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If you can’t shed any tears, you might wonder why you have trouble crying. Keep reading to learn more about the medical and emotional reasons behind an inability to cry and how you can deal...
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- Emotional Trauma. Having a history of emotional trauma can blunt the overt expression of feelings. According to Vingerhoets, a retired professor in the department of psychology at the University of Tilburg in the Netherlands, “From the moment someone experiences a psychic trauma, they can lose the ability to cry.”
- Your Personality Style. Crying is notoriously difficult to study in the laboratory because of the artificial conditions. Nevertheless, Vingerhoets’s body of research has found that those who cry regularly report feeling more connected to others and also receiving more social support.
- Your Antidepressant. Some of the most widely used medications in psychiatry—the antidepressants known as selective serotonin (or serotonin/norepinephrine) reuptake inhibitors—can be an under-the-radar cause of suppressed tears.
- Depression. This is counterintuitive and perplexing. Doesn’t being depressed mean crying more rather than less? It turns out that some patients with major depressive disorder report feelings of emptiness rather than sadness.
May 13, 2024 · Why can't some people cry? Experts explain the mental and physical reasons that make it hard to tear up. Crying is a natural response to emotions, stress and pain.
- Caroline Kee
Aug 12, 2023 · Feeling like you can't cry can stem from factors including depression, personality, medications, medical conditions, trauma, and social expectations. You might feel unable to cry even when you're sad, anxious, or in pain.
- Shame and cultural stigma. According to Chen, in the context of human development and sociological factors, it's actually common for some people to not be able to cry in adulthood.
- Gender stereotypes. Some people can't cry because they are taught not to as a child. According to Joye, this can be especially true for men, who may have grown up hearing statements such as "Boys don't cry" and learned to avoid crying.
- Childhood abuse. Joye notes that abuse toward children often involves creating fear around the experience of showing emotion. "Abused children often hear, 'I'll give you something to cry about!'"
- Emotional troubles. Joye says that long-term repression of crying can contribute to depression and anxiety, which may result in emotional blunting or numbing.
Jul 7, 2023 · There are several explanations for not being able to cry, and it can be a very normal experience. Physical, emotional, and mental health reasons can cause an inability to cry, or affect crying altogether.
Sep 18, 2023 · Crying can be a healthy emotional outlet, encouraging closeness, empathy, and support from family and friends. But there’s nothing inherently wrong if you don’t cry.
