Facing Illness with Emotional Intelligence

This study aims to carry out a meta-analysis of how Emotional Intelligence becomes a key and indispensable factor in Adherence to Treatment in order that the patient can face the disease with psychological tools. This research is based on a review of deep bibliographic tools, which served to investigate and establish concrete conclusions after having carried out an exhaustive analysis based on research previous.

Understanding Adherence to Treatment as the commitment that the patient has in the proper use and management of the recommendations and indications that the treating specialist has given him in order to obtain expected results in a short period of time and making it understood that both the patient, Family members and treating doctors must be trained and stimulated in Emotional Intelligence, in order to understand, understand and regulate emotions own and others. In this way, it is expected that Emotional Intelligence allows adequate Adherence to Treatment. without neglecting their physical, psychological and social well-being, as well as the well-being of relatives.

In this PsychologyOnline article, we will develop the topic of Facing illness with Emotional Intelligence.

Index

1. Not all diseases are curable
2. The problem of adherence to treatment
3. Methodology and theoretical framework
4. What is the disease?
5. What is understood by Adherence to Treatment?
6. How should be the control over the intake of medicines and food?
7. How should the Behavioral Medical follow-up be?
8. What are the factors that are related to Adhesion?
9. What is Emotional Intelligence?
10. What are the Models of Emotional Intelligence?
11. How does Emotional Intelligence influence the Hospital Setting?
12. What are the benefits of Emotional Intelligence in Adherence to Treatment?
13. Conclusions

Many people complain that medicine fails to cure their illnesses, mainly in cases of chronic patients. This is due to the fact that many times a very important part of the disease is neglected: the emotional aspects and social that are influencing both the etiology of the disease and its maintenance over time. Since the last decades of the 20th century, chronic diseases have increased significantly, becoming one of the the main causes of both the reduction in the quality of life of the world population, and the increase in the rates of mortality. I understand the disease as a process of affection characterized by a detrimental alteration of its state of health, where these states become multi-causal.

However, although the main objective of the health sciences and health care is to improve health and / or treatments, the cure of disease and the reduction of their symptoms, it is necessary to address more general results of the treatments and health care services such as the well-being of the patient. The goal is then reduce symptoms but this depends primarily on the disposition of the patient to the treatment and to the doctor.

With regard to adherence to treatment, this currently constitutes a major health problem public worldwide, since many patients refuse to fully follow their treatment or medical indication. Adherence to treatment has been defined in different ways, but mainly as compliance or follow-up with medical instructions. Over the years, this reductionist connotation has been overcome, giving more and more an active role to the patient. As well as adherence to other non-pharmacological aspects that are part of the treatments (such as the modification of habits food, physical activity, good management of emotions, among others), has begun to be considered important within the same.

The World Health Organization (WHO) in 2004 defines adherence to treatment as "the degree to which the person executes actions such as compliance with medications and adoption of healthy lifestyles, which were recommended by health personnel ”. However, this way of understanding adherence to treatment has not completely transcended the health services that work with various patients with some health conditions (or disease), in whom adherence is still being considered only such as taking medications and attending medical appointments, and therefore, they continue to intervene in this way, and forgetting the welfare of the patient.

According to Oblitas (2006), he expresses that adherence to treatment is the “degree to which a behavior coincides and is encouraged to comply with the medical or health indication, referring to a specific treatment, practiced in an active way with conviction ”. In this definition, it is specified that these attitudes that the patient must implement to consider themselves adherent to the treatment, must include a really active participation with behaviors that are oriented towards coping and its treatment, without leaving aside the plane emotional, since the patient must have good management of his emotions and those of others, and all this becomes part of adherence to the treatment.

On the other hand, Daniel Goleman in 1997 defines the emotional intelligence as the ability of a person to manage a series of skills and attitudes. Emotional skills include self-awareness, the ability to identify, express, and control feelings, the ability to control impulses and postpone gratification as well as the ability to manage stress and anxiety. Taking into account the aforementioned, it should be noted that patients at the time of assuming the commitment to adherence to treatment corresponding to their health condition or disease, they could in turn assume intelligence as one of the coping strategies emotional.

