Sadness, it says, is emotional pain associated with loss. The loss may be smaller or greater, involving simple disappointment or actual death of a loved one. People experiencing sadness usually are more quiet and have less enthusiasm and energy than their ordinary selves. It represents a lowering of mood, usually temporary.
Sadness is viewed as one of the four main emotions -- sad, mad, glad and afraid. (Some would add disgusted and surprised.)
Sadness is regarded, somewhat surprisingly, as a useful emotion. (I suppose they are all useful? at least at times?) According to Wikipedia, for actor John Cleese, "the idea that sadness was actually useful was probably the most important, and for me the most surprising single thing" that he learned in therapy.
A main function of sadness is to help the person experiencing it to adjust to the very loss that has given rise to the feeling. The associated drop in energy is accompanied by an introspective withdrawal. The latter creates the opportunity to mourn the loss, and to grasp its significance and consequences. Once those are absorbed, the experiencer can begin planning a new phase of his or her life.
As a result, sadness can represent 'a healthy and appropriate response to experiences of loss and disappointment, whether personal or global'. (K. Masman, The Uses of Sadness, pp. 1-2.)
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