Depression can have pervasive effects on an individual: a key precursor is life stress, both daily hassles (Kanner et al., 1981) and major negative life events (Sarason et al., 1978). Emotional intelligence (EI) helps us adapt to stress, and according to the Mobile Team Challenge (2015), EI provides us “the ability to identify, use, understand, and manage emotions in positive ways to relieve stress…” How does this happen?
According to Ciarrochi et al. (2002), managing other’s emotions (MOE), a component of EI, has a positive effect on stress management. MOE is the ability to modulate the emotions of others. They found “(p)eople high in MOE skill tended to adapt better to stress, responding with less suicidal ideation”. Helping others to regulate emotions encourages friendship and models self-regulation, improving one’s own stress adaptability. What does this mean? Improving EI, especially our capacity to reach out and help others adapt to stress, in fact, helps us address our own stress.
This understanding is important for CAF/DND leadership. As part of conflict resolution courses offered by the various Conflict and Complaint Management Services (CCMS) centres, participants are sometimes asked to think of a leader they want to emulate and identify that person’s best trait. In this Conflict Management Practitioner’s experience, the number one trait identified is the ability and availability to listen. Reaching out and being available to help manage other’s emotions reinforces good leadership, helps the person experiencing stress, and is proven to improve stress management of the individual helping.
Contact number: 613-541-5010 ext. 5641
Intranet:
http://intranet.mil.ca/en/organizations/vcds/iccm.page
http://intranet.mil.ca/fr/organisations/vcemd/gicp.page
Internet:
Canada.ca/integrated-conflict-complaint-management
Canada.ca/gestion-integree-plaintes-conflits
References
Ciarrochi, J., Deane, F.P., & Anderson, S. (2002). Emotional intelligence moderates the relationship between stress and mental health. Personality and Individual Differences, 32(2), 19-209. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0191-8869(01)00012-5
Coyne, J.C., Schaefer, C., & Lazarus, R.S. (1981). Comparison of two modes of stress management: Daily hassles and uplifts versus major life events. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 4(1), 1-39. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00844845
Mobile Team Challenge Limited (2015). When Military Intelligence meets Emotional Intelligence. https://mtceurope.co.uk
Sarason, I.G., Johnson, J.H., & Siegel, J.M. (1978). Assessing the impact of life changes: Development of the Life Experiences Survey. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 46(5), 932-946. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006x.46.5.932