Sadness
Sadness
is emotional pain associated with, or characterized by feelings of disadvantage,
loss, despair, helplessness and sorrow. An individual experiencing sadness may
become quiet or lethargic, and withdraw themselves from others. Crying is often
an indication of sadness. Sadness is one of the "six basic emotions" described
by Paul Ekman, along with happiness, anger, surprise, fear and disgust. Sadness
can be viewed as a temporary lowering of mood, whereas depression is more
chronic.
In
childhood
Sadness is a
common experience in childhood. Acknowledging such emotions can make it easier
for families to address more serious emotional problems, although some families
may have a (conscious or unconscious) rule that sadness is "not allowed". Robin
Skynner has suggested that this may cause problems when "screened-off emotion
isn't available to us when we need it... the loss of sadness makes us a bit
manic".
Sadness is
part of the normal process of the child separating from an early symbiosis with
the mother and becoming more independent. Every time a child separates just a
tiny bit more, he or she will have to cope with a small loss. Skynner suggests
that if the mother cannot bear this and "dashes right in to relieve the child's
distress every single time he shows any...the child is not getting a chance to
learn how to cope with sadness'". Pediatrician T. Berry Brazelton argues that
"trying to jostle or joke out of a sad mood is devaluing to her" and Selma
Fraiberg suggests that it is important respecting a child's right to experience
a loss fully and deeply.
Margaret
Mahler believes that sadness requires "a great deal of strength" to bear, and
that a child in self-protection may develop "hyperactivity or restlessness...as
an early defensive activity against awareness of the painful affect of sadness".
This is why D. W. Winnicott suggests that "when your infant shows that he can
cry from sadness you can infer that he has travelled a long way in the
development of his feelings....some people think that sad crying is one of the
main roots of the more valuable kind of music".
Neuroanatomy
According to
the American Journal of Psychiatry, sadness was found to be associated with
"increases in bilateral activity within the vicinity of the middle and posterior
temporal cortex, lateral cerebellum, cerebellar vermis, midbrain, putamen, and
caudate." Jose V. Pardo has his M.D and Ph.D and leads a research program in
cognitive neuroscience. Using positron emission tomography (PET) Pardo and his
colleagues were able to provoke sadness among seven normal men and women by
asking them to think about sad things. They observed increased brain activity in
the bilateral inferior and orbitofrontal cortex. Sadness is associated
with significant increases in regional brain activity, especially in the
prefrontal cortex, in an area called the (Brodmann’s area 9) as well as in the
thalamus. Also, there is a significant increase in activity, in the bilateral
anterior temporal structures, however this was attributed to film-induced
emotions.
Coping
mechanisms
A sad adolescent
Daniel Goleman says
that "the single mood people generally put most effort into shaking is
sadness...Unfortunately, some of the strategies most often resorted to can
backfire, leaving people feeling worse than before. One such strategy is simply
staying alone." Ruminating, and "drowning one's sorrows", may also be
counterproductive. Being attentive and patient with sadness is one way for
people to learn through solitude. Goleman suggests two more positive
alternatives which have been recommended by cognitive therapy. "One is to learn
to challenge the thoughts at the center of rumination and think of more positive
alternatives. The other is to purposely schedule pleasant, distracting
events".
Object
relations theory by contrast stresses the utility of staying with sadness: 'it's
got to be conveyed to the person that it's all right for him to have the sad
feelings' – easiest done perhaps 'where emotional support is offered to help
them begin to feel the sadness'. Such an approach is fuelled by the underlying
belief that 'the capacity to bear loss wholeheartedly, without pushing the
experience away, emerges...as essential to being truly alive and engaged with
the world'.
When some
individuals feel sad, they may exclude themselves, in doing so they take time to
recover from this feeling. People deal with sadness in different ways, and it is
an important emotion because it helps to motivate people to deal with their
situation. Some coping mechanism could include: creating a list, getting support
from others, spending time with a pet or engaging in something to express
sadness such as dance.
Sadness
increases impatience and creates a myopic focus on obtaining money immediately
instead of later. This focus, in turn, increases intertemporal discount rates
and thereby produces substantial financial costs. A sadder person is not
necessarily the wiser person when it comes to financial choices. Instead,
compared with neutral emotion, sadness—but not disgust—made people more myopic,
and therefore willing to forgo greater future gains in return for instant
gratification.
Pupil
empathy
Facial
expressions of sadness with small pupils are judged significantly more intensely
sad with decreasing pupil size. A person's own pupil size also mirrors this with
them being smaller when viewing sad faces with small pupils. No parallel effect
exists when people look at neutral, happy or angry expressions. The greater
degree to which a person's pupils mirror another predicts a person's greater
score on empathy. However, in disorders such as autism and psychopathy facial
expressions that represent sadness may be subtle, which may show a need for a
more non-linguistic situation to affect their level of
empathy.
Cultural
explorations
During the
Renaissance, "Edmund Spenser's high estimation of sadness renders it as a badge
of sort for the spiritually elect...this endorsement of sadness" in The Fairie
Queene.
In The Lord
of the Rings, Treebeard is described as having "a sad look in his eyes, sad but
not unhappy". This may be linked to the way "an early meaning of 'sad' is
'settled, determined'", exemplifying "Tolkien's theses that determination should
survive the worst that can happen".
