Emotional Intelligence applied to Anxiety Management

These are the ways in which Emotional Intelligence helps to manage excess anxiety.

Anxiety problems are a constant in the lives of many people, but not because they are common they are inevitable. The truth is that human beings have a not inconsiderable capacity to manage their emotional states, and with the proper preparation, it is possible to suffer much less under the effects of excess anxiety.

Yes, it is true that no one can totally control the emotions of the here and now, or even foresee with 100% reliability their appearance. But between nothing and everything there is a healthy middle ground of which we must be aware, and which shows us that through the skills associated with Emotional Intelligence, it is possible to influence what we feel and how we feel it.

For that reason, throughout this article we will see some of the following the keys that make Emotional Intelligence very useful when it comes to managing anxiety..

What is the Emotional Intelligence?

Let us begin with the most basic thing: what is the Emotional Intelligence? As it is already intuited through its name, it is a set of psychological set of psychological skills that allows us to adapt to the different situations that life presents us with, many of which are new and new to us.many of which are new and therefore we must solve them without always applying the same strategies or solutions. Thus, as with the concept of "intelligence" in itself, Emotional Intelligence goes hand in hand with the notion of flexibility, the ability to vary our patterns of behavior depending on what is happening.

However, unlike what happens with intelligence in its more conventional meaning, EQ is not expressed through the recognition and manipulation (in our mind) of ideas and concepts expressible through language and/or mathematics. is not expressed through the recognition and manipulation (in our mind) of ideas and concepts expressible through language and/or mathematics, but its contents, what it works with, are feelings and emotions.Rather, its contents, what it works with, are feelings and emotions. And anxiety is one of those types of contents.

On the other hand, everything indicates that Emotional Intelligence can be trained and, therefore, improved through experience. This is very important, because it means that certain learning processes allow us to reinforce our emotional management skills in a consistent and stable way over time, as it would happen with someone who learns a subject at University and from that moment on is able to take advantage of that knowledge during the following years without having to start from 0 each time.

Emotional Intelligence: how it helps us to manage anxiety

These are the ways in which Emotional Intelligence helps us to manage our anxiety levels.

1. It helps to recognize anxiety

First of all, people with a good level of EQ are able to distinguish between the discomfort produced by anxiety and anxiety. distinguish between the discomfort produced by anxiety and other types of discomfort.. This is more important than it seems, because one of the most problematic aspects of over-anxiety is that it is not always easy to understand that this is the source of the discomfort we feel in the first place. For example, it is relatively common for people to confuse anxiety with hunger, which makes it not uncommon for someone who is not hungry to go again and again to the fridge to try to "cover" what they feel by tasting food.

2. Helps to detect the emotional states of others.

In Emotional Intelligence unites the skills of recognizing one's own emotions with those that have to do with recognizing the emotions of others.. This allows, for example, to keep calm when someone confronts us but at the same time we can notice that the person is more nervous than we are. The more information we have, the less likely we are to fall into fear or anxiety where these emotions are not necessary.

3. It helps us to reduce our anxiety "from the outside in".

Most of the ways in which we can reduce the strength of anxiety in cases where it is excessive do not come from inside our mind. That is, they do not come through introspection, private and subjective psychological processes. On the contrary, they come from outside: through the way in which we interact with the environment.and this affects us in one way or another. Emotional Intelligence helps us to exploit this potential.

For example, if we feel bad because we have not yet started writing a project, that same anxiety may paralyze us, leading us to postpone the moment to get down to work to try not to think about what makes us feel bad. But by adopting certain strategies of interaction with the environment, we are able to break this vicious circle of anxiety. For example, by taking out of the room any element that can distract us or can be an excuse to postpone our responsibilities: our smartphone, snack bags, etc. Emotional Intelligence leads us to detect risks and opportunities in what surrounds us, when it comes to affecting our experience of emotions.