when I was 8, a good headbump or playground injury would make me cry in pain. Now, in my 30s, I’ve had some of the worst injuries of my life with no crying response.
In: Biology
Crying, like children do, is not so much about the pain, but the fear and inability to “do anything about it”.
I have a 3yo son, and his natural response to many things is crying. As a parent you very quickly learn whats real and whats not. Now if he falls down and gets hurt outside playing, and nobody saw it – crying is his only option. He doesn’t know or have the communication ability to say “Daaaaad! I hurt my leg, can you help me?” – but he certainly know “which” tone of crying to go for to get me or his mom to come running quick.
My nephew at 12 knows this is worthless…. he might have some tears, but he doesn’t cry, and he will come into the house after falling on his bike “Uncle, can you help me please?”
As adults to, we usually only cry when things are hopeless. When we just broke up with a long term partner, you are crying because you really dont know how to arrange the next week now that you are alone – it seems hopeless. Or someone dies – there is nothing you can do, then crying feels “better”. Because it releases a lot of “ssssshhhh, its going to be alright” hormones. It does very little for physical pain – swearing on the other hand, does. Studies have shown that people who scream out profanities when they have pain – experiences less pain in total than the people who just keep it in.
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