Interview with the psychologist Mª Teresa Mata Massó

Emotional intelligence is one of the most popular concepts in modern psychology, and no one doubts the importance of managing emotions in our well-being. Being emotionally intelligent helps us make better decisions, to perform better at work, to have higher quality interpersonal relationships, among other advantages.

• Related article: "The 10 benefits of emotional intelligence"

Interview with Mª Teresa Mata Massó, psychologist and psychotherapist

Today we speak with Mª Teresa Mata Massó, general health psychologist and professor of the Online Intelligence Training Course emotional, to help us understand the importance of this concept and what are its benefits for the mental health and well-being of people.

In recent years, much has been said about emotional intelligence. How would you define this concept? Each person has a unique and non-transferable system of thoughts and emotions. Others can empathize with him, but each individual is an expert in his own content. Starting from this preamble, we can say that the

emotional intelligence it is that part of intelligence that pays special attention to the functionality of said system and seeks the necessary tools to ensure its sustainability.

Each one of us has "glasses" from which he constructs the world based on four essential factors: the first is the vital experience, that is, all those experiences that we have throughout life and that condition this system of thoughts and emotions. The second is emotional inheritance; each person is part of a family, a city, a culture, etc.

There is a whole series of social and educational elements that have been transferred to us and that interfere with how we see reality. The third factor are those traits that define the personality; they also have a role in the “focus” of our glasses. And the fourth is the vital moment in which we find ourselves, the "here and now"; At 50 we don't see life the same as at 30.

Emotional intelligence work tests this system of thoughts and emotions to demonstrate their degree of functionality by considering the person as an expert in their own history of life.

Why is it important to be an emotionally intelligent person? What effect does emotional intelligence have on our lives?

For one simple reason: to function in a sustainable way. That is, with an optimal level of well-being and an acceptable degree of suffering in order to have the sensation of living instead of surviving.

Developing emotional intelligence means questioning certain "comfort zones" from which we feel safe (but not comfortable) and discovering what exists outside. Leaving the comfort zone means contemplating new points of view, putting new ways of doing things into practice, create new thoughts, feel new ways of being, increase the ability to create and restructure, etc

Sometimes we remain immobile in certain comfort zones due to fear of the unknown, insecurity or disbelief towards our potential. Staying locked up has a price. This is what emotional intelligence tries to demonstrate.

So, continuing with the question that opened this interview, being emotionally intelligent means being aware of the degree of well-being that we win and lose, inside and outside the comfort zone, in order to set an objective that directs us towards change (at the moment appropriate). It is not always smart to leave a comfort zone, it is important to find the way and the moment according to our needs and those of the environment.

Are there negative emotions for health? which are the ones that hurt us?

Emotions are not harmful, what can be harmful is the relationship we establish with them. Every emotion has a function. If we ignore (here we would speak of a denial relationship) emotion, sooner or later it will look for a way to claim its right to exist and be understood.

Why is it so important to accept emotions? What are the consequences of repressing them?

Repressing an emotion means not allowing this emotion to exist. This is different from holding back, holding back, relaxing, or pulling away at times (ie, controlling emotion). From emotional intelligence we seek the efficient expression of emotion. This means that, as far as possible, it is functional, helps us to "win more than lose" and preserves our self-esteem. In other words, that the management we carry out is consistent with our needs and respectful. Of course, this does not prevent emotion from generating discomfort.

Do you think that the importance of emotional intelligence is taken into account in schools? Is enough done in the educational field?

In my opinion, currently, a better psychoeducational work is being carried out from the school (it is taught what is emotional intelligence) but not enough live feedback is created through examples practical.

The fact of generating insight (realizing) at key moments in the classroom (for example, when a classmate has not accepted criticism constructive, when another has set a limit that is not very assertive, when the emotional expression settles in the complaint and does not offer a speech that speak out of necessity, when the visible emotion is anger and, behind it, deep sadness is hidden, etc.) is the best way to teach. Help students through questions that open the option to the detection of destructive thoughts, propose more complete speeches and promote untried solutions, it is a real way to put intelligence into practice emotional.

How is emotional intelligence integrated into psychological therapy?

Personally, in the first place, I pay attention to how the patient constructs his own "glasses", that is, his vision of the world, and I function as a mirror to increase their capacity for introspection and self knowledge. Subsequently, we jointly assess the level of functionality of these glasses and look for hypotheses that reinforce the meaning of their use. construction through knowing vital experiences, personality traits, inherited meanings and all those events that define their current moment.

In psychotherapy as in training courses, still drawing on experience and discovering useful information in the history of life, we always return to the here and now, we never remain anchored in the past, we look at how it influences the present. Likewise, in any exercise, we look for a utility in the reality of the moment with questions such as "and this, in my life, what does it mean?" or "where can I start acting?". Concrete is one of the principles of emotional intelligence.

After a psychotherapy session, insight increases. New lines of thought are awakened and hitherto unknown options are born, untried options are mobilized.

In addition to the psychotherapeutic and educational field, in what other fields is emotional intelligence applied?

Emotional intelligence is a pillar in the business world and organizations. Those teams that train in emotional intelligence, prepare their workers to communicate from the addition, streamline procedures that have been blocked or expired, create new scenarios that, without joint work, would still be strangers etc

Emotional intelligence is the fundamental tool to harness human potential. Luckily, every day there are more companies that bet on this type of training through experiential dynamics and online practical training. From our center we design programs to increase efficient and sustainable work within a team.

You teach the "Online Emotional Intelligence Training Course". Who is this training aimed at and what benefits does it bring to the people who do it?

The online course of emotional intelligence is the result of an experiential work of 8 years of group training. Its agenda and methodology have been designed with the aim of providing the user with an experience similar to face-to-face training with the advantages of distance training. Elements such as monitoring by the tutor, practical and intelligent tasks, interaction in through webinars as well as the class concept, are some of the elements that characterize this course.

The recipients are professionals from the world of health, education, social sciences and organizations. Training for all those people interested in knowing in a practical way the procedures and strategies of emotional intelligence training.

Among the main topics that we work on in the online course, we highlight how to obtain useful information from an emotion, what strategic questions we can use to manage conflicts, what reasons are hidden behind the difficulty of saying no, what can we propose to carry out a solution not attempted, what tools we have to set limits, what is a positive-realistic objective or what is emotional plasticity and how we can integrate sustainable mechanisms in our working life and staff.

With this course, the user can feel that they are doing practical and useful work in their daily life without leaving home.