Julia
Kristeva considered that 'a diversification of moods, variety in sadness,
refinement in sorrow or mourning are the imprint of a humanity that is surely
not triumphant but subtle, ready to fight and
creative'
is emotional pain associated with, or characterized by feelings of disadvantage,
loss, despair, helplessness and sorrow. An individual experiencing sadness may
become quiet or lethargic, and withdraw themselves from others. Crying is often
an indication of sadness. Sadness is one of the "six basic emotions" described
by Paul Ekman, along with happiness, anger, surprise, fear and disgust. Sadness
can be viewed as a temporary lowering of mood, whereas depression is more
chronic.
In
childhood
Sadness is a
common experience in childhood. Acknowledging such emotions can make it easier
for families to address more serious emotional problems, although some families
may have a (conscious or unconscious) rule that sadness is "not allowed". Robin
Skynner has suggested that this may cause problems when "screened-off emotion
isn't available to us when we need it... the loss of sadness makes us a bit
manic".
Sadness is
part of the normal process of the child separating from an early symbiosis with
the mother and becoming more independent. Every time a child separates just a
tiny bit more, he or she will have to cope with a small loss. Skynner suggests
that if the mother cannot bear this and "dashes right in to relieve the child's
distress every single time he shows any...the child is not getting a chance to
learn how to cope with sadness'". Pediatrician T. Berry Brazelton argues that
"trying to jostle or joke out of a sad mood is devaluing to her" and Selma
Fraiberg suggests that it is important respecting a child's right to experience
a loss fully and deeply.
Margaret
Mahler believes that sadness requires "a great deal of strength" to bear, and
that a child in self-protection may develop "hyperactivity or restlessness...as
an early defensive activity against awareness of the painful affect of sadness".
This is why D. W. Winnicott suggests that "when your infant shows that he can
cry from sadness you can infer that he has travelled a long way in the
development of his feelings....some people think that sad crying is one of the
main roots of the more valuable kind of music".
Neuroanatomy
According to
the American Journal of Psychiatry, sadness was found to be associated with
"increases in bilateral activity within the vicinity of the middle and posterior
temporal cortex, lateral cerebellum, cerebellar vermis, midbrain, putamen, and
caudate." Jose V. Pardo has his M.D and Ph.D and leads a research program in
cognitive neuroscience. Using positron emission tomography (PET) Pardo and his
colleagues were able to provoke sadness among seven normal men and women by
asking them to think about sad things. They observed increased brain activity in
the bilateral inferior and orbitofrontal cortex. Sadness is associated
with significant increases in regional brain activity, especially in the
prefrontal cortex, in an area called the (Brodmann’s area 9) as well as in the
thalamus. Also, there is a significant increase in activity, in the bilateral
anterior temporal structures, however this was attributed to film-induced
emotions.
Coping
mechanisms
A sad adolescent
Daniel Goleman says
that "the single mood people generally put most effort into shaking is
sadness...Unfortunately, some of the strategies most often resorted to can
backfire, leaving people feeling worse than before. One such strategy is simply
staying alone." Ruminating, and "drowning one's sorrows", may also be
counterproductive. Being attentive and patient with sadness is one way for
people to learn through solitude. Goleman suggests two more positive
alternatives which have been recommended by cognitive therapy. "One is to learn
to challenge the thoughts at the center of rumination and think of more positive
alternatives. The other is to purposely schedule pleasant, distracting
events".
Object
relations theory by contrast stresses the utility of staying with sadness: 'it's
got to be conveyed to the person that it's all right for him to have the sad
feelings' – easiest done perhaps 'where emotional support is offered to help
them begin to feel the sadness'. Such an approach is fuelled by the underlying
belief that 'the capacity to bear loss wholeheartedly, without pushing the
experience away, emerges...as essential to being truly alive and engaged with
the world'.
When some
individuals feel sad, they may exclude themselves, in doing so they take time to
recover from this feeling. People deal with sadness in different ways, and it is
an important emotion because it helps to motivate people to deal with their
situation. Some coping mechanism could include: creating a list, getting support
from others, spending time with a pet or engaging in something to express
sadness such as dance.
Sadness
increases impatience and creates a myopic focus on obtaining money immediately
instead of later. This focus, in turn, increases intertemporal discount rates
and thereby produces substantial financial costs. A sadder person is not
necessarily the wiser person when it comes to financial choices. Instead,
compared with neutral emotion, sadness—but not disgust—made people more myopic,
and therefore willing to forgo greater future gains in return for instant
gratification.
Pupil
empathy
Facial
expressions of sadness with small pupils are judged significantly more intensely
sad with decreasing pupil size. A person's own pupil size also mirrors this with
them being smaller when viewing sad faces with small pupils. No parallel effect
exists when people look at neutral, happy or angry expressions. The greater
degree to which a person's pupils mirror another predicts a person's greater
score on empathy. However, in disorders such as autism and psychopathy facial
expressions that represent sadness may be subtle, which may show a need for a
more non-linguistic situation to affect their level of
empathy.
Cultural
explorations
During the
Renaissance, "Edmund Spenser's high estimation of sadness renders it as a badge
of sort for the spiritually elect...this endorsement of sadness" in The Fairie
Queene.
In The Lord
of the Rings, Treebeard is described as having "a sad look in his eyes, sad but
not unhappy". This may be linked to the way "an early meaning of 'sad' is
'settled, determined'", exemplifying "Tolkien's theses that determination should
survive the worst that can happen".
Julia
Kristeva considered that 'a diversification of moods, variety in sadness,
refinement in sorrow or mourning are the imprint of a humanity that is surely
not triumphant but subtle, ready to fight and
creative'
