Acute Grief Chronic Grief Depression Sadness
So, the question is, what’s going on in your life, and is this something that you’re having difficulty managing? There’s acute grief. There’s chronic grief. There’s depression and there’s sentimental. So, chronic grief is an ongoing reminder that something is bad in your life. So, I think my infertility patients are the most likely and understandably to be tearful most days when they’re reminded everyday by both their therapy or by their environment that they’re struggling and not succeeding. There are ways to help you deal with that. And I think that if it is interfering with your day-to-day life, your therapy or your relationship, that kind of chronic sadness over situations, can be helped.
There’s acute sadness, as in grief of a loss of a loved one. You get about six weeks so that you’re not crying everyday and six months before you’re back to yourself. If you aren’t back to yourself in six months, that’s what we call complicated grief. And that’s where therapy would be important. So, crying everyday over the loss of your son or the loss of your parent after six months is a complicated grief and that’s where therapy or even medication would be indicated.
So we have people who are situationally sad. Their character and their biology is healthy, but the situation is awful and it keeps being reminded how awful it is. There is a situation’s acutely awful, but you get over it and that’s acute grief.
Why Moving Forward From Crying Is Important
Though its not always the case, excessive crying can be indicative of a mood disorder like depression. However, these types of disorders are treatable and can be addressed with the proper help. Consider reaching out to a professional therapist who can give you the tools to better understand your emotions and, if necessary, help control your tears.
Why Am I Crying For No Reason:
1. Most people are overwhelmed and dont even realize it.
You may be heading home from work sitting in traffic, and all of a sudden tears begin to fall. At that moment you probably are thinking, what is wrong with me? Why am I crying? Im not even sad! If you are unaware of the amount of stress you are under, then stress can find a way to express itself, whether you are expecting it to or not. Stress lives in the body and crying is one form of release that stress finds. So pay attention to the amount of stress youre under, it may be contributing to your experience of crying for no reason.
2. You dont have to be clinically diagnosed with depression to experience symptoms of depression.
While it is a common mood disorder, many of the symptoms are common for people to experience as well. Some symptoms of depression are persistent sadness, empty mood, or hopelessness. Amongst other symptoms, these feelings tend to make people cry. The conscious connection may not be made so people assume they are crying for no reason.
3. Similar to stress, many people experience anxiety.
4. If you are a woman, unexpected crying can be related to premenstrual syndrome.
5.Processing the death of someone you love or cared for does not have a deadline.
6. Have you heard of the pseudobulbar affect?
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What Can I Do About It
Mood disorders are very treatable. With the right treatment, about 80% of people no longer feel any symptoms at all. Some common treatments, used on their own or in combination, are:
Counselling: The most common forms of counselling for people living with a mood disorder are cognitive-behavioural therapy and interpersonal therapy:
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Cognitive-behavioural therapy or CBT is the most common therapy treatment for mood disorders. CBT helps you understand the relationship between your mood, thoughts and behaviours. It also teaches skills like problem-solving that may help prevent symptoms from coming back in the future.
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When youre depressed, your relationships with others often suffer. Interpersonal therapy can teach you skills to improve how you interact with other people.
Medication: Depression is usually treated with a group of medications called antidepressants and bipolar disorder is usually treated with a group of medication called mood stabilizers. You may also be prescribed other medications for psychosis or anxiety.
Electroconvulsive therapy: Electroconvulsive therapy or ECT may help people who experience severe depression or bipolar disorder, particularly when treatments like counselling and medication havent helped. Treatment is done in the hospital, and it involves passing an electrical current through the brain for a few seconds while youre under general anaesthesia. Modern ECT is very safe, fast-acting and effective.
Excessive Crying: When Should I Seek Help
Crying is a natural way of relieving stress. However, if you think you’re crying excessively, this can lead to a numbing of emotional responses, blocking other emotions. You may get to the point where you’re crying less but have trouble experiencing happiness and joy. You may find yourself shutting down, unable to concentrate on work, taking more sick days, refusing to answer your phone, refusing visitors, or otherwise isolating yourself from others. Or you might be confused on the reason why youre crying.
If you don’t understand the reason you’re crying or experiencing other symptoms, it may be time to see a doctor or another medical provider who can provide testing and, if applicable, a diagnosis. Many symptoms like excessive crying or crying spells, trouble sleeping, etc. have multiple potential causes. When the cause is determined, you may be presented with treatment options. For example, medication and therapy may be recommended to treat major depressive disorder or another similar condition. Before starting, stopping, or changing a medication or treatment regimen of any kind, make sure to consult with your prescribing doctor.
What Else Can I Do?
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Your Thoughts And Feelings Affect Everything You Do
Not feeling right can cause you to think and act differently and this can affect all aspects of your life, sometimes in the most unexpected ways.