On modern medical care often lacks Emotional Intelligence, as Goleman refers in his book Emotional Intelligence "the problem arises when medical personnel ignore the way in which patients react on an emotional level ...". For the patient, any encounter with a nurse or a doctor can be an opportunity to obtain information, comfort and / or reassurance; And if handled improperly, it can be an invitation to despair. On average there is an increase in medical benefits to infer that emotional intervention should be a common part of medical care for all serious illnesses.

The time has come for medicine to take more methodical advantage of the relationship between emotion and health.

The present investigation is characterized by presenting a design of documentary research, descriptive level, based on a review of deep bibliographic tools.

Arias (2004), considers documentary research as the process based on the search and analysis of data secondary, that is, data recorded by other researchers in documentary, print, audiovisual or other sources. electronic It is of great importance to emphasize that the present study was supported by an exhaustive Bibliographic research and documentary, pointing to the background of the research and development of the theoretical bases associated with the variables Adherence to Treatment and Emotional Intelligence.

On the other hand, it corresponds to a descriptive research, according to Tamayo (2003), it refers to the descriptive investigations such as recording, analysis and interpretation of current nature and composition or processes of the phenomena; working like this, on factual realities and its fundamental characteristic is to present a correct interpretation.

In this case the description of the facts was made according to the theories prior to it. Mendez, C. (2006), states that “Descriptive studies use specific techniques in collecting information such as interviews, questionnaires. Reports and documents used by other researchers can also be used ”(p.90). It is for this reason that the descriptive type of research has been taken, since it allows the analysis and interpretation of the facts, taking as background studies and documents of other researchers, in this way each antecedent, phenomenon, context, environment, measurement, among others, that has happened throughout history up to this moment, thus giving the opportunity to give a more objective interpretation and concrete.

According to the Terminological Dictionary of Medical Sciences (Masson 1999) defines it as: “Loss of Health. Alteration or deviation of the physiological state in one or more parts of the body, of generally known etiology, manifested by characteristic symptoms and signs and whose evolution is more or less predictable ”.

In effect, the disease causes changes in the sensations and bodily functions that an individual can perceive for himself or of which, perhaps, he can be noticed by another person. The type of clue that the individual himself is likely to observe involves changes in body function such as irregularities in the heart rhythm, sensations such as numbness or loss of vision, stomach discomfort, nausea, pain, fever, among others. On the other hand, other individuals cannot perceive these changes, but they can observe changes in their body appearance such as weight loss, pale skin, among others. Morrison, V., and Bennett, P. (2008) distinguishes between bodily signs and symptoms of disease, the signs being objectively recognized and the symptoms under an interpretation. Although some diseases present visible symptoms, others do not, and on the contrary, they show a component of subjective sensation of bodily responses.

On the other hand, Cassel (1976) uses the term disorderThis being what the patient feels when they go to the doctor, that is, a feeling of not feeling very well compared to the usual state. And the disease as what the patient has when returning home after consulting with the doctor. The disease is considered as something of the organ, cell or tissue that denotes a physical disorder or an underlying pathology, while the disorder is what the person experiences.

However, people may feel that they have a condition without suffering from an identifiable disease, and in addition, individuals they can have a disease without feeling any condition such as controlled asthma or even diabetes, there may also be cases of HIV in its initial stages where there are no conditions but the patient suffers from said disease. Such is the case that it usually happens that a routine visit to the doctor, the patient feels healthy and at the arriving may discover that he is officially ill, given what the results of some check. The doctor after providing a diagnosis must specify which is the ideal treatment for this.

Adherence to treatment has been defined in different ways, one of the main definitions is the one that Haynes (1979) defines adherence to treatment as “compliance with the degree to which a patient's behavior, in relation to taking medications, following a diet or modifying lifestyle habits, coinciding with the instructions provided by the doctor or staff sanitary". But over the years, this reductionist connotation has been overcome, giving more and more an active role to the patient. As well as adherence to other non-pharmacological aspects that are part of the treatments (such as the modification of habits food, physical activity, good management of emotions, among others), has begun to be considered important within the same.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2004, he defines adherence to treatment as “the degree to which the person executes actions such as compliance with medications and adoption of healthy lifestyles, which were recommended by the staff of Health". Understanding with this, that it not only implies complying with the taking of medications, but that there must be a change in lifestyle habits that is adapted to the process of improvement of the disease.

