discomfort with people crying

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When I was at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting this morning, this lady there was sharing about how she started using drugs again and about how her mom said that it would be good for both she and her mom to die together, or something like that, crying the whole time she talked. Whenever people, especially strangers, start crying in front of me or around me, it makes me uncomfortable. I can't feel empathy for them, either, unless I can put myself in their shoes, knowing what they're going through. Anyone else here feel that way?

It makes me uncomfortable too. I do have empathy for them but I don't express it, I guess. I'm bad at comforting people, it doesn't feel natural.

People crying makes me uncomfortable too. I do feel empathy for them, but I am terrified of comforting them because people can be so unpredictable when they're upset and I don't know what would make them feel better since everyone is different and the situation is always different too.

Yeah. Seeing people cry makes me very uncomfortable. I feel sympathetic towards them, but usually not empathetic.

If its a stranger then I feel disconnected or numb, like I'm living in a different universe where whatever is going on with the person crying isn't part of my reality (sort of like watching a movie).

If its someone I know then I tend to feel cold and stiff. I can't react in real-time to what is going on because I'm over-analyzing the event every second its occurring. Later when I think about the situation I understand better what was going on and what I could have done better - but I can't seem to get that knowledge fast enough.

I mostly just get uncomfortable from babies and children crying as well as their parents' reactions.

I am uncomfortable with strangers crying, but even more so if it is someone I know well. A stranger would not expect me to comfort them, but friends and family would. I never know what to do if someone's upset, or how to comfort them, so having people demand comfort is very distressing for me.

I haven't had anybody in my family die since I was quite young (too young to be expected to comfort others), but I dread having a family member die now, because my mother would be upset, and she would get very angry at me for not comforting her. She says that I am heartless and selfish, and that this is why I do not comfort her when she wants it.

I'm incredibly uncomfortable around crying strangers and even people I know well. I even get uncomfortable trying comfort someone via text. One time, I went on a ropes course, and I was nervous about the heights, but after I got up there, I wasn't scared of that at all, but everyone around me was scared and crying and that freaked me out way more than the heights.

I feel bad if somebody cries because of something I said or did wrong. I feel like an awful person.

I'm a very empathetic and moral person, I base my life around removing discomfort for others, but I don't think I'm a good person. However, I can't tolerate crying for emotional reasons as I don't know what to do and I get nervous, often saying the wrong thing. I slowly push everyone away overtime until I'm completely alone. Dogs and Dolphins make perfectly sociable sentient beings however

I feel somewhat bad when I see someone crying, but mainly it's just confusing. What do you say or do for the person? I usually end up saying the wrong thing which makes it even worse.

Like others above I generally for some form of sympathy but unsure how to react and deal with it. I think it's worse when you don't know WHY someone is crying. Sometimes it's just part of the grieving process (grief covering a LOT of things) in which case they might be better alone, or it could be they're just feeling alone and in crisis and DO need somebody. Plus people have different emotional and social needs so I have no idea how to really react and it can be really uncomfortable being in that situation where somebody is crying.

I certainly get uncomfortable around people crying, whether I know them or not doesn't really make a difference to me. I believe the issue stems from the lack of knowledge. People rarely explain how a person should be comforted and it's such an open expression of emotion that you generally don't see outside of happiness. Plus many of us are used to dealing with a certain amount of depression or at least neutrality of emotion that it's rather alien to be overwhelmed by sadness to the point it would produce tears.

I too feel very uncomfortable around people crying. Adults in particular I'm not used to crying due to it being considered socially unacceptable, but children crying also gets on my nerves.

I usually freeze up and don't know what to say when around someone who is crying.

You'd all feel uncomfortable around me.