Crying is natural and healthy. If you feel you’re crying more than usual or for no apparent reason, you may be experiencing depression, grief, burnout, or hormonal changes. Medications and neurological conditions may also cause crying outbursts.

Some people cry more than others and for different reasons. But if you feel you can’t stop crying and that is unusual for you, something new may be going on.

Crying is usually a biological response to an emotional, physical, or mental stimulus. You may cry if you feel happy, scared, angry, or sad. Tears may come out naturally if you’re injured or even if you are touched by an emotional movie scene.

It’s also possible to cry without an emotional or cognitive stimulus. For example, if your eyes are dry or if you chop onions.

Emotional tears

Did you know the composition of your tears may be different when you produce emotional tears? Experts have theorized that this is part of an evolutionary process meant to help humans bond.

Emotional tears have more proteins, which makes them more viscous and more likely to stick to the skin and roll slowly down your face for other people to notice.

Depression

Depression is a mood disorder that may lead you to experience unexpected and persistent crying outbursts, even if you don’t feel sad.

Although sadness is a formal symptom of depression, it is possible to have depression without experiencing a low mood. If you’re not feeling low, it may surprise you that you cannot stop crying at times.

To reach a depression diagnosis, a healthcare professional will try to determine if you experience at least five out of nine symptoms, most of the day, for at least 2 weeks in a row.

  • low mood (sadness, emptiness. hopelessness)
  • low energy or motivation
  • difficulty concentrating
  • difficulty enjoying everyday or special activities
  • changes in appetite (eating more or less than usual)
  • changes in sleep patterns (sleeping more or fewer hours than usual)
  • changes in movement patterns (moving slower or quicker than usual)
  • feelings of shame or guilt
  • recurrent thoughts of self-harm, death, or suicide

These symptoms may range in intensity, and it’s possible that some people aren’t aware they have depression, especially if it’s been going on for a while.

Crying often, even in your sleep, may be a sign of depression if other symptoms on the list are present.

Only a healthcare professional can offer an accurate diagnosis. They can also help you cope with crying outbursts and other symptoms.

Anxiety

Feeling anxious or nervous at times is natural. If you have an anxiety disorder, though, you experience worry and nervousness often, maybe even on a daily basis. Intense nervousness and worry may lead you to cry often.

Symptoms of anxiety may vary from person to person but often include:

  • edginess or irritability
  • excessive worry and fear
  • muscular tension
  • fatigue
  • difficulty focusing or concentrating
  • trouble sleeping
  • shaking
  • low tolerance to frustration

Some of these symptoms may lead you to tears. For example, you may cry out of exhaustion or when you feel very frustrated or worried. If you’re constantly frustrated or fearful, it’s natural that you cannot stop crying at times.

The same is true if you have chronic stress or burnout. This may make crying outbursts more likely as a ways to express your frustration and exhaustion.

Read more about ways to cope with anxiety.

Grief

Grief looks and feels differently to each person. Some people go through grief and reach acceptance in a few weeks, while others may grieve for a longer time.

It’s natural to cry after a significant loss, but if it’s been a while since you went through this, it may surprise you that you still can’t stop crying.

If you have prolonged grief disorder, you may continue to experience intense emotions and unexpected crying outbursts for a long time after your loss. Prolonged grief is a formal mental health diagnosis, unlike regular grief. It means that you grieve for a long time and your symptoms have become more intense and persistent over time.

If the loss isn’t recent, you may not be aware that your emotional state is linked to your grief.

A mental health professional can help you explore your grief and develop coping mechanisms.

Adjustment disorder

Intense emotional responses to stressful events or transitions may result from living with an adjustment disorder.

Difficulty adapting to changes or coping with significant events in your life may lead you to have long crying outbursts. This is more likely to happen if you went through a traumatic or severe adverse event in your life.

With an adjustment disorder, you may have strong emotional responses, including not being able to stop crying, when having conflict in a relationship or at work, receiving a health diagnosis, or going through a loss.

Hormones

Hormonal imbalance or changes may lead to emotional reactions, including crying outbursts.

Pregnancy, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), and thyroid conditions may affect how you feel or lead to expressions that may not be consistent with how you feel. For example, you could cry without feeling sad.

If you believe you can’t stop crying because your hormones are out of balance, it’s a good idea to visit a healthcare professional. They may want to run some blood tests to confirm or rule out hormonal dysfunction.

If you’re pregnant, it’s important to accept that this phase may come with some emotional states that you may not understand. A mental health professional may offer some support in coping with this aspect of pregnancy.

Pseudobulbar affect

Sudden uncontrollable emotional reactions, with or without crying outbursts, may be a symptom of a rare condition called pseudobulbar affect (PBA).

The exaggerated emotional expressions associated with PBA often don’t match how you feel or the situation at hand. For example, you may start crying during a funny movie and not be able to stop crying for hours after that. Or you may start laughing and suddenly turn to crying.

If you have PBA, stopping the emotional outbursts is extremely difficult.

PBA is not common and often occurs in people with a history of:

Besides exploring professional support if you feel your crying is linked to a health condition or pregnancy, these tips may help you cope in the moment:

  • Focus on taking slow, deep breaths. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Breathing deeply can have an effect on your brain, which may help you relax and stop the flow of tears.
  • Even if you feel like crying, try to relax your facial muscles so your expression is neutral. Sometimes, just focusing on relaxing the face can help you stop crying.
  • Think about something repetitious, like a poem, a song, or a nursery rhyme you’ve memorized. If this doesn’t work, try to focus on an object nearby. Look at the colors, textures, and shapes.
  • Engage in physical activity, even if it’s doing some squats or jumping jacks. Taking a walk may also help in the moment.
  • Try to express how you feel on paper. Writing may act as a cathartic exercise that replaces your need to cry.

Read more about how to stop crying.

If you feel you can’t stop crying, you may want to explore the possibility that you have depression, an adjustment disorder, pseudobulbar affect, or hormonal dysfunction. Although crying is natural and healthy, if you feel it’s impacting your daily life, seeking the support of a healthcare professional may help.