However, this way of understanding adherence to treatment has not completely transcended the health services that work with various patients with some health conditions (or disease), in whom adherence is still being considered only such as taking medications and attending medical appointments, and therefore, they continue to intervene in this way, and forgetting the welfare of the patient.

However Oblitas (2006), states that adherence to treatment is the “degree to which a behavior coincides and is encouraged to comply with the medical or health indication, referring to a specific treatment, practiced in an active way with conviction". In this definition, it is specified that these attitudes that the patient should implement To be considered adherent to the treatment, they must include a really active participation with behaviors that are oriented towards coping and its treatment, without leave aside the emotional plane, since the patient must have good management of her emotions and those of others, and all this becomes part of adherence to the treatment.

For their part, Cañas and Roca (2007) refer to therapeutic adherence as “a series of behaviors or the change them as a result of the recommendations provided by the professionals of the health ”(p. 5). Likewise, they describe different aspects that they consider may influence adherence, among which are the “characteristics of the treatment recommended, characteristics of the disease, relationship between the individual and the health professional, the situational aspects or the characteristics related to the individual". Which leaves in evidence, that adherence from a patient to their treatment can depend on several factors, which must be analyzed in their entirety for their health promotion.

In this sense, the aspects that can be related to cause patients to have or not adhere to their treatment is the control over the intake of medicines and food. Within the study of adherence to treatment in patients with a medical disease, the different ways of measuring whether or not you are taking the prescribed medications and whether you are eating adequately with respect to your suffering. Which leads to discern about what refers to the intake of these to make patients adhere to their treatment.

In adherence to hemodialysis, it has a direct impact on life and also prevents acute decompensations between sessions of Dialysis, the comprehensive treatment of a patient on hemodialysis, requires adequate control of fluid intake, diet, and medication. According to García, Fajardo, Guevara, González and Hurtado (2002), these demands can be a source of dissatisfaction for many patients, generating conflicts that can lead to self-harm behaviors such as lack of adherence with fluid restriction and diet.

According to Hotz, Kaptein, Pruitt, Sánchez, Sosa and Willey (2003) point out that adherence “is a complex behavioral process determined by several interacting factors: patient attributes, environment (includes social supports, health system characteristics, functioning of the health team, availability and accessibility of health resources) and characteristics of the disease in question and its treatment". Furthermore, these same authors mention that adherence can be better understood as “... the process of efforts that occur in the course of a disease, to meet the behavioral demands imposed by the disease.

By virtue of the aforementioned, the importance and determining role that multiple factors have when a patient assume the commitment of adherence to treatment, such as personal factors (acceptance or denial), social factors (perceived support, motivation, among others), environmental factors (including from the health system, the health team, the availability and access to themselves). Besides if a permanent drug intake must be included, this usually causes a rejection or resistance for those patients who are not used to it, in the same way for those patients who have a regular intake. All this can generate a significant decompensation in the life of the same, since many times they change their way of life drastically or radical, and there is no adequate management of emotions on the part of the patient, nor a suitable staff that can help the patient to manage said situation.

On the other hand, Oblitas and Cols., (2006), report that in addition to the complexity in the therapeutic plan, another factor related to the prescription of drugs that must be manufactured in laboratories, stating “that although they cover the quality requirements in terms of quantity of active substance, they do not cover aspects that are related to quality in the compaction of the tablets or vehicle that helps to decrease the side reactions", Among which is the"gastric irritation by taking, finding tablets that dissolve in the patient's mouth spreading both their bitter taste, as irritation by the chemical ”. With this, many patients abandon the drug due to the discomfort that it causes them.

In this same vein, Trujano, Vega and Nava (2009) state: “we consider that adherence in the psychological field refers to the set of effective behaviors for the compliance with medical prescriptions that lead to the control of the disease. This set of explicit behaviors would have to consider whether the patient ingests the prescribed medications and foods, if his behaviors are effective in improving his health and his belief in whether he believes that what he does is effective in controlling his disease".

Indeed, it is important that adherence is not seen only as the intake of drugs or the medical visit, but rather that it is seen as the control of a disease and that the The patient assumes an effective and consistent posture for the exact fulfillment of each one of the indications given to him from the moment the disease is diagnosed. disease, these indications are given from: changes in the routine of life, food intake, drug intake, among others, and it is essential that in each moment the reason for things is explained to the patient, In order to reduce the uncertainty that the ignorance that can generate the radical changes that it perceives, in this way to be able to have an optimal adherence, can cause.

