Govt, “invisible enemy” for the mental health of millions of people

“We need more emotional intelligence than ever before” because “we have more challenges than we had in the past,” warns American psychologist and author Daniel Coleman in connection with Govit, which is the health of millions of people in a world where the mind is the “invisible enemy.”

Coleman, who is considered the father of emotional intelligence, does not believe the concept is trivial, but if it is misused, it can be trivialized, “he told EFE.

There are people who sell what they call “emotional intelligence,” and it has nothing to do with it, “said Coleman, who attended the fourth edition of enlightED’s World Conference on Education, Technology and Innovation in Madrid this week. Fundación Telefónica, IE University and Southern Summit.

The specialist in the best-selling book “Emotional Intelligence” (1995) jokes that he has seen people looking for a partner on the Internet and is proud of being emotionally intelligent.

He clarifies that the effectiveness of the concept “depends on who uses it and why” and that programs have been implemented to help develop these skills in some children.

“The world has changed a lot, but humans have not changed,” he promises, defending the validity of his popular notion, which is increasingly important in the public debate, however he warns that he cannot control how he uses it: “Sometimes it is used well, other times it is misused. “

Mental health, a common problem

Governments ignore the “public health problem” that includes the mental health of their citizens, giving the example of the homeless in the United States because “many are schizophrenic or mentally ill” and neglected.

In the same way, he respects young people who talk a lot about mental health and begins to break the barrier, for which he believes social networks are very important – “they have influenced a cultural change” – and movements such as LGDPI, “by making something more unspoken before” he exemplifies Considers.

Coleman laments that “Govt is the invisible enemy of mental health,” believing the epidemic was the cause of increased anxiety and depression among the population, which led to decisions such as imprisonment.

They mean “changing the nature of our lives and seeing less family or friends and seeing each other through video conferencing”.

Precisely because of the increase in human relationships through screens, that is, the most important change brought about by the epidemic, he says, “demands more of us in terms of emotional abilities.”

“We can connect with more people than ever before, but the connections are weaker than they were in person,” the psychologist emphasizes. This makes it more important to “listen to one another in a sympathetic way” which makes it much harder to be “online”.

The psychologist thinks that emotional intelligence is more necessary now than ever before; He recalled his experience in many American schools, helping children “learn about their emotions and how to manage them”, “improve learning and behave better in class”.

In addition, Coleman underscores the importance of future education in the teaching of humanities and the arts, especially in the field of emotion, as they are two disciplines that “give us the ability to play the human experience”.