Why do you cry?

[tibby]

who the hell would torture a duck???

If you sleep in fluff sheets, it's most likely it's taken by torturing ducks (it's literally pulled off from them).

 

[ThinkingAboutIt]

The short answer? It relieves stress. What happens in my head? I think "Dangit, I'm going to cry, I hate that; my nose is going to get all stuffy *sigh* dumb hormones"

The long answer? Tears that accompany sorrow contain important chemicals that relieve the body of stress and tension. The chemicals leucine, enkephalin, and prolactin are found only in tears that are shed in response to sorrow.

Tears that are shed because of exposure to a cut onion, for example, contain
few such substances. A further benefit of tears is that they cleanse the body of toxins. They also have bacterial-static properties that retard the growth of bacteria in the eyes and nasal cavity, through which the tears drain.

(Research from St. Paul-Ramsey Medical Center, University of Minnesota, 1984)

How do tears form?

A lacrimal gland located above each eyeball produces a fluid. This secretion
flows through several small ducts in the underside of the eyelids. The resulting tears wash over the eyes and out through two lacrimal ducts.

Mourning activates the limbic system of the brain. The limbic system is the body’s center of emotions. It processes all the feelings of pain, pleasure, anger, rage, fear, sorrow, affection, agreeability, and mourning. It is
made up of several small lobes of the forebrain that include the hippocampus, the cingulate gyrus, and parts of the cortex, thalamus, and hypothalamus. These lobes are all tied together through an intricate
network of nerves and blood vessels. If these interconnections are destroyed, a person may lose all sense of emotion and reality.

During the process of mourning, the limbic system produces substances that
carry coded messages from one lobe to another. Some of these substances, called hormones, are carried in the bloodstream. Others, called neurotransmitters, send their messages along the network of nerves that
interconnect its various parts. The emotion of mourning includes the result of the sum total of all these messages within the brain.

The limbic system causes the hypothalamus to transfer mourning to the body. As the hormones and neurotransmitters produced by the limbic system are picked up by the hypothalamus, they produce dramatic physical changes throughout the body. The hypothalamus controls the release of more than a dozen other hormones that can cause the entire body to react physically to our emotions. The hypothalamus can stimulate tears, dizziness, stomach
cramps, weakness, surges of strength, nausea, and dilation of the pupils of the eyes. Most importantly, it controls the appetite for food.

The hypothalamus deactivates the appetite and reverses the body's metabolism as well...

TMI!!

 

[d@v3]

If you sleep in fluff sheets, it's most likely it's taken by torturing ducks (it's literally pulled off from them).

Can't they just kill them first?

Is it wrong that you don't cry? I have not cried in many years.... maybe 1998? But I will feel teary-eyed when watching a touching movie or something or seeing someone else cry. So it is like I have the feeling to some extent, but the tears do not come with it.

 

[BlackCat]

I cry when I'm really emotionally stressed. It takes a loooong time for it to build up to that point, though.

This.

 

[Nonsensical]

I only cry is certain situations.

I have cried at a funeral, but because it was personal. I don't think I'd cry at a normal funeral, but just feel strongly and grieve.

Sometimes, I'll just randomly start tearring up when I feel emotional and deep.

I sometimes cry for others in severe emotional pain. A kid at my school's brother shot himself, and feeling this kids pain, I shed a few tears.

I cried watching 9/11 videos.

So, in general, I don't think I cry in an average emotional crisis. It has to be something that I use my N to blow up in my head, realize it's significance, and feel so deeply towards, that I cry.

 

[Saslou]

Can't they just kill them first?

Hello .. How can you say that?? I want to go to the supermarket just to buy all the ducks (frozen obviously) just so i can give them a proper burial .. For practical reasons, i can not do this .. I haven't won the lottery .. Ducks are cute, you feed them with your children on a sunny day .. ..

 

[Fluffywolf]

You sound like my sister. Also ESFJ.

 

[Walking Tourist]

I cry when other people cry.
I can cry when I'm sad... or when I'm fully of joy.
I also cry when I'm chopping onions. (ouch, and my eyes sting)
Also, I can make myself cry if I concentrate hard enough. Then I will cry spontaneously. It's a good skill for the theater.

 

[Bubbles]

I cry when I get worked up about things. And when I feel helpless or scared or frustrated or because the saddest thing just happened and I can't express it any other way.

I'd love to say I have a hold on it, but no, I don't. I'm a crier. Even when there's a sad movie or song or book, I'm bawling, going, "That's so beautiful...!" to no one in particular. I admit this.

 

[substitute]

No, I can't even cry in private. If I'm in a screaming fit of rage (like once every 5-7 years), tears stream down. I'm not denying emotions - it's just not my natural reaction to sadness or whatever emotion is supposed to trigger tears. I can feel very shitty without getting my face all wet. The same way I can recognize that things are funny without actually laughing...

Totally relate to this. I've often found that the sorts of things others cry over, I just can't understand why crying helps at all, either the situation externally or their situation internally. If something's unjust, unfair, or otherwise not right, my response is very seldom sadness but far more likely to be anger, and that anger prompts me to DO something to put it right, to go on the warpath as it were. And yes, occasionally I have trashed rooms and it's felt GOOD! But no, no tears for me. It's not a conscious choice.

There have been times when I've felt a sort of hopelessness, a sort of despair, that has come close to making me cry - it's made me WANT to cry and I've known at the time that if I could, I might even feel better, a release sort of thing. But I've just not been able to. Because instantly I'm analyzing... it feels like I'd be crying on purpose, actually trying to, and the thought is just so ludicrous, it would feel so fake, so contrived, I just can't bring myself to do it. Emotional responses are supposed to be genuine if nothing else, so if I have to make myself do it, what's the point?

