Cry­ing has long been espoused as being a cathar­tic response to trau­matic or sad events and/or thoughts. In fact, over two-thirds of men­tal health prac­ti­tion­ers actively pro­mote cry­ing as a ther­apy tool.

That fact comes cour­tesy of Sci­en­tific Amer­i­can dis­cussing the lack of empir­i­cal evi­dence for cry­ing as a cop­ing or cathar­tic response. One group of researcher decided to rec­tify this sit­u­a­tion and found some inter­est­ing results about when cry­ing can help, and when it doesn’t.

Criers who received social sup­port dur­ing their cry­ing episode were more likely to report mood ben­e­fits than were criers who did not report receiv­ing social sup­port. Like­wise, mood ben­e­fits were more likely when the pre­cip­i­tat­ing events of a cry­ing episode had been resolved than they were when events were unre­solved. Finally, criers who reported expe­ri­enc­ing neg­a­tive social emo­tions like shame and embar­rass­ment were less likely to report mood benefits.

via Mind Hacks