Many years ago I was a Public Health Nurse, later I taught student nurses what I would call preventive psychiatry. Punishment versus empathic listening The book gives a clear background on violence against children in the history of western civilization. This my own mother told me when I queried her on the method of child rearing used in my family. Children's crying was considered an expression of evil. Crying is still regarded as taboo, and is unwelcome behavior in a child of any age, particularly when no apparent loss or pain is evident.
Many people are uncomfortable with demonstrations of feelings.
The author points out that these behaviors re-stimulate old abuse and archaic feelings in the witnesses and their discomfort drives them to turn away or to try to assuage the sufferer's expressions of grief. Solter points out that research shows crying serves an important function, releasing neurohormones that promote well being. Child therapists use crying in Birth Recovery work, and in Holding Therapy. These processes are used extensively with adults in Corrective Parenting therapy also. The same rules for dealing with a crying baby or screaming child also apply to adults in psychotherapy.