Why can some people not cry on demand?

[Ganesh Ujwal]

This morning, my father scolded me for getting low marks. I knew that if I started crying, he would stop scolding me. But what to cry about? Then I had it! Yesterday, I saw a video at shock site that I couldn't buy and that made me cry all afternoon! So I thought about the video again. But it wasn't working! Why is it, when we need to cry, it just doesn't work?

[Vexen]

"Why you cry and who sees you do it appear to

make a difference in whether crying helps or

hurts your emotional state ( Journal of Research in

Personality, 2011). In the study, she and

colleagues found that crying was more likely to

make people feel better when they had emotional

support (such as a close friend nearby), if they

were crying due to a positive event, or if their

crying led to a resolution or new understanding of

the situation that led them to cry in the first

place. Criers felt worse if they felt embarrassed or

ashamed of crying, if they were with

unsupportive people or if they cried because they

saw suffering. Overall, participants were more

likely to feel better if they cried alone or around

one other person, but felt worse or didn't

experience a mood change if they were with two

or more people."