Physiology Of Crying

[Peatogenic]

There seems to be an assumption that crying is good for you in healing communities. Not so much in the context of present grief, but in the sense of cleansing the body from past traumas, as if grief is stored in the body.

Through the Peat lense, nothing is stored in the body. I wonder what others might add. Is crying like massage, only temporarily useful by releasing endorphins?

 

[LUH 3417]

If nothing is stored in the body does this also challenge the pretense of body mind therapy that trauma is repressed and repeated until it is faced? Are you just fulfilling a self fulfilling prophesy by telling yourself that since you experienced trauma you have to “deal” with the trauma? Or can you by pass that and accelerate to a state of better functioning by accepting the premise that the organism knows infinite ways to grow and expand?

 

[Peatogenic]

If nothing is stored in the body does this also challenge the pretense of body mind therapy that trauma is repressed and repeated until it is faced? Are you just fulfilling a self fulfilling prophesy by telling yourself that since you experienced trauma you have to “deal” with the trauma? Or can you by pass that and accelerate to a state of better functioning by accepting the premise that the organism knows infinite ways to grow and expand?

Pretty much. I am well schooled in the trauma ideologies, but began having observations that didn't fit their models/ideas. And I asked Peat...he said nothing is stored in the body except our assumptions about reality, or something like that.

 

[Peatogenic]

I would add that trauma disorders are real, in the sense of dysregulated body systems that need untangling....i.e. Stress resolution.

 

[LUH 3417]

Pretty much. I am well schooled in the trauma ideologies, but began having observations that didn't fit their models/ideas. And I asked Peat...he said nothing is stored in the body except our assumptions about reality, or something like that.

I like that. I am repulsed by therapies that reinforce helplessness.

 

[Hugh Johnson]

Pretty much. I am well schooled in the trauma ideologies, but began having observations that didn't fit their models/ideas. And I asked Peat...he said nothing is stored in the body except our assumptions about reality, or something like that.

Peat is technically correct (the best kind of correct) about that. Trauma is not stored in the body but in the energy field that surrounds the body and orders the body. However, trauma can and will eventually manifest in the body if not healed.

 

[LUH 3417]

Peat is technically correct (the best kind of correct) about that. Trauma is not stored in the body but in the energy field that surrounds the body and orders the body. However, trauma can and will eventually manifest in the body if not healed.

can you demystify this

 

[GAF]

Trauma is training. Just like learning to read, write, hit a golf ball, ride a bike. It's possible to get really good at it if a person keeps practicing it.

A person must stop learning trauma and learn other activities to replace it.

Like any other human activity, a person will lose a skill if they don't use it.

It's not stored, it's practiced.

(The above is a new theory just made up by gaf.)

 

[DaveFoster]

Is crying like massage, only temporarily useful by releasing endorphins?

Yes, but that's the point. It's an adaptive response to severe psychological stress.

 

[Peatogenic]

Yes, but that's the point. It's an adaptive response to severe psychological stress.

Right, in the present tense most definitely. I'm wondering though about the idea of "stored grief"....if it's physiologically valid that crying is a valve for stored grief. In the sense that you need to cry out your past trauma.

Does crying heal anything, or does it just release painkillers.

 

[DaveFoster]

Right, in the present tense most definitely. I'm wondering though about the idea of "stored grief"....if it's physiologically valid that crying is a valve for stored grief. In the sense that you need to cry out your past trauma.

Does crying heal anything, or does it just release painkillers.

I don't think you can heal pain, as it's a fleeting sensation, but the pain may direct you away from its source.

As for the cumulative effects of stress, I wish I knew a way to ameliorate that. Death, probably. Some find answers in escapism, romantic love, sex or pornography, meditation, drug use or religion; take your pick.

 

[lampofred]

Right, in the present tense most definitely. I'm wondering though about the idea of "stored grief"....if it's physiologically valid that crying is a valve for stored grief. In the sense that you need to cry out your past trauma.

Does crying heal anything, or does it just release painkillers.

I think it flushes out prolactin from your body.

 

[lampofred]

As for the cumulative effects of stress, I wish I knew a way to ameliorate that. Death, probably.

Or progesterone...

 

[DaveFoster]

Or progesterone...

I was hoping that you'd comment. I actually do plan on trying that out within the next couple of weeks. I'm graduating and will have some room to breathe by then.

 

[InChristAlone]

I thought you could measure cortisol in tears. So it is essentially releasing the stress. Adults tend to hold back tears and look how far that got us.

 

[Peatogenic]

I thought you could measure cortisol in tears. So it is essentially releasing the stress. Adults tend to hold back tears and look how far that got us.

But the big question of my post is if crying resolves the idea of a stored grief or trauma.

Some people can cry at anything, for no apparent reason.

Crying can relieve stress, but like I mention in my post, massage can too by releasing endorphins. Massage isn't fixing the tension problem, except temporarily.

 

[InChristAlone]

But the big question of my post is if crying resolves the idea of a stored grief or trauma.

Some people can cry at anything, for no apparent reason.

Crying can relieve stress, but like I mention in my post, massage can too by releasing endorphins. Massage isn't fixing the tension problem, except temporarily.

I don't think you could prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that it completely resolves trauma, but it certainly can help!

 

[Cirion]

Crying is literally the body keeping you from dying from excess cortisol, it is an emergency mechanism to drop cortisol from dangerously high levels. If you've reached the point of crying, your hormones are VERY messed up and probably reached the point of extreme hypo. The only few times I've either cried or wanted to were when I reached rock bottom health wise. I personally don't believe in "stored trauma" myself, more like "stored excess cortisol".

 

[InChristAlone]

Crying is literally the body keeping you from dying from excess cortisol, it is an emergency mechanism to drop cortisol from dangerously high levels. If you've reached the point of crying, your hormones are VERY messed up and probably reached the point of extreme hypo. The only few times I've either cried or wanted to were when I reached rock bottom health wise. I personally don't believe in "stored trauma" myself, more like "stored excess cortisol".

But why do you think the body would be creating all this cortisol to the point of crying? Usually some form of emotional stress causes crying. Although I've gotten weepy at certain times of the month over nothing and yes it was definitely hormones out of balance. Or not eating enough.

 

[Peatogenic]

But why do you think the body would be creating all this cortisol to the point of crying? Usually some form of emotional stress causes crying. Although I've gotten weepy at certain times of the month over nothing and yes it was definitely hormones out of balance. Or not eating enough.

It's creating all that cortisol because it's traumatic (stressful). Extreme stress/trauma can dysregulate the body in a chronic fashion, and even create structural changes. But I don't intuit that crying heals, say, estrogen and cortisol dominance....if that's the only thing that's stored.