It can be daunting when you start hysterically crying without knowing the reason behind it.
But what if I told you there are benefits to that? Skeptical?
Find out for yourself the benefits of crying, possible reasons why you’re crying hysterically, and more!
Let’s dive in!
1. It Provides a Cathartic Release
Crying is a natural way of releasing emotions. Without it, these feelings would be pent up and erupt destructively whether through physical like high blood pressure or mental health problems like psychopathy or depression.
Therefore, naturally, it’s healthy to have a hysterical cry to let out strong emotions. Those who started the popular sentence “Big girls/boys don’t cry” were misguided themselves.
In fact, to be a big boy or big girl meaning a mentally strong person, you’d need to release strong emotions with a good cry, processing them for a stronger mindset.
After all, whether positive or negative, each emotion has its intensity in energy in different people.
For instance, the death of a family member can affect two people differently according to how they’re wired emotionally with that person plus how they’re built to process the emotions. One might cry a little while the other breaks down, crying hysterically.
But crying isn’t for releasing negative emotions alone. Even positive emotions like joy can be expressed through hysterical cries like in a situation of meeting a loved one after a long time.
2. It Produces a Soothing Effect
Some peer-reviewed studies on crying and self-soothing show that crying activates the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS) which helps regulate emotions by controlling the heartbeat, blood pressure, and breathing.
This explains the concept of crying oneself to sleep.
The intensity of the cry depends on the intensity of the emotions so if you find yourself crying hysterically over something, it’s likely you have a strong connection with that situation and have to cry so much to feel relieved.
3. Hints Something Is Wrong – Crying Hysterically for No Reason
Sometimes you don’t realize that something’s bothering you until you find yourself hysterically crying. But the truth is, if you find yourself breaking out into a cry without cause, there’s something behind it. You just don’t know it yet.
Here are possible reasons you are crying for no reason:
- You might have been suppressing whatever frustrations you’ve been having intentionally or unintentionally.
- You’re overwhelmed without knowing. You might be going about your work yet find yourself crying out of nowhere and wonder, “I’m not even sad, why am I crying?” Your body knows when you’re stressed and sometimes may express itself with a cry.
- You’re depressed. Even when you haven’t received a clinical diagnosis, you might find yourself crying because deep down, you’ve been continually sad, hopeless, or persistently in a low mood among other depression symptoms needing treatment
- You’re anxious. The body can express anxiety through a migraine and sometimes by a good cry if you haven’t actively coped with it.
- You might be experiencing premenstrual syndrome if you’re a woman. Hysterical crying is one of the abnormalities you can experience within the two weeks prior to your menses.
- You’re experiencing the Pseudobulbular effect which involves sudden, uncontrollable, and sometimes inappropriate outbursts of positive (laughter) or negative emotions (cry)
Excessive crying is your lucky sign that something isn’t normal. It’s for you to search for the reason behind it and cope with the problem quickly.
4. Helps Get Rid of Long Term Suppressed Emotion
Perhaps you’ve seen it in movies. Someone stays quiet about something hurtful for so long until they reach their breaking point. Once triggered, they cry hysterically for some time, revealing that this whole time, something has been bubbling underneath.
This is a natural psychological and physiological occurrence.
If you suppress emotions for long instead of dealing with them, they can eventually erupt in a long hysterical cry. This cry is often the beginning of healing since you’d be releasing long-kept pain.
5. It Gets You the Support You Need
Apart from helping you soothe yourself, crying triggers empathy in other humans. It’s a call for help.
This is a human attachment style that starts in childhood. It’s natural that when people cry, they’re crying for help, and even a simple, “Everything will be okay” from someone would help them feel better the same way rubbing on a baby’s back while muttering soft encouragements soothes them.
Therefore, if you’re going through a tough ordeal, don’t hold back tears when with those close to you. Letting out your frustrations will help them know you need their help.
6. Helps in Dealing With Grief
If you’ve experienced grief, you probably understand how overwhelming losing something, especially a loved one is.
While crying isn’t the only way to grieve, it’s one of the main ways many people are wired to deal with loss. It helps people release frustrating grief emotions for a gradual soothing effect.
While crying, you’d be able to accept the loss which helps give way to other stages of healing.
We can sum up this process with the simple understanding that crying releases the built-up stress hormones like cortisol from the body which helps relieve physical and emotional stress.
7. Restores Emotional Balance
Hysterical crying comes from experiencing strong and complex emotions. You can say you’re an emotional wreck in these circumstances because of either positive or negative feelings.
But after you have that good cry, the PNS restores the emotional equilibrium for your optimal functioning – a process that helps your body recover from strong emotion.
