When weeping, the lacrimal glands of the eyes secrete more tear fluid. In the case of foreign bodies in the eye, crying is thus a physical protective reflex. Emotional tears differ from these reflex tears in composition and are thought to serve social interaction.
What is crying?
When we cry, the lacrimal glands of the eyes secrete more tear fluid. Crying is a body reflex as well as an emotional expression. When we cry, the tear glands in the lacrimal apparatus of the eyes reflexively produce excessive amounts of tear fluid. This can happen for physiological protection if, for example, a foreign body has been placed on the eye. For example, people cry when a mosquito flies into their eye. The tear fluid flushes the foreign body out of the eye to prevent inflammation. On the other hand, people also cry for emotional reasons. Excessive joy, emotion or anger, but also emotional pain can make a person cry because of this. The tear fluid of the lacrimal glands is a salty body fluid. Its chemical composition may differ with the occasion of tears. Tears from emotional occasion contain more hormones and proteins. Potassium and manganese concentrations are also higher in emotional tears than in reflex tears. As an archetypal form of expression, people regardless of culture or geographical origin can understand tears. The interpretation of the occasion usually takes place in the context of the accompanying facial expressions.
Function and task
The tactile cells on the conjunctiva of the eyes can detect touch stimuli. For example, humans notice foreign bodies in the eye. When the sensory cells report a foreign body in the eye, they transmit the sensed stimulus to the brain via biochemical processes. The parasympathetic nervous system then prompts the lacrimal glands to produce more tear fluid, so that the reflex tears flush foreign bodies out of the eye. Apart from this, they also ward off pathogens in the visual apparatus with the substance lysozyme. This form of crying protects the eye from diseases and inflammations. Thus, reflex tears ultimately serve to preserve vision and generally protect the body. Until the 1980s, doctors such as William Frey also attributed protective effects to emotional tears. Frey believed that the body detoxifies harmful substances through the tear fluid. For example, unhealthy proteins are produced during grief and anger. According to Frey, tears are supposed to break down these substances and thus protect the body from oxidative stress. Empirical studies have now demonstrated proteins in emotional tears. However, the concentration of these proteins is too low to speak of detoxification. To this day, the meaning of emotional tears is therefore controversial. Supporters of the protective reaction theory now see general stress reduction as the task of emotional tears. Thus, crying is supposed to enable a so-called “catharsis” effect. The weeper lets out everything that has made him emotional and is thus supposed to be able to relieve tension and stress. This is supposed to ease the psyche and allow relaxation to occur. However, this theory is contradicted by the fact that crying itself causes great stress to the body. Instead of relaxation, tears often cause even more tension. According to studies, hardly anyone feels relieved after crying. Many people even feel worse afterwards. Today, therefore, physiological explanations are contrasted with evolutionary biological approaches. According to these, crying is a form of social behavior, i.e. communication and social interaction. It has been proven that emotions reach the other person more intensively when they are accompanied by tears. This makes tears a signal to the environment. A 2011 Israeli study even found that tears contain chemical messengers for silent communication. Thus, the weeper automatically influences the behaviors of those around him. This influence usually takes place on an unconscious level. The counterpart also unconsciously adapts his behavior to the tears. Seemingly contrary to this observation is the connection between tears and weakness. If crying would serve communication and social interaction, why would a constantly crying person be socially discredited as weak? Researchers assume that this connection goes back to socialization, that is, the social learning of meanings.
Diseases and ailments
Pathological phenomena related to crying are most often associated with mental illness. For example, some people can no longer cry emotionally. Thus, depending on the nature of the sufferer, depression may in some circumstances lead to absolute paralysis. On the other hand, the opposite can also be true. Sometimes depressed people also cry more intensely. Increased crying is sometimes also due to a nervous breakdown. A nervous breakdown usually results from a situation of psychological stress. The affected person usually has no suitable coping strategies for this situation of extreme stress. Due to the physical stress overload, crying cramps and trembling occur. Sweating, nausea, headaches, palpitations and nervousness may accompany the crying fits. Sufferers often feel helplessness and emptiness. Sometimes they see their own lives only from the outside. After a month, a nervous breakdown sometimes turns into post-traumatic stress disorder. Especially in children, attention deficit disorder could also be present in connection with pathological crying. In rare cases, pathological crying episodes occur with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In ALS, the motor nerve pathways are destroyed bit by bit. The cause of this is as yet unclear. In addition to uncontrollable and involuntary crying and laughing, ALS triggers muscle weaknesses and later paralysis.