Among the topics discussed, the diversity of factors that make up therapeutic adherence has been studied, among them are the actions that the patient takes to comply with the requirements doctors. In this sense, Soria, Vega and Nava (2009) describe that behavioral medical monitoring is referred to to the "extent to which the individual has effective long-term health care behaviors" (p. 8). In such a way, that it implies a active participation not only for taking medications, but also for attending medical consultations, conducting clinical tests, among others.

According to Martin, L and Grau, J, 2004. Adherence to treatment begins to play its role at the moment after the diagnosis of the disease, when there is usually a subjective differentiation between its nosological character (etiology, prognosis and treatment) and the way in which the person perceives the disease, the meaning it confers on it (a loss, a challenge, a threat, even a relief…)

For their part, Cañas and Roca (2007) refer to a series of attitudes related to the “health behaviors, that is, those whose purpose is to eliminate risk behaviors from the person and implement general health recommendations such as not drinking alcohol, exercising, not smoking, eating balanced, etc. ”. Likewise, they describe “disease behaviors, that is, recommendations whose objective is to reduce symptoms. The monitoring of therapeutic prescriptions is included in this last section ”(p. 4). In this way, it is understood that within the adherence behaviors are the follow-up of medical recommendations, both in the taking of medication and in the execution of positive behaviors.

On the other hand, Oblitas and Cols., (2006), speak that among the aspects that must be taken into account within the therapeutic adherence process is self-efficacy, and this describes it as “the judgment that each individual has about his capacities, on the basis of which he will organize and execute his acts in such a way that they allow him to achieve the performance wanted".

After the patient is already diagnosed with a disease or health condition, the process of adherence to treatment in conjunction with self-efficacy, this seeks to give safety and confidence to the patient so that he can face the disease in the best possible way. This becomes a fundamental role especially in the emotional load of the patient, since the patient perceives the disease and often gives it another meaning, some may take it as a loss, a challenge, a threat, among others, each patient gives it a unique meaning according to his perception, his previous knowledge of said disease, his degree of education, among other

It is striking that many of the factors linked to the disease and the accompanying symptoms have been shown to be related to adherence. According to Cañas and Roca (2007) if a patient obtains relief of your symptoms immediately, she is more likely to comply with the prescriptions. The patient experiencing a particular set of disturbing symptoms and immediate relief from them symptoms, by adhering to treatment guidelines she is more likely to develop good adherence.

In contrast, a patient with a asymptomatic disease, to which the ingestion of medications does not relieve symptoms in the short term, in addition not only does it have internal keys for action, but its prescription follow-up behavior does not receive reinforcement (or if she receives it, it is not immediate), thus her probability of adherence decreases.

Emotional Intelligence has been proposed by several authors, but in 1990 the term appears for the first time, and is proposed by Mayer and Salovey, which they define as the ability to monitor the feelings and emotions of oneself and others, to discriminate between them and to use this information to guide one's own action and thought. (Salovey and Mayer, 1990, p.189).

On the other hand, Gardner (1993) defines conceptualized personal intelligence as the ability to understand one's own emotions and those of others, and in 1995 it appears again with his theory of multiple intelligences, where he distinguishes seven intelligences: musical, body-kinetic, logical-mathematical, linguistic, spatial, interpersonal and intrapersonal.

Later Gardner (2001) adds two more: existential intelligence and naturalistic intelligence. Naturalistic intelligence refers to the ecological conscience that allows the conservation of the environment; the existential is the one we use when we ask ourselves questions about the meaning of life, the afterlife, among others. It even suggests the possibility of other intelligences. From this moment there is a very important boom with regard to Emotional Intelligence, this being the one in charge of understanding and regulating one's own feelings and those of others.

On the other hand, Mayer and Salovey (1997) update the definition of emotional intelligence, adding a factor and conceptualizing it as a mental ability that understands different abilities: perceive, evaluate and express emotions with precision; access and generate feelings that facilitate proper thinking; understand emotions and their meaning and regulate emotions that promote intellectual and emotional development.