8. It Promotes Eye Health
So you may understand the benefits of crying to the eyes, let’s discuss the three main types of tears produced by the human body:
- Basal tears: These tears are usually always present since they’re used to lubricate the eyes, keep them clean and free from any bacteria
- Reflex tears: These are secreted in response to irritants like smoke or debris. For instance, you’d cry when you’re cutting onions since onion gas reached your eyes.
- Emotional tears: These are produced in response to strong emotion depending on how one is emotionally wired.
All tears lubricate and cleanse the eyes which improves vision. However, in this age where it’s normal to stare at the screen for long hours, the blink rate is drastically low which means less lubrication of our eyes.
That’s where crying, and sometimes hysterically crying comes in.
When you cry, your eyes get more lubricated and debris like mascara rolls out of the eyes hence helping improve your eye health.
9. Boosts Mood
Along with a self-soothing effect, crying triggers the release of feel-good chemicals like endorphins which lighten up people’s moods.
This makes sense why people are told to “let it all out.”
Looking at it from another angle, when you cry, you release stress hormones which help you lower stress levels and as a result, lighten your mood.
This also makes sense why you feel a lot better after you’ve had a good cry.
10. Helps Relieve Physical and Mental Pain
Someone presses your inflamed leg, you cry. Your partner leaves you through a text, you cry your balls out. Your loved one passes away, you can’t help but cry.
And usually, in the act of crying and even after, you feel a ton lighter.
This is because of the self-soothing, mood-enhancing, emotion-releasing nature of crying.
11. It Promotes Social Bonding
As mentioned earlier, crying is a strong human attachment style that bonds people in caring for one another.
The most emotionally mature people are usually not afraid of showing vulnerability through hysterical cries. And they too appreciate and are attracted to others who show their emotions openly.
It can seem risky to let your guard down and cry in front of others. But at the end of the fear of rejection, lies the discovery of authentic relationships where you can express your imperfect self and allow others to do the same.
Many people yearn for these relationships. To get to know others who don’t behave like they have it all together. People who cry and are a shoulder to cry on. People who mess up and are patient when others make mistakes as well.
But to get to know these authentic people, you too have to choose to be real.
Related: BEST Love Letters for Him That Make Him Cry
Questions on Crying Hysterically
Still have questions? Stick around to learn more.
What does it mean to hysterically cry? Crying hysterically definition
To hysterically cry is to cry without having control over your feelings or behavior due to strong emotions related to happiness or sadness. Hysterically crying usually means crying uncontrollably and for a long time. For example, when a baby cries hysterically.
What do you do when someone is crying hysterically?
Here are ways to handle someone who is hysterically crying:
- Offer silent support by rubbing their back or taking them in a hug
- Affirm their struggle with statements like, “It’s awful!”
- Use words of compassion
- Tell them, “It’s okay to cry, just let it out.”
- Ask them how they feel to help them open up
- Don’t push them to stop crying
- Speak their language of love
In all you do, don’t tell them to stop crying. All your actions when supporting someone who’s hysterically crying should be those of affirmation, validation, and compassion. Learn the best psychology tips on how to comfort someone.
What is the meaning of hysterically? What is another word for crying really hard?
Hysterical crying can in other words take the form of weeping, wailing, screaming, sobbing, moaning, bawling. It’s simply a desperate or “crazy” cry that could go on for a long time.
Crying hysterically while pregnant
You can find yourself crying hysterically in the course of pregnancy because of hormonal fluctuations. You can also be overwhelmed by the life and body changes that happen when becoming a mom. Don’t be alarmed, just take a deep breath and know it’s okay to cry.
Hysterical crying depression
Hysterical crying can be a result of depression. You might be experiencing depression symptoms like low mood, hopelessness, prolonged sadness, or persistent anxiety which lead to overwhelming cries.
Depression-like hysterical crying can also be a condition known as the pseudobulbar effect (PBA) which produces involuntary and inappropriate crying. It may start after a sad experience like losing a loved one but may continue for a longer time than needed due to a mental disorder, brain injury, or disease like dementia.
If you’re experiencing excessive crying, it’s best to seek professional help from your doctor or counselor.
Wrapping up
Hysterically crying helps relieve pain through various hormonal releases, regulates emotions for stability, improves eye health, and also attracts help and bonds with each other.
Furthermore, this excessive crying can hint you when something is wrong. If that’s the case like in symptoms of depression, seek help as soon as possible.
Why do you think you’re crying hysterically? What remedies have you tried so far? Let’s talk in the comments below!
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