 

[jenocyde]

There have been times when I've felt a sort of hopelessness, a sort of despair, that has come close to making me cry - it's made me WANT to cry and I've known at the time that if I could, I might even feel better, a release sort of thing. But I've just not been able to. Because instantly I'm analyzing... it feels like I'd be crying on purpose, actually trying to, and the thought is just so ludicrous, it would feel so fake, so contrived, I just can't bring myself to do it. Emotional responses are supposed to be genuine if nothing else, so if I have to make myself do it, what's the point?

Holy crap - bingo! When my best friend died suddenly, I was instantly shocked. When the shock wore off, I became conscious of my sadness and therefore couldn't cry because it would feel fake and contrived - although I have always wanted to cry for him. I was in a state of melancholy for months but in the 5 years since the incident, I still have not shed a tear over him and this has made me feel constant guilt.

 

[substitute]

Holy crap - bingo! When my best friend died suddenly, I was instantly shocked. When the shock wore off, I became conscious of my sadness and therefore couldn't cry because it would feel fake and contrived - although I have always wanted to cry for him. I was in a state of melancholy for months but in the 5 years since the incident, I still have not shed a tear over him and this has made me feel constant guilt.

Dude, I'm the exact same about my dad. Over 2 years ago he died and I still haven't shed a tear. It's taken by some to mean I didn't care about him, but by others as me unhealthily bottling things up - it's not bottled up, I don't feel like it is anyway. It's simply been dealt with. It sorta annoys me sometimes actually, how emotional people tend to assume that their way is the ONLY way to deal with things and that if you think you've dealt with it any other way, you're simply deluded or "in denial". It's so patronizing. :steam:

 

[jenocyde]

+1 on that patronizing crap. It's because of all the societal pressure that I feel so much guilt for being who I naturally am. Blah... It's my own fault for feeding into the concept of "normal" anyway.

 

[Bamboo]

Tears brought about by emotions have a different chemical make up than those for lubrication; emotional tears contain more of the protein-based hormones prolactin, adrenocorticotropic hormone, and leucine enkephalin (a natural painkiller) than basal or reflex tears. The limbic system is involved in production of basic emotional drives, such as anger, fear, etc. The limbic system, specifically the hypothalamus, also has a degree of control over the autonomic system. The parasympathetic branch of the autonomic system controls the lacrimal glands via the neurotransmitter acetylcholine through both the nicotinic and muscarinic receptors. When these receptors are activated, the lacrimal gland is stimulated to produce tears.

That is the INTJ answer.

You are mistaken in your analysis. The description is simply the correct answer.

 

[norepinephrine]

+1

And I only ever do it alone.

A few movies have made me cry (you'd never know if you were seated next to me though) as have war memorials. With the latter, I have a way of imagining the fear and the loneliness the soldier may have been feeling. And imagining them dying in the thick of battle away from their loved ones for a cause they may or may not believe in and... oh man.

Oh crap. You're bringing back memories. There were two places I visited where I involuntarily teared up without expecting it - Pearl Harbor and the Vietnam Veterans Wall in DC. I felt like an idiot - but in a good way.

 

[Poki]

Dude, I'm the exact same about my dad. Over 2 years ago he died and I still haven't shed a tear. It's taken by some to mean I didn't care about him, but by others as me unhealthily bottling things up - it's not bottled up, I don't feel like it is anyway. It's simply been dealt with. It sorta annoys me sometimes actually, how emotional people tend to assume that their way is the ONLY way to deal with things and that if you think you've dealt with it any other way, you're simply deluded or "in denial". It's so patronizing. :steam:

The way I do it is to think about the good times, this makes me realize those times are gone. i dont think about the death or anything, just the times we had together.

 

[thisGuy]

There have been times when I've felt a sort of hopelessness, a sort of despair, that has come close to making me cry - it's made me WANT to cry and I've known at the time that if I could, I might even feel better, a release sort of thing. But I've just not been able to. Because instantly I'm analyzing... it feels like I'd be crying on purpose, actually trying to, and the thought is just so ludicrous, it would feel so fake, so contrived, I just can't bring myself to do it. Emotional responses are supposed to be genuine if nothing else, so if I have to make myself do it, what's the point?

thats like me and all negative emotions...when people want to hear me cry, i can talk bout it and work it so i come across as the silent type...in reality, whats done is done. no use crying over spilt water

i actually remember thinking if i should cry or not when something worth crying over happened last, but then i realized that having this thought invalidates the the purpose of crying except maybe for the people around me...so i didnt cry

 

[Unique]

Crying, like laughing is a universal language that every human understands

Sure anger can be used as a release mechanism but it doesn't give the support of others or makes a cruel person realize just how far they have taken it

I don't always cry when bad things happen and I think it does have to do with me being a T and having a logical outlook but if someone dies I just be honest to people if I'm not crying I say that I've already reached closure with their passing (Not sure if its true for all Ts but sometimes all I need is to logically go over it in my own mind and I can put myself at peace without the need to be emotional)

 

[kiddykat]

I used to cry so much when I was with one of my ex's (I was innocent at that time) to the point where I felt really 'desensitized.'

I think the only times I cry as an adult is when I truly love someone, and the thought of them dying kills me inside..

When I think of them in pain, it hurts me. When I see them hurt, I hurt. Sometimes, i cover it up by looking tough, but I tear up inside.. I think it's natural/normal- perfectly healthy.

 

[Thursday]

Joy