1. Varela, R. P. (2014). Emotional healing through induced therapeutic crying: A mixed method approach. Conference Paper. Adamson University.

Background: Explains three studies in which theories were explained about the effects that certain individuals have after crying. The first study asked respondents to recall a recent crying episode where it was later revealed that crying improves mood. The second study showed that crying over a sad movie produced a high state of anguish, sadness and emotional pain. And the third on which the article is based investigates the effect of induced therapeutic crying on emotional healing through the effect of induced verbal hypnotic suggestions in college students. It is basically based on the premise that the presence of other people in the crying situation can provide emotional comfort to the person crying.

How I Used It: This article helped me discover different factors that make college students react the way they do after crying. It offered insights into the contrasting experiences of crying recalled by students versus those induced by watching a sad movie. The findings revealed that the recollection of personal crying instances had a more positive effect compared to tears triggered by viewing sad movie.

2. Sato, W., & Yoshikawa, S. (2020). Effects of tears on the perception of facial expressions: The influence of gender and role. Emotion, 20(5), 923–932.

Background: This article investigates how and whether patients’ crying has an impact on their mood and internal experience according to the quality of the working alliance, therapeutic change, and patients’ attachment style. The study was based on surveys where the results indicated that when the patients’ crying was followed by more positive or less negative emotions, they perceived the working alliance more positively, and the therapeutic change improved for patients with concerns of attachment, crying can represent both a useful process to reduce negative emotions and an indicator of a good therapeutic outcome.

How I Used It: The information in this article helped me identify the circumstances under which individuals experience crying, often leading to a subsequent shift towards more positive emotions or a decrease in negative ones. This reinforced the idea that crying may represent both a useful process for reducing negative emotions and an indicator of a good therapeutic outcome.

3. Crying it out: The role of tears in stress and coping of college students – ProQuest. (n.d.).

Background: This article was based on a study in which 192 college students were interviewed to measure their crying frequency, crying attitude, stress, a measure of social support, index of self-esteem, a test of purpose in life, a quality of life index, and a health questionnaire. The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between reported well-being and the frequency and attitudes toward crying, as well as the frequency of crying toward others. Well-being was defined in terms of physical health, psychological well-being, and general quality of life.

How I Used It: Use the information in this article to demonstrate how for many centuries the idea of crying after stressful situations or helplessness was perceived as an activity reserved for people who lacked power, specifically women and children. But in reality, tears can be used as a means of communication and as a protective mechanism for college students to overcome the pressures and difficulties they encounter during their academic careers.

4. ZULFA, Nadhifatuz. “Crying For Healing” Formulation in The Frame of Sufistic Counseling. KONSELING RELIGI Jurnal Bimbingan Konseling Islam, [S.l.], v. 9, n. 2, p. 86-100, dec. 2018. ISSN 2477-2100.

Background: This article talks about a study where crying formulations were analyzed to cure various problems, both physical and psychological health disorders, which are wrapped in a Sufistic counseling framework. Sufistic counseling is when the therapist works with the individual’s spiritual beliefs and practices such as meditation and prayer. According to this study and previous studies mentioned in this article, it was concluded that crying has good benefits for physical and psychological health if done correctly. However, it is necessary to develop a crying formulation that is correct so that the effect not only affects the physical and psychological side of humans but can also touch the inner/spiritual side of humans, which is what is worked on in Sufistic counseling.

How I Used It: Utilize this article to delve deeper into the potential positive impacts of crying for certain individuals. It provided evidence that tapping into one’s inner emotions and shedding tears can foster a sense of well-being. It underscores how intense emotions can lead to crying, yielding positive outcomes

5. Miceli, M., & Castelfranchi, C. (2003). Crying: Discussing its basic reasons and uses. New Ideas in Psychology, 21, 247-

Background: This article explores various situations in which crying can occur, examining the cognitive processes and key steps that lead to the act of crying. Concluding that the experience of frustration followed by an individual’s attempt to resist and ultimately a sense of perceived helplessness leads to crying occurring. Furthermore, the article delves into the psychological consequences of crying, highlighting its benefits in terms of emotional well-being, with special emphasis on its relationship with the perception of helplessness.

How I Used It: Use this article as evidence that although there is a preliminary or standard emotion, for example, anger, it is the helplessness that comes from this emotion that produces tears in an individual. This indicates that a single emotion cannot trigger tears since the emotion of helplessness would be omitted, meaning that it is a combination of emotions that leads a person to cry.

6. Lutz, T. (2001). Crying: The Natural & Cultural History of Tears.

Background: This book provides a natural and cultural history of the most complex human function: the ability to shed tears. It explains in detail how humans are the only species that are able to weep and the different reasons that provoke this action to occur.

How I Used It:I used this article to explain how tears are a result of the inability to express the complexity of overlapping emotions at a specific moment. Not simply the emotions that contributed during the crisis are conveyed, but rather the frustration of dealing with these conflicting feelings without a clear resolution.

7. Bellieni, C. V. (2017). Meaning and importance of weeping. New Ideas in Psychology, 47, 72-76. 

Background: This article describes a study in which the mood of 28 people who objectively cried and 32 who did not cry was rated, compared before and immediately after watching an emotional film. The researchers concluded that, after the initial deterioration in mood after crying that was observed in laboratory studies, mood quickly became even less negative than before the emotional event.

How I Used It: Use this article to demonstrate how crying can help stabilize a person’s mood. Reiterating that crying could provide a feeling of relief and security that resulted in an increase in the mood of individuals.

8. Wągrowska, J., & Wróbel, M. (n.d.). What Makes People Cry? A Preliminary Analysis of Situations that Evoke Emotional Tears. Central and Eastern European Online Library. Retrieved from 

Background: The article analyzes two preliminary studies aimed at understanding the main reasons for crying and creating a set of situational vignettes that evoke emotional tears. In Study 1, participants listed six general reasons for crying, while in Study 2 they identified specific situations that elicited emotional tears.

How I Used It: Use this study to demonstrate the difficulty of isolating a single emotion when an individual is exposed to many factors that may be related to that emotion, that is, emotions are often intertwined and influenced by various external stimuli, internal thoughts, and past experiences. This leads the individual to cry due to overstimulation of feelings and factors.

9. Ito K, Ong CW and Kitada R (2019) Emotional Tears Communicate Sadness but Not Excessive Emotions Without Other Contextual Knowledge. Front. Psychol. 10:878. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00878

Background: This study presents focuses on people’s perception of tears on the face. In this study, researchers used RSA (Representational Similarity Analysis) and MDS (Multidimensional Scaling) to explore how tears affect the perceived intensity of basic emotions in facial expressions, particularly neutral and negative ones (anger, disgust, fear and sadness). The objective was to determine whether the presence of tears alters the intensity of sadness, anger, disgust and fear perceived in facial expressions.

How I Used It: This study served as evidence to demonstrate how a singular emotion cannot lead an individual to shed tears since they would not be experiencing the inability to express the catharsis of emotions that are experienced before crying. Indicating that the individual experiencing a single, basic emotion, such as sadness or anger, generally finds it easier to reconcile and manage that emotion without resorting to tears. However, when this individual is faced with a multitude of emotions simultaneously, the emotional landscape becomes more intricate and difficult to navigate, leading to tears serving as a physical manifestation of this emotional complexity.