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Emotional vulnerability: what it is, causes, and how to manage it

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In the field of psychology, the concept of vulnerability has been used to refer to that process by which a person is not capable of withstanding certain levels of stress from the environment, whatever its origin (contextual, physical or psychological).

In psychology, emotional vulnerability is a state that any person can go through when they feel exposed to a series of situations that cause discomfort, inconvenience or even pain, so that these types of situations could be difficult to overcome.

In this article we will see what emotional vulnerability consists of and how it can influence people's lives.

  • Related article: "The 8 types of emotions (classification and description)"

What is emotional vulnerability?

When we talk about vulnerability we are using a term from the Latin 'vulnerando', which refers to the quality of a person to be hurt. Thus, it is a word that has traditionally come to be associated with susceptibility, sensitivity or delicacy, or even with the fear of being hurt, both psychologically and physically.

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On the other hand, vulnerability, including emotional vulnerability, depends on a wide variety of factors such as age, social and family environment, personality traits, etc.

In addition, the term vulnerability has several meanings because it has been frequently used within various fields, including psychology. And it is that vulnerability is a characteristic that has accompanied the human being since its origins, being a very useful quality to protect against danger. On the other hand, we can find different types of vulnerability, one of them being emotional vulnerability, a phenomenon that we will talk about in more detail below.

emotional vulnerability

The term "emotional vulnerability" is used to refer to that state that any person can go through when they feel exposed to a series of situations that cause them discomfort, so these types of situations could be difficult to overcome. In addition, we could refer to the term emotional vulnerability to refer to that condition that people have to let themselves affect what happens, either by feeling sensitivity to certain situations or by being too aware of their own feel.

On the other hand, emotional vulnerability can lead to disability in certain situations, alert or feeling of danger or even modesty, since in the society in which we live it is quite common for people to be taught from very small that must be strong at all times, thus hiding their vulnerability in certain cases against others persons.

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Factors that could influence emotional vulnerability

Emotional vulnerability can cause a wide variety of feelings and emotions such as fear, sadness, anger, rage, helplessness, frustration, decay, insecurity, lack of self-confidence and can also awaken a series of negative thoughts that could put a person into a vicious circle that makes it more difficult for you to face those situations that usually trigger all those emotions, thoughts and feelings associated with vulnerability.

Next we will explain 3 major factors that can directly influence the development of higher levels of emotional vulnerability, being more influential during development stages such as childhood and adolescence, when a person's identity is being formed.

1. Family or personal circumstances

There are several factors related to circumstances both at the family and personal levels that can influence the development of greater emotional vulnerability, including the following: family conflict, low level of communication between family members or poor ties with their parents, family disorganization, low self-esteem, emotional immaturity, having suffered some very stressful and/or traumatic life event, lack of emotional control or problems at the academic and/or work level, among others.

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2. Life habits

Having a series of unhealthy lifestyle habits such as not resting the adequate number of hours a day, eating a poor diet, lack of physical exercise and the excessive consumption of alcohol or even other toxic substances such as certain illegal drugs, among others Bad lifestyle habits are some of the factors that can make a person more vulnerable emotional.

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3. Carrying out or not carrying out activities that increase self-efficacy

Carrying out activities that increase self-efficacy favors maintaining a healthy self-esteem, being a very flattering factor for a person to feel better prepared in the face of adversity by having enough self-confidence; while, on the contrary, the lack of day-to-day activities that help a person feel effective with himself can help increase emotional vulnerability.

It should be noted that these factors, although they may influence the fact that there is a greater emotional vulnerability in a person, that does not mean that the situation cannot be changed, since with the work of introspection and adequate self-knowledge and if necessary with the help of a therapist the person can develop greater emotional strength, starting from the basis that he is aware of the circumstances in which he feels more emotionally vulnerable to start working on it, although it is also important to know your own limits and set goals realistic.

  • Related article: "Albert Bandura's Self-Efficacy: Do You Believe in Yourself?"

Is there something wrong with being emotionally vulnerable?

Emotional vulnerability does not necessarily have to be a negative quality and, as with other qualities, it is not all negative, nor is it all positive. In this case, that vulnerability, although it can leave a person emotionally exposed in certain situations, could allow that person to connect more easily with himself and with those around him.

Instead, a person who tends to hide her vulnerability, trying not to show her feelings, might have a harder time connecting with other people.

On the other hand, knowing in detail one's own emotional vulnerability can serve as a basis for a person to start working on himself, doing a job of introspection and self-knowledge that allows you to develop greater strength against those situations that tend to overwhelm that person, making him feel frustrated and incapable or cause a certain discomfort.

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Tips to identify, accept and take advantage of your own emotional vulnerability

Below we are going to see some brief guidelines that can be used to start working from your own emotional vulnerability; this can serve as an impetus to start working on resilience and develop a range of coping skills that serve so that a person can face those situations that make him feel vulnerable.

In the first place, it is necessary to begin with an exhaustive work of introspection that serves so that a person is capable of detecting what they are. their insecurities and in what situations they tend to surface, as well as identify and analyze their own strengths and best aptitudes. This exercise will serve for a person to know himself better and start from that base.

Another exercise to work against one's own emotional vulnerability would be training to control one's own thoughts and for this you can start by practicing relaxation exercises, meditation or mindfulness, so that a person develops a routine and habits that allow them to stay focused on their own thinking. Thus, over time, it could detect what those sabotaging thoughts are, analyze what is true in them and it could also understand the emotions they arouse and change them for more adaptive and realistic thoughts.

An idea that could be useful in this type of case would be for the person to try to analyze in detail and calmly those situations that make you feel more emotionally vulnerable, in order to try to imagine what is realistic in what causes that fear in such situations and, from there, imagine a more realistic scenario in which that person has control of the situation. And it is that many times people imagine things that are unlikely to happen, so it would be useful to imagine a more realistic scenario in these cases.

Another idea that can be had as soon as it is try to be more tolerant of one's own fears, limits, weaknesses and actions. It is advisable to show oneself being natural, without trying to appear what one is not, since the fear they sometimes have people to show themselves as they are can favor the fact that they feel vulnerable in the face of the fear of being judged.

In this sense, it is advisable trying to accept oneself without trying to please or impress other people, since emotional vulnerability can be significantly impaired when a person tries to do certain things with the idea of ​​impressing others in mind and is that when a person generates high expectations and imposes a greater demand on himself, he will be more likely to be frustrated when things do not go as I expected.

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