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How does sadness work in the brain? Science reveals the mysterious brain areas behind emotions!
Grief is an emotional pain associated with feelings of loss, despair, grief, helplessness, disappointment, and sadness. Individuals who are grieving often appear quiet or tired, and often choose to isolate themselves. It is understood that severe sadness can manifest as depression, a mood state that can be triggered by major depressive disorder or persistent depressive disorder. Tears are often seen as an indicator of sadness.
"Sadness is one of the six basic human emotions, including happiness, anger, surprise, fear and disgust."
Grief in childhood
Sadness is a common experience in children's lives. Sometimes sadness can lead to depression. Some families may unintentionally create a rule that says "no grief is allowed," but experts say this approach can cause problems. For example, when sadness is suppressed, a person may become shallow and restless. Acknowledging the presence of grief can help families cope more effectively with more serious emotional problems.
“Excessively encouraging children to be happy will cause them to underestimate the value of sadness.”
Grief is an important part of growing up as children move away from their close relationship with their mothers and become independent. Whenever a child becomes independent, he or she must face some small losses. If the mother cannot accept these small pains, the child may never learn how to deal with grief alone.
Neuroanatomy and grief
The neuroscience research on grief is extensive. Research shows that sadness is associated with increased activity in multiple areas of the brain, including the mid-posterior temporal cortex, lateral cerebellum, brainstem, putamen, and striatum. Studies using positron emission tomography (PET) have shown that when people think about sad events, they have significant increases in brain activity in their bilateral inferior frontal lobes and preoptic prefrontal cortex.
“When feeling sad, there is significant activity in multiple brain areas that are closely related to emotion processing.”
The function of sadness
According to functional theory, emotion is a mechanism that humans use to effectively cope with situations that trigger these emotions. Grief is thought to serve two primary functions that help individuals cope with loss. The first is to promote cognitive changes and reconstruct beliefs and goals, and the second is to send help signals to others and trigger social support. This helps resonate emotions and fosters the building of relationships.
Mechanisms for coping with grief
There are different ways of facing sadness. Sadness, as an important emotion, can inspire people to take action to solve their current difficulties. Some people may choose to exclude social activities in order to gain time for solitude and reflection. Experts have also shown that some traditional coping mechanisms, such as reminiscing and "immersing in sadness", lead to a vicious cycle of emotions.
"Taking grief carefully and giving yourself patience can help people learn from loneliness and regain their vitality."
Rather than avoiding it, facing grief seriously, through emotional support, allows people to strive to coexist with this emotion, which may ultimately lead to a reconnection with the outside world.
Observation and Perception: Pupils and Expression of Speech
Research suggests that pupil size may be an indicator of sadness. When people face sad expressions, their pupils will also shrink. In addition, the expression of sadness in speech, such as the measurement of the fundamental frequency, energy level and interval of speech, can also accurately distinguish sadness from other emotions.
"When sadness occurs, the emotion is expressed primarily through changes in speech, with a low, slow tone often characteristic of this emotion."
Sadness in Culture
In literary works throughout history, grief is often depicted as a profound display of human emotion. In the Renaissance, grief was seen as a sign of spiritual commitment, and in modern literature it is often the mark of deep, delicate emotion.
"Various emotions and sad tastes are unique signs of human beings."
As research on grief continues to advance, we are gaining a better understanding of how it operates in the brain and its impact on social interactions. So, do you think grief can fundamentally help humans grow and understand each other?