When somethings not right you could experience it in different ways. You might get sick or just feel generally run-down. You may feel like youre not your usual self – you dont want to be around anyone when usually you love company. You may cry a lot for no apparent reason or easily lose your temper, or even wonder what your life is all about.
Getting an overall picture of yourself helps to make sense of whats happening in your life, and what can help you feel better. One way to do that is to think about whats happening in different aspects of your life your body , your spirit , your social circle and your mind .
- Physical : Thinking about your tinana means focusing on how you look after and care for your body.
- Mental : Thinking about hinengaro means focusing on emotions and how you communicate, think and feel.
- Social : Thinking about whnau means focusing on the relationships you have with people who support you. Their support might be physical, cultural or emotional.
- Spiritual : Thinking about wairua means focusing on things that give your life meaning. That might mean your religion. It could also mean thinking about your links with the environment , your heritage, and your connections to ancestors .
Know and understand those unseen things that can cause worry, anxiety and fear – Mori proverb.
Does Crying Benefit Your Mental Health
Much like other natural bodily reflexes like yawning or sneezing, crying may provide a physical feeling of satisfaction or relief when you let it happen rather than trying to suppress it.
Everyone is different, but for some people, having a good cry can provide a sense of release that leaves them feeling lighter and calmer, says Dr. Gauri Khurana, MPH, a psychiatrist in New York City and a clinical instructor in the department of psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine.
Crying is often viewed as cathartic, meaning it helps release feelings of stress and helps modulate chemicals in the body, such as decreasing the cortisol and increasing oxytocin and endorphins, and makes people feel better, Khurana says.
Studies have shown that it doesnt always help people feel better, she notes, but in my clinical experience, it does soothe people when they are in a heightened state of mood.
This is because crying likely leads to a chemical reset, even though the cause of someones crying has likely not changed, Khurana says.
Some experts believe that the significance of emotional tears is rooted more in their effect on others. That is, shedding emotional tears stimulates caregiving and protective responses from significant others.
Crying may also facilitate social bonding and reduce interpersonal aggression.
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Why Do I Cry So Much
Its one thing to feel the need to cry after a particularly hard day. But some people feel that they need to randomly cry, and others are shocked at how uncontrollable their tears are. It is as though a waterfall is coming from their eyes, sometimes at surprising times.
That instinct is often just emotion trying to find its way out. Anxiety is excitatory to the body it activates the fight or flight system. Your desire to cry may be related to the way your body is reacting to that system, with the intense emotions and stress during that time overwhelming the body.
Fear is scary, and your flight mode may trigger your body to produce large amounts of tears as a way to let out that stress.
To some, crying may also become a habitual response. Once you become used to crying as a way of relieving anxiety and stress, you may subsequently develop a habit of crying when you experience that stress because it provides emotional relief.
Ways To Improve The Situation
All of these symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression are very normal in the context of a pandemic. Most people have the resources and ability to adapt to this type of situation. You should first rely on how you usually adapt to difficult situations. Here are a few other ways for you to minimize the repercussions of these reactions in your daily life.
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Benefits Of Crying For Depression
According to Khurana, some scholars have thought that crying might release stress hormones like cortisol that accumulate in the body. They believe that after crying, people generally feel better.
A 2014 study showed that crying can provide soothing effects and release endorphins, or feel-good hormones. These effects can be delayed and come on a few minutes after you stop crying.
The same study showed that crying could also improve your mood due to the emotional release and reduced feelings of stress that it can bring.
I have had many patients say, You did your job because I cried, or this is the first time that I have cried in a very long time, Khurana says. And I have found that it often makes patients slow down and take stock of the range of emotions that they are feeling about whatever they are talking about.
Mental Health Help In Tennessee
May is Mental Health Month, and at Cumberland Heights, we want to raise awareness about depression, anxiety and other conditions that frequently contribute to addiction. If you are struggling with low mood and crying for no reason, clinical treatment can help.
You are not alone. At our residential, long-term and outpatient treatment centers, Cumberland Heights provides top-notch mental health care to those dealing with co-occurring mental illnesses. Our dedicated staff members will walk with you every step of the way on your journey to recovery, helping you to rewrite your story.
To learn more about our dual diagnosis services, contact the Cumberland Heights admissions team.
Business Address :P.O. Box 90727 Nashville, TN 37209
Physical Address : 8283 River Road Pike Nashville, TN 37209
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How To Tap Into Your Emotions And Cry
Ready to let your tears flow? Here are a few tips to help you tune into your feelings:
Reframe your thinking
Let go of any outdated, untrue preconceptions you may have about crying and allow yourself to feel your feelings.
Remember its good to cry. Its healthy to cry. If anything, leaning into our feelings is sometimes the only way we can move past them.