Likewise, there are authors such as Goleman (1997) who understand Emotional Intelligence as the “ability to know and manage our own emotions, motivating oneself, recognizing emotions in others and managing relationships. " In this way it is understood that affectivity, behavior and Thought must be understood as direct components of intelligence, where action and thought make sense through wish. Human beings have the ability or ability to know and manage their own emotions in an appropriate way, it should be noted that For some this is easier than for others, but like all skills it can be stimulated until perfection is achieved.

According to Salovey, Mayer, Caruso (2002) “implies analyzing the individual's ability to process affective information coming from both basic and complex emotions, positive and negative, and its effectiveness in solving everyday problems ”. Notably, emotional skills include self-awareness; the ability to identify, express, and control feelings, the ability to control impulses and postpone gratification, as well as the ability to manage tension and anxiety.

On the other hand, emotional intelligence is considered as a combination of attributes closely related to personality, which is distinct from IQ, and is related to competences linked to academic and professional achievement (Bar-On, 2000; Goleman, 1995, 1998; McCrae, 2000). However, there are authors who consider it as the ability to perceive and understand emotional information (Mayer, Caruso & Salovey, 2000; Mayer, Caruso, Salovey and Sitarenios, 2003).

According to Mireya Vivas and Cols. (2007). They give a general and brief definition of Emotional Intelligence, as the cability to recognize, understand and regulate our emotions and those of others, involving three processes:

• Perceive
• Understand
• Regular

On the other hand, he explains that emotional intelligence reflected in the way people interact with the world. Emotionally intelligent people take their own feelings and those of others very seriously; have skills related to impulse control, self-awareness, proper self-assessment, adaptability, motivation, enthusiasm, perseverance, empathy, mental agility, which configure character traits such as self-discipline, compassion or altruism, essential for a good and creative adaptation.

Reuven Bar-On's social-emotional intelligence model

Bar-On (1997) defines socio-emotional intelligence as a set of emotional, personal and interpersonal skills that influence our general ability to cope with the demands and pressures of the environment. In this way, emotional intelligence is an important determining factor both in our ability to be successful in life and in our overall emotional well-being. This model is based on five important works in the psychological literature (Bar-On, 2006). Of the works of Darwin (1872) highlights the importance what have the emotional expression in adaptation to the environment. It is also supported by the concept of social intelligence by Thorndike (1920) and the influence that this type of intelligence has on the personal performance, the other three key points in her work are Wechsler's (1958) observations about the influence of non-cognitive factors, the studies of Sifneos (1973) on alexithymia and, finally, the studies of Appelbaum (1973) on the self-awareness.

Based on the aforementioned works, Bar-On (2006) states that his model consists of the following skills:

• The ability to recognize, understand and express emotions and feelings
• The ability to understand how people feel and relate
• The ability to regulate and control emotions
• The ability to change, adapt and solve problems of a personal and interpersonal nature
• The ability to generate a state of self-motivation and positive affects

According to this model, socio-emotionally intelligent people are able to recognize and express their emotions, understand and relate to others, understand how other people feel, can have and maintain satisfactory and responsible interpersonal relationships, without becoming dependent on the rest; They are generally optimistic, flexible, realistic, they are successful in solving their problems and they cope with stress without losing control.

Salovey and Mayer Skills Model

Initially, Salovey and Mayer (1990) sought unite emotion and reason in a single construct, later they moved towards a cognitive approach, more specifically towards models of the processing of information, proposing that emotional intelligence is one more type of intelligence, such as verbal intelligence or spatial. For Mayer et al. (2000a) intelligence is a system that is made up of two groups of skills or abilities, one that receives or identifies information and another that processes it, thus, propose that emotional intelligence works on the cognitive system and the emotional.

In 1990, Salovey and Mayer laid the foundations for this model in an article published in the journal "Imagination, Cognition and Personality." In this article they initially define emotional intelligence as the ability to feel emotions our own and those of others, to distinguish them and to use them to guide our thoughts and Actions.

Now we will go on to describe the factors of the model initially proposed by the authors.

Evaluation and emotional perception: This branch can be broken down into personal and interpersonal factors. Regarding the first, the authors state that, when the information enters the perceptual system, the processes that underlie emotional intelligence take place, This factor would allow a correct evaluation and expression of emotions, the evaluation of the emotion conditions the emotional experience and, therefore, the expression emotional.

