Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Is EQ Helpful for the Mentally ill?

     Everybody is talking about it, everyone has their own 
definition about it,  and everyone has their own way of 
testing for it. But, what is EQ and how can a good EQ help
me?

     In 1995, Daniel Goleman wrote a book supporting 
that EQ is supposed to be even better than IQ. 
How could this be? What is EQ exactly? EQ is an 
abbreviation for Emotional Intelligence.

    There are four branches regarding Emotional Intelligence.
Responding to other's emotions, responding to my emotions,
personal wellbeing, and practicing and managing these 
emotions inside of you and inside of others. 

There are five qualities that feed off of each other, that are 
supposed to be supportive. These qualities are:self-
awareness, self-control, motivation, empathy, and finally
social skills.

    We can start with self-awareness. This trait in the EQ
forum signifies an understanding of one's self and identify
with emotions. Next we will gear up for self-control. Self-
control highlights the effectiveness of controlling one's 
emotions to the point where their display of emotions is
controlled and the individual displays emotions in
appropriate ways.

    Motivation is next, where one sees the end of the tunnel
in reaching goals, and setting these goals realistically. How
many times have you heard, just imagine if you were in
their shoes. Well, the next quality is where one can
understand others' feelings. The last one is kind of tricky. 
The trait is social skills.Interacting socially, managing 
each other's emotions in conversation, lastly, being socially competent.  This trait has the tendency to be different
in different cultures, so what would socially competent
mean for me? I don't know.

    The experts recognize that knowing emotions helps
steer you into the right direction, on your way to becoming 
mentally competent. After reading several articles on 
the topic of Emotional Intelligence, I have come to a 
brilliant discovery.

    This discovery may not be entirely my own, but I made
the conclusion (after reading many articles) and that
conclusion is this:

Emotional Intelligence is in fact one's affect capabilities. 
The ability to accurately identify with one's own emotions, that
influence your behavior. It is affect that needs to be taught
and the known way at the moment is to fill your EQ piggy
bank with as many emotions as you dare. The more 
emotions you know, the more accurate you can be. Somehow,
the teaching of emotion effects affect. Are you behaving
in a way that coincides with your mood? Or are you smiling
through tears...are you acting in line to your mood? Do 
they match? Your mood and reaction? Tricky to learn, but
it shows promise.

    Lastly, the experts purport that EQ is teachable. There is
no right or wrong way to train others to have a good EQ, 
but this is a new concept that requires further study and 
treatment plans. 

    Affect is the key here. There is mood and then there is
affect. Affect is like an adjective to your mood. You 
might be able to say that your moods are the primary emotions
and the affect the secondary and tertiary emotions. Know
them, live them, manage them...

Vocabulary ABC's

Expressed Emotion


   

   
       
     
     



 

Saturday, June 16, 2018

How Do You View Food?


     How I view food tells me a lot about my symptoms. How about you?
First, my view of food was el naturale. Broccoli was broccoli and ice cream
was ice cream. I was a kid and everything was new to try.

    I really try to think of when, what, why, how, and where my 'food vision'
changed. I started to think what does eating this do to me. Then I started
to think what was my food made of. What if I told you that food is a luxury?
How would you view food then?

    What if I told you that all the meat was gone, and now if you wanted
that hamburger, you would lose your favorite pet for the meat. Now, we
know that it can cascade into a full blown idea that holds no base in fact
anymore. Now we know that this would be a symptom. But, why did it
take hold like that?

    It went even further, I am afraid. I started to look at the food on my
plate as if it were a storybook, with a giant story waiting for me. Now,
I leave as much on my plate as possible, many times leaving the food
untouched. Is this mental illness or an eating disorder? What if I told
you it is both? I did not lose my hunger, just my appetite. I still wanted
to eat, but could not bring myself to touch the food, taste the food, eat
the food. This is not anorexia, it is something deeper. Something that
many mentally ill people face.

    To me, it was like a test of food stories, instead of a test of will.
After a while, I started playing with my food. Then, if the story left,
I could finally eat a little. But, I would have to take another look,
just in case a new story showed up. Building my food, breaking it
down, and building it back up again. Most of the time my hunger
won and I would eat, but feel very guilty about not having better
willpower.

    I started to think that I needed permission to eat. Permission to
touch my last meal. Permission to cause chaos on my plate...and
yet, I still eat. Not for pleasure and not for pain, just because at
the moment these symptoms have abated. They have gone. Gone
somewhere, only to resurface later, if I start having symptoms again.

    So, how do you feel about food? How is it that you view eating?
Is it a test for you as it is for me? Not of willpower, but to do the
right thing. Well, I guess that is the symptom in full now-the right
thing. What do you think that would be?


Vocabulary ABC's

Nutrition and the Mentality of Eating

Some warning signs