Emotions constitute an inseparable component of our psyche and are among psychological processes or states. They primarily serve to make us aware of feelings of pleasure or displeasure in relation to experienced situations, people, and things. Emotions intrude into every interpersonal expression of ours, into every communication situation, whether it is short-term emotions—affects—or long-term emotions—moods. They are among the evolutionarily older parts of our psyche, which is why they are very hard to control by reason.
In everyday life, we usually express our emotions naturally as they come and usually vent them outward as well. In social services, our emotions also become a tool in our work with users and clients. Knowledge of this tool is a key component of a professional approach.
Emotional experience is composed of several basic components. Emotions are expressed on both our cognitive (cognitive) level and in autonomic activation of the organism. The cognitive level of emotion lies in the evaluation of the given situation. This evaluation then further appears in the intensity of the experience of the situation. If we are in a car racing down a steep slope, we experience fear, but if we know that the car is part of a slide, then this fear is usually much smaller. Likewise, if someone tells us they cannot look at us, we will perceive this statement differently when it comes from our best friend and differently when it comes from a person with a mental illness. By autonomic activation is meant the physiological reaction of our organism to given stimuli. A physiological response to excitement, among other things, would be an increase in heart rate, an increase in body temperature, and a hormonal response in the form of adrenaline. From cognitive appraisal comes emotional appraisal, from autonomic activation comes perceived arousal. The resulting whole is then the emotion as such as it is experienced. (Atkinson, Atkinson, 1995)
For workers in the social field, most emotional experiences based on the above change primarily on the cognitive level. The evaluation of the situation in relation to the user is always different than evaluation of a situation in everyday life. This is not a difference in emotions as such but rather a change in intensity of experiencing and in the cognitive grasp of emotion.
This insight can serve as input information for further work with our emotions as a tool in relation to users. If we accept that our emotions are a tool in communication with users, doubts about the appropriateness of their use appear quite naturally. These concerns were aptly expressed in one training by a social worker: “My I, psyche, and therefore emotions, are my tool for work. Therefore I have to try very hard to use them appropriately? I feel paralysed by my emotions.”
If we try to use our emotions “correctly or appropriately,” then we usually only use them with difficulty in an authentic, spontaneous way. Yet that is where emotional expression finds its authenticity. Quite often, there is then ambivalence between what a person truly feels and what they show to users. It is certainly sometimes appropriate to manage and correct one’s emotions. It is not always possible in all circumstances to show emotions exactly as they truly arise. Yet there are also situations where authenticity is needed even more than professional approach. If an employee tries to adjust their emotions, they may not succeed entirely. Usually a discrepancy appears between the verbal and non-verbal components, or between the paralinguistic component, that is supralinguistic (intonation, pauses in speech, volume, and others). A discrepancy in emotional expression by a worker in the social sphere creates distrust in the user. This distrust usually penetrates into the unconscious or perhaps even the subconscious of the user. From this comes the fact that this distrust is difficult to grasp, to name, and is very difficult to work with. The worker may subjectively feel that even if they try to work with users as best they can, someone else nonetheless achieves much greater success, even if they are not necessarily equally professionally competent.
We are emotionally “more sincere” more often in situations linked to primary, lower emotions—anger, fear, intense sadness, or intense joy. It is precisely with these that cognitive evaluation comes later than the activation of the organism itself (physiological reaction). The cause of this process is likely the amygdala, gray matter in limbic systems, which is able to respond to threatening information before gray cortical brain tissue, i.e., reason. This would correspond to the claim that sometimes we feel before we think. For instance, if we catch sight of a rope from the corner of our eye, we may have the feeling that we see a snake and jump away before reason determines that it is an innocuous piece of rope. (Atkinson, Atkinson, 1995) The amygdala therefore works faster than the cortex, especially in primary, lower emotional states. Higher emotions are more accompanied by cognitive grasping of the given situation together with physiological response. If cognitive grasping comes together with activation of the organism—or perhaps even earlier—then the given situation is understood more in an artificial, adjusted, insincere, less authentic context.
How can one achieve a compromise whereby my emotions are authentic and at the same time do not endanger either the user or myself, for instance, through too much intensity or inappropriateness in timing of emotional response? Can this state even be achieved? The first step toward mastering one’s own emotions as a tool is our mindfulness toward ourselves and others.
