Is crying therapeutic for your mental health?

By: Natasha Archary

Is crying therapeutic for your mental health? With the discussion on Kaya Drive, about “the last time you cried”, invoking so many suppressed emotions for listeners and the team, the question is whether releasing those emotions through tears can help?

There are so many negative associations with crying, with most people viewing crying as a sign of weakness, but mental health facility, Northstar Transitions finds there are numerous health benefits to crying.

Not only can releasing those bottled up emotions affect you positively, crying can help you heal and shows you’re in touch with your emotions.

Sometimes, feeling down is your body’s way of letting you know that it needs an “emotional detox.”

According to Northstar Transitions, crying can also flush stress hormones, literally out of your body via your tears.

How crying can be therapeutic for your mental health

Crying can improve your mood

Your tears contains stress hormones, especially if you’re crying when in an emotional state. The release of these stress hormones in your tears, means your stress levels lowers, which can help you sleep better.

Crying helps to soothe

A few minutes of crying can help you to self-soothe and make you feel better. Having a good cry, a moment of sadness is not only normal but is a sign you’re emotionally aware, and if something hurts or upsets you, crying could be the way you deal with it.

Crying can help heal grief

Anyone who’s lost a loved one will understand that it takes time to move through the 5-stages of grief, i.e denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

While crying doesn’t work for everyone during this process, as Thomas and Skhumba both shared, losing someone you love can bring even grown men to tears.

Crying lessens your pain

Whether you’re crying because of physical or emotional pain, crying can help lessen the severity of this pain. Endorphins are released when you cry, which numbs the pain, giving you a sense of overall calm.

This process also plays a role in self-soothing as well.

Crying can encourage you to seek help

If you notice you’re crying for longer periods of time or crying consistently, this could be a sign of a deeper issue, such as depression or anxiety, which will require professional help.