The Hurting is the debut studio album by British new wave band Tears for Fears, released on 7 March 1983 by Mercury Records distributed by Phonogram Inc.

For the album's 40th anniversary, new Dolby Atmos and 5.1 surround sound Blu-ray remixes by Steven Wilson, as well as a remastered vinyl edition of the original mix, was released in June 2023.

The core of the band Orzabal and Smith worked in a close and democratic collaboration with producers Hughes and Ross Cullum, only using ideas all four of them agreed on.

"[19] In the NME Gavin Martin's review was negative, stating that "this record and others like it are a terrible, useless sort of art that makes self pity and futility a commercial proposition", and that "Tears for Fears and their listeners sound like they've given up completely, retreating from the practical world into a fantasy".

"[21] Melody Maker's Steve Sutherland felt that "Tears for Fears's pop primal therapy tends to luxuriate in the attention it attracts, sounds ironically happy to wallow inspirationally instead of seeking exorcism".

However, he observed that "the Tears for Fears formula – to translate childhood traumas into adult romance with Freudian fanaticism – is ludicrously laboured but, crucially, their lyrical lethargy is salvaged by what really sells them; their structural invention... sensibly, their suffering's usually controlled to sound smooth", and that this was the strength of the record: "The success of The Hurting lies in its lack of friction, in its safety and, for all their claims that coping with relationships has been warped beyond their ken, Tears for Fears have contrived an assured masterpiece of seduction".

[22] In the US David Fricke of Rolling Stone said that "Tears for Fears stand out among the current crop of identikit synth-pop groups by virtue of their resourceful, stylish songwriting and fetching rhythmic sway.

Granted, the adolescent angst and bleak, pained romanticism of singer-instrumentalists Curt Smith and Roland Orzabel [sic] sometimes come off as an adequate imitation of Joy Division, at best.

Reviewing the 1999 reissue for Q, Andrew Collins said, "Despite its occasional bum note, The Hurting remains a landmark work... a highly emotional pop record, at its simplest".

"[13] Tom Byford of Record Collector summarised the album as "a surfeit of complex ideas reflecting troubled upbringings married with immediate, infectious, hummable tunes".

One is a half-speed vinyl edition, the other a Blu-Ray Audio disc in Paul Sinclair's SDE Surround Series, featuring the album in several formats (the aforementioned remaster; new stereo, 5.1 surround and Dolby Atmos remixes by Steven Wilson and an instrumental mix of the entire album) plus two newly discovered recordings from the aborted sessions with Mike Howlett: early versions of "Mad World" and "Watch Me Bleed".