Why do some people cry easily when angry?

Crying is a reaction that usually occurs when someone is feeling sad. However, some people also cry when they are angry and frustrated. Instead of putting on an angry face, they often shed tears when their emotions were running high. How could this be?

Why do people cry easily when angry?

Crying is the first thing a person does when he is born into the world. When humans are babies, humans cannot express their feelings in words, so crying is a way for humans to communicate.

This behavior continues to carry over until humans grow up. It's almost impossible to find someone who never cries at all. Crying itself can be caused by emotional reasons or because the body works to protect the eyes from fecal infection.

In fact, animals also shed tears as a part of normal eye function. Although some reports say that animals can also shed emotional tears, only humans often cry because they are based on feelings of sadness or other emotions.

When someone is angry and feeling frustrated, some of them burst into tears. The emotions were so intense, some of them didn't even have the energy to scream or yell and ended up shedding tears.

However, Robert R. Provine, Ph.D, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Maryland, says that crying cannot necessarily be a determining sign of a person's feelings.

Crying behavior is not only shown when angry or when feeling other negative emotions. Anything that triggers intense feelings can also make someone cry, even if that feeling is a positive reaction.

For example, crying emotionally at the birth of your first child or seeing people closest to you succeed in making important achievements in his life. In addition, a person can cry when he sees something beautiful and touching.

On the downside, sometimes people also cry for manipulative purposes. People may cry to get something they want, such as when sulking with their partner or when someone is in an argument and doesn't want to be blamed. By crying, they hope that the other person will respond with sympathy and provide emotional support.

Crying as a body mechanism when angry

According to one study, there are goals that someone wants to achieve when they cry. These objectives are assessed by two functions, namely intrapersonal and interpersonal functions.

In the intrapersonal function, crying is considered as an action to calm oneself down from emotions that cannot be expressed in words. The accumulation of negative emotions that are released through crying is believed to make a person feel better. With that crying is one way for humans to survive.

Whereas in the interpersonal function, crying is considered a form of nonverbal communication that aims to get someone's attention or help. In fact, when one individual sees another individual crying, they reflexively perceive a behavior as a sign of sadness or difficulty.

Although many think that crying is a reaction to sad things, the brain and tear ducts are still unable to distinguish the specific emotions that are felt. Basically, crying is a human way of releasing all intense emotions when they don't know how to express them in any other way, including anger.

If studied scientifically, when someone is angry, stress hormones will increase. The increase in stress hormones is also followed by an increase in heart rate and tense muscles and nerves in the body. This is what will make you often feel short and difficult to breathe when you are angry.

Crying will help someone in controlling their emotions. This behavior is one of the body's mechanisms to calm down. By crying, the body will force a person to breathe more deeply so that the heart rate is slower and the feeling of tightness in the chest can be reduced. Hormones and other substances that can trigger stress are excreted through the tears.

Controls crying when angry

Indeed, expressing emotions by crying is a very natural thing to happen to humans. However, sometimes there are some people who feel even worse after crying, either because they are embarrassed or afraid of the judgment of those around them.

If you are someone who often cries when angry and wants to reduce this habit, it's best to stay away from situations that might trigger your crying. Avoid arguing with other people and turn your attention to fun things, such as looking for pictures or videos that make you laugh.

You can also practice breathing techniques to help make you feel calmer and reduce overall stressful feelings. When you start to feel like crying, try to take a deep breath, hold it for a few seconds and exhale slowly.

When the tears are about to come out, turn your head slightly upwards to hold back the tears from dripping down your cheeks. You can also pinch the cheeks or other areas, the afterward pain is expected to divert your focus so you don't cry.