There are two ways in which emotional information about oneself is processed, verbal and non-verbal. The authors equate the first way with alexithymia, that is, the inability to evaluate and express emotions. Regarding the non-verbal channel, the authors point out that most emotional communication occurs through non-verbal and non-verbal channels. state that individual differences regarding the clarity with which they perceive these emotional signals is observed in their expressions emotional

The interpersonal factor of emotional evaluation and expression is also divided into two blocks, the non-verbal pathway and empathy. Salovey and Mayer (1990) argue that, from an evolutionary point of view, for better interpersonal cooperation it is essential to accurately detect emotions in the people around us. Therefore, based on the studies that have found individual differences when it comes to identifying the emotions in the facial expressions, the authors conclude that people with greater capacity in this factor will have more behavioral patterns adaptive.

Empathy, that is, the ability to understand and feel what another person is experiencing, is a central aspect of emotional intelligence.

People with high levels of emotional intelligence, understood from the initial point of view of Salovey and Mayer (1990), are capable of promoting warm interpersonal relationships; In addition, the greater the number of friends, colleagues, family members, among others, with high emotional intelligence, the better the social environment. This phenomenon has been studied in the sports context by Crombie et al. (2009), who found that the average score in emotional intelligence of a cricket team correlated with the number of points achieved throughout a season; later this work will be analyzed in more detail.

As a conclusion, we can point out that people with greater emotional intelligence can perceive and respond faster to their own emotions and, in this way, better express your emotions to others. In addition, these people are more empathetic and emotionally expressive (Mayer, Di Paolo & Salovey, 1990). These authors also point out that young people with legal problems do not usually achieve and / or acquire emotional perception skills. This could be quite important in the sports context, since athletes with low emotional perception abilities could fall into aggressive behaviors during sports practice.

Regulation of emotions: Salovey and Mayer argue that people with emotional intelligence skills should be able to regulate both emotions and moods since the latter, although more durable, are less intense. As in the evaluation and expression of emotions branch, they state that there are two factors, one personal and the other interpersonal.

Emotions can be regulated through situations or through people, that is, through situations, it supposes that an amateur athlete who considers training as one of the most joyous moments of the week and that after a long season of great stress at work and without having been able to play football, he returns to a team of football to feel the positive emotions that he used to enjoy, in this situation we see that a certain situation makes the sports player.

Another method that the authors propose to regulate one's moods is by choosing the people around us. These two methods seek regulate moods through indirect mechanisms, but it has also been observed that people can use direct mechanisms, thus, we can maintain and extend happy experiences, while minimizing sad experiences.

Another direct method to regulate moods would be through the phenomenon of sad or unpleasant feelings can provoke positive emotions, this has been studied by Solomon (1980) and explained through the theory of the process opponent. For example, after watching a sad or scary movie or play, a feeling of joy or relief may invade us.

According to the emotional regulation of other people, suggest that examples of emotional intelligence can be observed in the ability of great speakers to attract the attention of people, or in the cunning of a person who goes to a job interview and chooses clothes and hairstyle to make an emotion or impression on the interviewers.

The authors conclude that all people regulate both their own emotions and those of others, and they also propose that emotionally intelligent people are more skilled in these tasks.

They also argue that this can be used for positive or negative purposes, for example a good coach can get their players regulate their anxiety to achieve better performance, but it can also be used to manipulate, as leaders can of sects.

Use of emotions: The third factor or branch that Salovey and Mayer (1990) proposed is the use or utilization of emotions to solve problems. They propose that emotions or moods can help through the following four pathways, flexible planning, creative thinking, redirected attention, and motivating emotions.

Flexible planning emphasizes that depending on the mood, we will see the future of one color or another, so, people who tend to have mood swings They will be able to visualize different perspectives for the future, some positive and others less positive, so it is likely that they will also propose different action plans and, therefore, may cope more successfully with different situations. Let's imagine a young athlete who wants to run the World Cup; You know that, among other things, you need to get the minimum mark and the money to be able to pay for the trip, the first requirement he plans it with his coach, while he himself is in charge of raising money for the travels.

