People with PTSD cry because it's a natural release for overwhelming emotions, a self-soothing mechanism activating the body's relaxation response, a way to process stored trauma, a symptom of emotional dysregulation from a hyperactive nervous system, and can be triggered by intense feelings like fear, shame, or sadness in emotional flashbacks, helping to release stress hormones and toxins. Crying is the body's way of signaling distress and attempting to restore balance after trauma.
In addition to the symptoms of PTSD, symptoms of complex PTSD may also include: Difficulty managing emotions and behavior. This can manifest as explosive anger, uncontrollable crying, or emotional numbness.
Trauma Blocking and Emotional Detachment
It involves subconsciously inhibiting emotional responses to protect oneself from overwhelming feelings associated with traumatic memories. By “blocking” these emotions, one attempts to shield themselves from additional pain and distress.
PTSD Relapse Signs
Hyper-arousal, which is a feeling of constantly being “on-guard” and unable to rest. Depression and distance. Changes in sleeping habits. Increased frequency of attacks and flashbacks.
Coping with the Symptoms of PTSD
These triggers can be external, such as sights, sounds, smells, or locations that are associated with the trauma. They can also be internal, such as certain thoughts, emotions, or physical sensations that are similar to those experienced during the traumatic event.
Although some people recover within 6 months, others have symptoms that last for 1 year or longer. People with PTSD often have co-occurring conditions, such as depression, substance use, or one or more anxiety disorders. After a dangerous event, it is natural to have some symptoms.
It won't rid you of PTSD and your fears, but let your tears flow and you'll maybe feel a little better afterwards. 'Crying for long periods of time releases oxytocin and endogenous opioids, otherwise known as endorphins. These feel-good chemicals can help ease both physical and emotional pain.
Symptoms of a PTSD Episode
Some of the most common symptoms include: Flashbacks or vivid re-experiencing of the traumatic event. Sudden bursts of anger or irritability. Hypervigilance or exaggerated startle response.
Avoiding reminders—like places, people, sounds or smells—of a trauma is called behavioral avoidance. For example: A combat Veteran may stop watching the news or using social media because of stories or posts about war or current military events.
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Some people with PTSD experience dissociative symptoms (for example, amnesia, flashbacks, numbing, and/or depersonalization/derealization), which commonly occur after exposure to trauma. Dissociation is linked to a history of experiencing abusive or neglectful parenting, psychological trauma, and PTSD.
Crying is one of the most common ways the body shows this sadness. Memories, anniversaries, or certain places or smells can suddenly trigger overwhelming emotion, leading to crying spells. Also, past traumatic experiences such as abuse, accidents, violence, or neglect make a person more vulnerable to crying.
PTSD is more than an emotional struggle — it physically rewires the brain, altering how fear is processed, memories are stored and emotions are regulated. Key brain regions affected include the amygdala, bed nucleus of the stria terminali, prefrontal cortex and hippocampus.
Physical Sensations
Tingling or Warmth: You may feel tingling sensations or warmth in certain areas of your body as trauma is processed and released. Muscle Tension and Relaxation: Muscles that have been chronically tense due to trauma may suddenly relax, leading to a sensation of relief or heaviness.
The thousand-yard stare (also referred to as two-thousand-yard stare) is the blank, unfocused gaze of people experiencing dissociation due to acute stress or traumatic events.
Your PTSD symptoms may be severe enough to interfere with your daily quality of life in ways like these.
Identifying and addressing trauma triggers is an important part of treating PTSD. A trigger warning is a message presented to an audience about the contents of a piece of media, to warn them that it contains potentially distressing content. A more generic term, which is not directly focused on PTSD, is content warning.
Emotional response: sadness, grief, happiness, frustration, or even relief. Tears are produced in response to heightened feelings, and the act of crying can serve as a cathartic release, helping to alleviate tension.
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Crying is our body's way of getting rid of toxins and our tears act as a release valve for stress, tension, depression and grief.
PTSD can be successfully treated, even when it develops many years after a traumatic event. Treatment depends on the severity of symptoms and how soon they occur after the traumatic event.
The 2 medicines recommended to treat PTSD in adults are paroxetine and sertraline. Paroxetine and sertraline are both a type of antidepressant known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
Signs of PTSD involve re-experiencing the trauma (flashbacks, nightmares), avoiding reminders, experiencing negative thoughts/moods (numbness, guilt, fear), and heightened arousal (irritability, jumpiness, sleep issues), disrupting daily life and relationships, often accompanied by physical reactions like a racing heart or sweating.