Sister Can’t Stop Crying

Reader’s Question

My sister has had weird symptoms in the last week. All of a sudden out of nowhere she can’t stop crying and she has no idea why. She has been crying on and off everyday and she isn’t upset, she just cries. She also has been extremely nauseous everytime she tries to eat. It’s been a full week of this. Is this psychological or physical?

Thanks for all your help.

Our Consulting Clinical Psychologist’s Reply

It’s a combination of psychological and physical. Those weird symptoms are usually found in depression — crying spells, can’t sleep, fatigue, can’t concentrate, emotionally hypersensitive, irritable, etc. When she doesn’t know why she’s depressed, it’s likely to be a stress-produced depression. We typically think of depression as a reaction to something — a death in the family, being fired, house fire, etc. When that happens, folks know why they are depressed. In your sister’s case, many months of a high stress level produce emotional exhaustion — the sudden crying spells, etc. When those folks come to my office, like your sister they often can’t identify a specific situation that might make them depressed. Some say “It’s just everything!”

Depression also has strong physical symptoms. Biologically, depression is felt to be associated with decreased levels of a brain chemical called Serotonin. The loss of Serotonin produces the physical symptoms of depression. As Serotonin is also located in the gastrointestinal tract — depressed folks get nausea, vomiting, etc. Serotonin also maintains body temperature so they get hot and cold flushes as well…not to mention muscle cramps.

I’d recommend reading two articles on my website at www.drjoecarver.com — Understanding Depression and Chemical Imbalance. She should also take a few of the depression screening tests on this website. Most important, she should consult her family physician and consider the use of both an antidepressant medication and counseling/therapy follow-up. Her condition is well-researched and excellent treatments are available.