When he is happy he imagines that if he gets the minimum mark the representative of a prestigious brand will finance him, but when he is sad he realizes that, in these times of crisis, it is very difficult to get a sponsor, so he dedicates himself to thinking about what else he can do to get money, coming to the conclusion that you could request a help from the Ministry, speak with the City Council of your city or contact an agent sports.

With respect to creative thinking, Salovey and Mayer suggest that subjects with a positive state of mind better categorize different aspects of the problems and better categorization leads to seeing relationships between phenomena, which helps them find a solution when trouble. Thus, people who can foster positive moods will be more skilled at finding solutions to problems.

The third mechanism, mood-directed attention, is based on the fact that, faced with a new problem, very intense emotions are generated and these direct attention, for example, a Tennis player booed from the stadium will have to redirect attention to the opponent if he does not want to lose the match. The authors suggest that people with a higher level of emotional intelligence will be more skilled in this task.

As Daniel Goleman refers in his book "Emotional Intelligence" (p.198), "the problem arises when medical staff overlook the way patients react emotionally…”. This neglect of the emotional reality of illness overlooks a growing body of evidence showing that states People's emotional emotions can sometimes play a significant role in their vulnerability to illness and in the course of their life. Recovery.

Modern medical care often lacks Emotional Intelligence, for the patient any encounter with a nurse or a doctor can be an opportunity for information, comfort and / or reassurance, and if handled improperly it can to be an invitation to despair. Such is the case of observing all too often those who deal with medical care act hastily or are indifferent to the patient's distress. Of course, there are compassionate nurses and doctors who take care to reassure and inform both the patient and her family, this apart from continuing to administer the medications fully.

In this sense, beyond the humanitarian argument that doctors should show concern in addition to offering a cure, there are other reasons pressing to consider the psychological and social reality of patients as something that belongs to the medical realm rather than being separate from the same. At the present time, it can be stated that there is a margin of medical efficacy, both in prevention and in treatment, which can be achieved by treating people's emotional state along with their physical state. Of course not in all cases or in all states.

But if we look at data from hundreds of cases, there is generally, on average, a sufficient increase in medical benefits to infer that a emotional intervention it should be a routine part of medical care for all serious illnesses. However, unanswered questions fuel uncertainty, fear and a sense of catastrophe and lead patients to refuse treatment that they do not fully understand.

There are many ways in which medicine can expand its vision of health to include the emotional realities of illness, on the one hand, As part of a routine, patients could be offered more information essential for the decisions they must make regarding their cares; The time has come for medicine to make a more methodical profit from relationship between emotion and health.

Contemporary medicine has been transformed by technological progress, whose advances have allowed improve the treatment of patients, but, at the same time, they have distorted the relationship between doctor and patient. Medicine many times, not to say all, continues to function under a traditional biomedical model and something very important is left aside, which is that the human being is a biopsychosocial entity, it is In other words, it has a biological, psychological and social part, implying that it is not only the biological plane as medicine makes it look, but there is also the psychological plane where they fit both positive and negative emotions, feelings, thoughts, and all higher mental functions, there is also the social plane where it includes the interaction that the individual with his environment, all this seen as a triad in which one moves in accordance and to the rhythm of the other, and if any of these aspects is affected the rest also, by example: the social can damage the physical, the psychological improves or deteriorates the physical, and so on; and this can generate somatizations, negative thoughts and feelings, inability to relate to others, certain disorders, health conditions, among others.

Indeed the doctor-patient relationship is essential for the advancement and improvement of the patiente, but if this relationship occurs in a negative and / or drastic way, it can generate anxiety, depression, fear, frustration, insomnia, among others, both for the patient and for his relatives. And it is here where Emotional Intelligence plays a fundamental role since it allows the patient to recognize, regulate and control both their emotions Like those of others, it allows in turn to realize and understand which ones belong to him and which he acquired from what the doctor or the relatives.

On the other hand, Emotional Intelligence also helps the doctor and other treating specialists to have a better performance and development, because it is the case that they become emotionally hooked and they suffer from the same emotions as the patient, even in the extreme case of managing them in an exacerbated way and this prevents treatment optimum.

It is also the case that instead of demonstrating or possessing good control of emotions, doctors and other specialists transmit feelings of hopelessness, anger and / or frustration, among others, in which the patient in turn acquires them and all this prevents adequate adherence to treatment.

