An Exploration of the Relationships among Depression, Anxiety, Crying and Post-Crying Mood Change

Crying, the emotional shedding of tears, is most often thought of in response to sad or negative emotional antecedents, and is commonly considered to be of some mental or physical benefit to a person. The present study aims to provide further clarification for the relationship between crying behaviors and mood change after crying moderated by depression and anxiety. Survey data was used to test the hypotheses that the severity of clinical factors would be positively associated with crying indices and that post-crying mood change would be negatively associated. All our research hypotheses were supported. To further explore these relationships, multiple regression analyses were also performed controlling for gender and education as covariates and depression and anxiety as predictors. Specific findings and explanations of results are discussed. Depression and Anxiety 3 An Exploration of the Relationships among Depression, Anxiety, and Crying and PostCrying Mood Change Crying is a tmiversal expression of emotion that appears to be unique to humans and people of all ages across cultures cry at times to express their emotions (Vingerhoets, Comelius, Van Heck, & Becht, 2000). Crying, also refened to as weeping, can be defined as the secretion of tears in an emotional context without accompanying irritants to the eyes (Vingerhoets et a! , 2000). At times crying may be accompanied by reddening of the face, alterations in the muscles of facial expressions, vocalizations and sometimes sobbing, which is chamcterized by convulsive breathing (Patel, 1993). Despite the ubiquity of crying, understanding of its determinants, moderators and functions in adults is in its preliminary stages. Crying is a complex phenomenon that is characterized by systematic situational antecedents (e.g. loss of a loved one) and emotional antecedents (e.g. sadness, see Vingerhoets, Boelhouwer, VanTilburg, & Van Heck, 2001). However, circumstances that evoke tears mliversally are rare. Given the heterogeneity of crying, this allows room for other factors to be associated with and determine crying. Clinical factors such as depression and anxiety (see Vingerhoets, Rottenberg, Cevaal, & Nelson, 2006) have recently received some empirical attention. The aim of the present study is to build on preliminary existing research to fmiher understand how the clinical factors depression and anxiety are associated with the frequency of crying episodes (cry fi·equency), and the ease of which people experience the likelihood to cry (crying proneness), as well as mood change following a crying episode. Crying and Mood Change Depression and Anxiety 4 One seemingly universal quality of crying is that people claim that, when in retrospect, crying produces a cathartic effect and produces a change in mood following the crying episode (e.g. Frey, Hoffman-Ahem, Johnson, Lykken & jpuason, 1983; K.raemer & Hastt·up, 1986; Lombardo, Crester, Lombardo, & Mathis, Catharsis is generally defined as relieving emotional tensions through the act of :~.purging or expression (Breuer & Freud, 1955). The notion that crying has a cathartic "'¢ffect has been a common conception oflay people. For instance, Comelius (1986) rounu that most mticles assumed and/or assetted that it was good to cry and not crying would seriously endanger one's health. A more recent cross cultural study found that both male and females from thirty different countries report crying to be cathmtic and produces mood improvement after a crying episode (Becht & Vingerhoets, 2002). However, a closer look at the research presents mixed results between self-report measures and lab measures. Descriptive research in the form of self-report studies and diary studies have found that in retrospect people repmt feeling better after crying (Bindra, 1972; Frey et al, 1983; Kraemer & Hastrup, 1986). For example, Bindra (1972) surveyed a sample of college students and found that students claimed experiencing relief and feeling better after a cry. Similarly, Frey et al. (1983) conducted a 30 day dimy study in a lmge sample and found that most men and women repmted a relief of negative affect as a result of crying. However, laboratory studies using film induced emotional crying have yielded different results (Mattin & Labott, 1991; Gross & Fredrickson, 1994). For exmnp1e, Mmtin and Lab ott (1991) presented sad films to evoke emotional crying and found no reduction in depressed mood. Depression and Anxiety 5 Research findings on crying as cathmiic are mixed and not definitive. Perhaps reason for the discrepant fmdings is that cathmsis only occms in response to an 'antecedent perceived to be personally relevant in which personal tensions are relieved. When people report post-crying mood change in self-repmi measmes, they are usually ''~iif~'5':assessing the mood change in response to a personal event. However, when eliciting crying in the lab using a sad fihn, c1ying is contrived in an unfamiliar and impersonal setting, which may not provide a cathmiic effect. Another possible explanation is that for '------the effects of cathmsis to occur, more time than is allotted by researchers must pass (Cornelius, 2001; Grosset al., 1994). Generally, post-cry mood change is measmed immediately after the elicitation of tem·s. Perhaps cathmsis does not occur until some time later. Therefore, by measming mood change too soon after the sad stimulus, laboratory resemchers have failed to identify cathartic effect. To fmiher understand the relationship between crying and mood change after crying, clinical factors such as depression m1d =iety have recently received some attention (see Vingerhoets et al, 2006). Crying, Depression, and Mood Change Clinical commentators throughout the yem·s have noted a relationship between crying and depression. Bright (15 86) commented "Of all the actions of melancholie . none is so manifolds and diverse in pmi, as that of weeping. " More recently, resem·ch has found that sadness is cited as the most common antecedent eliciting crying (Vingerhoets et al, 2000). Depression is characterized by a several symptoms, including sad or low mood, loss of pleasme in daily activities, and several other associated symptoms (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). It is likely then that Depression and Anxiety 6 ,l:Jression would predict a higher frequency of crying episodes and a higher likelihood of in a given situation. However, depression has been theorized to be associated with in contrasting ways (Rottenberg, Cevaal, & Vingerhoets, 2007). For the purposes of this study, there have been primarily two theories of interest ,. ,. hypothesized about the relationship between crying and depression. The first theory posits that crying and depression will be positively correlated. The severer the experience of depression would produce more fi·equent crying episode (Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996). In contrast, a second theory claims that the relationship between depression and crying is nonlinem. Although increases in crying may occur in less severe forms of depression, the most severe cases would experience an inability to cry (Patel, 1993). Clinicians Beck (1978) and Davis Lambert and Ajaks (1967) have also '"! observed that that in more severe forms of depression people lose their ability to cry. Thus, according to this perspective, increased crying is characteristic of milder forms of depression, but severe depression actually suppresses crying, leading to the inability to cry (e.g. "beyond weeping," Hamilton, 1967). Studies on depression and crying have yielded mixed results (see Vingerhoets, Rottenberg, Cevaal, & Nelson, under review for review). Two studies consisting of nonclinical samples found small differences between crying frequencies for individuals with dysphoria versus individuals without (Frey et a! , 1983; Hastrup et a! , 1986). However, studies taking a correlational approach have found no relationship between depression severities and reported crying frequency (Kraemer & Hastrup, 1986; Labott & Mmiin, 1987). Other conelational studies found an association between depression severity and crying frequency for only one gender (females: Frey et al., 1981: males: Choti eta! , 1987;