ABSTRACT
Among both scientists and the lay public, crying,1 the shedding of emotional tears, is often assumed to be healthy, or at least to have a tension-reducing effect. Cornelius (1986), in his study of crying in the popular press, reviewed 72 articles on crying published in popular media between 1848 and 1985. He found that in the majority of articles crying was considered essential to human health and wellbeing. The advice of many of the articles, regardless of the time they were published, was not to hold back tears, as this might lead to a variety of negative consequences ranging from unhappiness to ill-health or even death.