All of this can be considered as alienating factors that impede adherence to treatment because the patient took it as his own, product of: ignorance of the disease, mismanagement of his emotions, poor communication between doctor - patient, distortions cognitive that appear as the treatment progresses, the social power that the patient gives to the disease or some inappropriate behavior or behavior, inadequate social learning, among other.

For this purpose, the treating specialists must be trained mainly so as not to contaminate in the adequate adherence, on the other hand Patients with Emotional Intelligence must be trained and stimulated so that they have an adequate management of their emotions, have the ability to recognize them, and have tools to deal with negative emotions especially, as well as the ability to regulate their state of cheer up.

All this has to go hand in hand with family members and treating doctors, in order to obtain a timely and optimal adherence, as well as obtaining the expected and / or desired results after having fully complied with all the instructions and recommendations without affecting the well-being of both the patient and her family.

Finally, it seems that culturally doctors are not in the capacity to transmit to the patient and communicate her symptoms, the reason for the symptoms, explain in detail the established treatment, explain the new lifestyle that the person must lead after being diagnosed with some type of disease, explain the feeding time they must have, among others, and that is where Psychology comes to be in charge of carrying out all the necessary and pertinent psychoeducation, in order to reassure the patient among the main purposes. It should be addressed in favor of well-being perceived by the patient, both physical, psychological and social, and all this comes to be the product of an adequate Emotional Intelligence.

Care and treatment with people with various types of illnesses, such as AIDS, diabetes, and cancer, have found that there are common actions that are perceived as useful, as a practical help and expressions of love, concern and understanding, and a relative consistency in actions that are considered unhelpful, for example, minimizing the situation, having unrealistic joy, underestimating the effects of the illness on the patient, or being criticized or excessively demanding.

On the other hand, it can be affirmed that modern medical care lacks Emotional Intelligence, and despite progress and technological advance, medical services still they continue to function under a traditional biomedical model, leaving aside the emotional plane and something very important that is the human being as a whole, seen as an entity biopsychosocial.

In fact, it is essential that the doctor-patient relationship is in optimal conditions in order to avoid states of anxiety, depression, fear, frustration, insomnia, among others, both for the patient, as well as for the family and specialists dealers.

In relation to the evident existence of care actions that help and that do not help, it is perhaps not surprising that when the role of the caregiver initially has to be assumed, doctor, psychotherapist or any treating specialist, these ask questions such as: “Do I have the necessary means to satisfy the needs of the person that I have at front?. And in this way assume the clear deficit that exists in relation to the emotional aspect of the human being, in order to train in Emotional Intelligence.

It should be noted that Emotional Intelligence helps the doctor and other treating specialists to have a better performance and development, avoiding acquiring emotions, feelings and thoughts that impede their good work. On the other hand, it allows to have an adequate emotional management in order to help the patient to obtain their adherence in a timely and optimal manner. treatment, as well as in obtaining the expected and desired results, both by the patient, family members and specialists dealers.

However, it is important to note that the problem of non-adherence is very complex as analyzed in this work. It does not depend exclusively on the patient, but also on other actors in the care system, such as family members, the medical team, among others.

The entire context where the behavior occurs must be considered so as not to jump to hasty conclusions. Finally, it is worth highlighting the Importance of knowing, knowing, recognizing, learning, training ourselves, among others, in Emotional Intelligence, since no one is alien to living this type of situations where it is so necessary and indispensable, especially in Psychology where every day we face endless situations, patients, health conditions, among others, and It is important to recognize your own emotions and those of others, and have tools to regulate both negative and positive emotions, and thus be able to psychoeducate and communicate to the patient from his differential diagnosis, the signs and symptoms, the type of treatment established by the specialists, the lifestyle that he should acquire from now on, the type of diet, among others, in order to reassure the patient, and in this way his adherence does not influence his physical well-being, psychological or social.

From this perspective, Psychology can make great contributions, considering Emotional Intelligence (EI) in Adherence to treatment, being This is a behavior of the daily life of many, and it comes to be closely related to biological, psychological and social aspects of the patient.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Facing Illness with Emotional Intelligence, we recommend that you enter our category of Clinical psychology.

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