Emotional Intelligence Impacts Mental Health

Poor emotional intelligence threatens mental and physical health. In fact, several research studies have shown that individuals with psychiatric disorders have lower emotional intelligence. For instance, in a study of emotional intelligence in individuals diagnosed with depression, emotional intelligence scores were lower in the area of understanding emotions. This aligns with information processing in individuals with depression generally being negative or one-sided. In patients with borderline personality disorder, emotional intelligence scores are low in the area of understanding emotional information. This may be due to the difficulty they have with separating and identifying the various emotions being experienced at the same time. Additionally, patients with substance abuse disorders show severe impairment in using emotions to facilitate thought, understanding emotion information, and regulating emotions. Individuals with a substance abuse disorder have greater impairment in emotional abilities.

Good news! Emotional intelligence can improve by using several strategies. Therapy is one of the key ways to improve emotional intelligence. Therapists today are more informed about how emotional intelligence impacts mental wellbeing. There is more focus on emotions in psychotherapy.  Emotion regulation should be a primary focus in therapy as it impacts mental health the most. Understanding emotional information is also important to address in therapy.  If you want to improve your emotional intelligence, discuss with a therapist how this can be integrated into the treatment plan.

Additional ways to increase emotional intelligence:

• Take an emotional intelligence test here (how to score test at the end of the test)
• Practice being more assertive.
• Improve active listening skills
• Work to change your thoughts to more positive
• Engage in self-awareness (mindfulness)
• Use the STOPP technique

S-Stop! (take a moment to just do nothing)

T-Take a Breath (be aware of breathing in and out)

O-Observe (what thoughts do you have? what are you reacting to?)

P-Pull Back and Gain Perspective (how can you look at this situation

differently? what would family or a good friend say to you right

now? Is this thought a fact or an opinion? Is there a more

reasonable explanation? How important will this be a year from

now?)

P-Practice (Make a decision about what is the best approach for the

situation and respond in a way that is most effective)

• Use PLEASE to engage in practices that enhance mental health/emotions and physical health.

 PL-Treat physical illness

E-Eat healthy foods

 A-Avoid drugs or alcohol, or any mood-altering drug

S-Sleep well

E-Exercise

• Remember the 4 dimensions of emotional intelligence and aim to improve in each area:

Self-awareness (being aware of emotions, improve self-confidence)

Self-management (self-control, practice transparency and

adaptability, strive to achieve goals, practice being more positive)

Social-awareness (improve empathy)

Relationship management (improve being a team player, inspire

and motivate others, be an active listener, set clear expectations, be a

leader, praise others)

• Read more on emotional intelligence (there are many more great books and articles out there)

Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman

Working with Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman

Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves

10 Emotional Intelligence Tips from the Masters (great article, link)

All learning has an emotional base. —Plato