by participants who were asked a wide variety of detailed questions about crying and how it affected them. Rottenberg and his associates took another look at that data, focusing on whether the participants benefited from crying. Again, it was a mixed bag, but the results strongly suggest that crying can heal.
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