Tears are a release valve for overwhelming emotions such as sadness, stress, grief and even joy. So crying is never something you have to be scared or embarrassed about.
Label and identify your emotions
Its hard to express your emotions if you dont know what youre feeling. Thats why its important to identify your feelings.
Lets face it: emotions are fickle things. Sometimes its easy to identify when were happy or sad, frustrated or anxious. Other times, its not so clear cut.
The first step to labelling our emotions is to think about what prompted the feeling. Then think about what urges you feel. Do you want to shout and lash out? Or maybe you want to avoid people and withdraw from the world? Next, think about your thoughts and your body, as this will probably give you clues about your emotions.
In time, youll learn to identify your emotions more easily and its an important skill. Because once you get to grips with your feelings, youre going to be in a much better place to cope with them.
Express your emotions
Talk to loved ones
Go to therapy
If this happens, dont worry. We wont judge.
When Should I Seek Help
Generally speaking, overcoming reactions to stress, anxiety and depression is possible. Still, some unease may persist for some weeks or months, and even worsen. The following may be signs that your state of health is deteriorating.
These signs may mean that your personal resources no longer suffice to manage your worries on a daily basis. Seeking help could be beneficial.
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Things Are Looking Pretty Good
Things are looking okay right now, but its important to continue checking in to monitor your mental health.
- Our Practical Tips can help you work on key life skills that can greatly benefit your mental health .
If you ever start to feel pulled down by the symptoms of depression, act early and reach out.
Try our Stress Test to help identify things that might be causing stress in your life, which could put you at risk for developing depression if not managed appropriately.
Where Do I Go From Here
In addition to talking to your family doctor, check out the resources below for more information on mood disorders:
Mood Disorders Association of BCVisit www.mdabc.net or call 604-873-0103 or 1-855-282-7979 for resources and information on mood disorders. Youll also find more information on support groups around the province.
BC Partners for Mental Health and Substance Use InformationVisit www.heretohelp.bc.ca for info sheets and personal stories about . Youll also find more information, tips and self-tests to help you understand many different mental health problems.
Canadian Mental Health Associations BC DivisionVisit www.cmha.bc.ca or call 1-800-555-8222 or 604-688-3234 for information and community resources on mental health or any mental illness.
1-800-SUICIDEIf you are in distress or are worried about someone in distress who may hurt themselves, call 1-800-SUICIDE 24 hours a day to connect to a BC crisis line, without a wait or busy signal. Thats 1-800-784-2433.
Resources available in many languages:*For the service below, if English is not your first language, say the name of your preferred language in English to be connected to an interpreter. More than 100 languages are available.
About the author
The Canadian Mental Health Association promotes the mental health of all and supports the resilience and recovery of people experiencing a mental illness through public education, community-based research, advocacy, and direct services. Visit www.cmha.bc.ca.
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Inability To Cry: The Physical Reasons
Crying makes us feel better, even if our problems persist. But sometimes our biology betrays us and the tears dont come.
Its not that were in short supply. The American Academy of Ophthalmology says that we produce a staggering 15 to 30 gallons of tears every year. Nevertheless, there are a few physical reasons why you may struggle to cry:
- You have a medical condition that affects tear production, such as dry eye syndrome or Sjögrens syndrome
- Youre taking certain medications, such as antidepressants or hormonal birth control.
- Youve recently undergone laser eye surgery.
- You live in a dry and windy climate.
- We also produce fewer tears as we age.
What To Do What To Do
Ive posted another entry about how creatives heal from walking depression, and here are the highlights:
- Rest.
- Develop a meaning practice.
- Change your life.
These steps are simple to say, not easy to do, so make sure you get as much support as you can.
Important: If you are in dire straits, please contact your doctor or visit the International Suicide Prevention Wiki to find a hotline near you.
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Depression Symptoms: When To Seek Treatment
It can be hard to admit to yourself that you may be depressed, let alone ask for help. Here are two good reasons why you should consider depression treatment:
- Treatment works. Even people with severe depression can find relief, and so can you.
- Early treatment is better. As with many other health problems, getting treatment early on can ease symptoms more quickly. If you wait to get help, your depression can become more severe and harder to treat.
Talk to someone. There are many people willing to help you overcome depression, but the first step you have to take on your own is to let someone know how you are feeling. It may help to start by talking to a close friend or family member. Ask them for support in finding depression treatment. The sooner you get treatment, the sooner you will start to feel better. Don’t hesitate — call your primary care doctor or a medical health professional if:
- You think you may be depressed.
- You notice symptoms of depression such as sadness, hopelessness, or emptiness, or if you have less obvious symptoms such as trouble sleeping or vague aches and pains.
- Depression symptoms make it hard to function.
If you have thoughts about dying or committing suicide, seek immediate medical help. You may feel hopeless now, but treatment will give you hope — and help you see that life is worth living.