How to Better Manage One’s Emotions in Social Services?
First of all, we need to recognize what emotions are ours. Every emotion is polar, reflected in its opposite: joy-sadness, courage-fear, love-hatred. Another important component of emotions is their intensity. Intensity is expressed both in the depth of experience and in the strength of their expression. Duration is also linked to intensity. Many of us have distorted ideas about our emotions. This distortion stems primarily from the fact that we confuse emotional expression with emotional experiencing. Being aware of how emotionally expressive we are externally—whether we are explosive or rather calm, whether we tend to succumb to a sad mood or rather feel more joy, whether anger or rage appears in us more frequently than in others—all of this can help better use emotions as a tool. Others around us will usually find lower emotions easier to read. Higher emotions, such as altruism or a sense of justice, are more difficult to diagnose. Nevertheless, it is useful to orient oneself also in one’s own higher emotional states. They are more visible, for example, in individual therapeutic work on oneself, in self-experience training, or during supervision.
The second substantial component that helps us work with our emotions at work is revealing the degree to which we express emotions outwardly. Each of us has a specific approach to expressing emotions. People are usually distinguished between those who, when experiencing emotions, need to express their feelings outwardly more, and people who deeply and internally feel emotions but do not communicate them to others. In both variants we can find advantages and disadvantages in work in the social area. We leave aside the individuals who experience emotions but suppress their expression, deliberately not expressing emotions. Such individuals are generally considered less suitable for work in the social area, primarily. They blur direct communication, introduce manipulation into communication situations, and mislead others communicatively.
The third substantial component is our ability to transmit emotions to someone else. Emotions are, after all, “contagious.” Perhaps you have had the experience of seeing someone in a fit of laughter, simply unable to stop laughing. Did it make you want to laugh or at least smile? Then precisely at that moment “emotional contagion” occurred. The same works with polar emotions—bad mood and sadness. Even here we are capable of taking emotions from others, or alternatively giving emotions to others. Work with emotions can therefore be directed toward influencing others’ emotions—users, patients, clients. At the same time, it is shown that sharing emotions leads to greater satisfaction, even to more successful fights against cancer (Tschuschke, 2004). Many studies have shown that the ability to ventilate emotions positively correlates with higher resilience of the organism, faster convalescence from illness, and even with a better ability to defend against serious diseases (Tschuschke, 2004, Simonton, 1994).
As essential for human health and well-being is open expression of emotions, especially negative ones, and their venting. Through an open emotional atmosphere, authenticity in the expression of workers in the social field and support for users’ emotional expression can have a significantly positive impact in social services.
PhDr. Kateřina Stibalová_Atkinson, R. L., Atkinson, R. C.: Psychologie. Victoria Publishing, Praha 1995. Křivohlavý, J.: Psychologie zdraví. Portál, Praha, 2001. Simonton, P. C.: Návrat ke zdraví. Radost, Praha 1994. Tschuschke, V.: Psychoonkologie. Portál, Praha 2004._______
Professional Journal Social Services - 1/2012
The professional monthly journal Sociální služby is the most widespread periodical in the field of social services in the Czech Republic. Its publisher is Asociace poskytovatelů sociálních služeb České republiky (APSS ČR), the largest professional organisation bringing together providers of all types and kinds of social services in the Czech Republic. Its member base currently consists of more than 720 organisations, which means over 1600 registered services.
Cover and contents of the issue HERE (PDF, 360KB)
The journal Sociální služby was established in 2009 through the transformation of the existing APSS ČR newsletter. It is published ten times a year in 36-48 A4-format pages in a print run of 3,500–4,000 copies for about 16,000 readers from the ranks of providers, service providers, users of social services, representatives of public administration, students, and university teachers both in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
More information can be found on the websites http://www.socialnisluzby.eu and http://www.apsscr.cz.
Orders for APSS ČR member organisations are handled directly by the publisher or editorial office at: Kotnovská 137, 390 05 Tábor, Czech Republic, tel./fax: +420 381 213 332, mobile +420 606 751 156 or +420 606 832 551, email: redakce@apsscr.cz.
