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Does anyone else experience the inability to cry?
I have been diagnosed with Bipolar depression, anxiety, PTSD and frontal lobe brain damage. I experienced a major trama at 12 years old and received no support or acknowledgment that there was a problem. They were more interested in presenting the fake perfect happy family mirage. I cried myself to sleep every night until I found comfort numbing myself. I experienced another major betrayal at 23 and cried hard over that, then I said to myself never again. I am now 60 years old and I feel considerable compassion and empathy for people I just don’t actually cry. I’m literally breaking inside and I can’t release it. I am in talk therapy and on medication but trying to get off medication. Tired of pills. Anyone else have this issue?
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Most of my life I have cried a lot. Frequently in the presence of a teacher, a counselor, a boyfriend, anyone. My father's response was "dry up". This began to be hard to cry started, I think from the medicine I've been taking for maybe 20 years. I'm 73, I have 2 of three adult children don't talk to me. I've pretty much lost all of the people I know, including therapists, who don't want to hear those stories anymore. When I want to cry, sometimes I call the crisis lines. There are helpful, but they half to let me go in 15 minutes.
The stress from several serious directions. I've told some of my story, because I want you to understand that I also find it hard to cry. I'm surviving, but the depression and pain is still there.
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2 ReactionsMy last comment was harsh and negative. I want to say that there are many things that can help the depression, such as exercise, listening to books online, activities of a group. Dozens of little things that can lift you up. Maybe if some of the pain and tension is released, it will be easier to cry. There is always hope.
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2 ReactionsI can cry now. A lot if needed. I have ptsd. I got bacterial meningitis of my brain in May 2014. A craniotomy was done to remove abcess left temporal lobe. My past experience about crying etc was " you can't cry" " pull yourself up by the boot straps" etc. What happened to me was life altering in a good way. Besides a lot of medical I had a lot of therapy. Plus many medications were deprescribed as my health improved. To express emotions In a healthy way is a good therapeutic tool. It allows our bodies to heal from trauma.
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2 ReactionsIt has been interesting to read the responses here. Like so many others, I do not cry, or rarely cry [maybe four times in 40+ years]. And it's just not something I have ever done, never really thought about it. Do I wish I could/would cry? Dunno.
Here is what WebMD has to say about it: https://www.webmd.com/balance/why-we-cry-tearing-up
Ginger
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1 Reaction@dlydailyhope
>>If you have numbed yourself to survive past pain, you need to tap into your past to feel what you did not feel when you needed to. I need to allow myself to feel my emotions freely and grieve my past to move forward.
I had to make an account to reply and thank you for these words - what a great quote that really hits home
Yes, I have difficulty with being able to cry too. I have C-PTSD and other conditions, and I think one of my medications is making it nearly impossible for me to cry. However, I need that medication, so I am just living with it. I actually prefer my current situation to the time before I started taking this medication - I used to sob uncontrollably every morning and whenever I felt stressed. It was agonizing, and it didn’t help me feel better to “get it out” at the time. So I’m grateful I’m not experiencing that anymore! But it’s kind of a two-edged sword because sometimes I think it might be a relief to cry. Whatever you are feeling is valid, whether you cry or not. I learned from a video that it can be helpful to say to myself, “I accept and allow these emotions.” Maybe that could help you some, too. I really noticed a lift when I started saying that to myself in my head (or even out loud sometimes, if I’m alone). I hope you can find some relief. I’m rooting for you!
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2 ReactionsMy Mother experienced this but she claimed it was because she had no tears from her dry eyes.
I went through a very traumatic experience about 14 years ago. I was diagnosed and treated for PTSD. I have not been able to cry since, not even for deaths of loved ones. I need to cry and would love to cry but it just won't happen. I think I lost the ability. Sometimes you just really need to cry.
I'm curious what medication(s) you're on. I was on Effexor during a series of immediate family deaths (all of them expected) and never shed a tear. When I got off of Effexor several years after the last death, I finally was able to cry. And cry I did. And it was cathartic.
Medications can keep you stable (although in my case the opposite occurred, but I'm a rare exception), but they can also make you flat. I'm fortunate to have a very good psychiatrist who has helped me over this hump. If you don't have one that's listening to you, maybe shop around.