Alexithymia

First recorded in 1973 and named by Dr. Peter E. Sifneos, Alexithymia comes from the Greek meaning, “No words for emotions” (Goerlich, 2018). This is a condition where those who have experienced trauma cannot identify or term their emotions. Further, this condition can negatively influence the amygdala (emotional processor in the brain) as well as affecting the ability to understand the proper physical responses to trauma and other negative emotions. Those who suffer from alexithymia will have considerable shrinkage of the amygdala and thus cannot properly process emotions across the spectrum. 

When understanding traumatic experiences, the role that alexithymia plays is one protection to the trauma itself. The brain processes trauma in one of two ways, hyperactivity, or disassociation (Catrone, 2021), like those who suffer PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) will often either have either a dissociative episode or will have a moment of hyperactivity and heightened adrenaline responses, psychologists believe these depressive responses are a result of alexithymia. In many cases of alexithymia, most tend to feelings of dejection and malaise to external stimulation emotionally. These depressive responses are a direct result of a lack of emotional dialogue with themselves as well as to those around them (communities, parents, and friends). Likewise, feelings of anger and rage also make up the actions as the frustrations of the inability to put a definition to their emotions becomes an issue. 

The inability to express emotions or have an emotional vocabulary impacts the function of how a brain can process trauma. This can lead to many physiological symptoms from gastrological pains to fatigue, weight fluctuations and physical manifestation of pain. Though this disorder can affect the individual's ability to function there are many techniques that have shown promise in treating alexithymia and in the short term, give the affected individuals a working system of processing their emotional traumas. 

Exercises in Understanding Alexithymia

The first exercise, named the butterfly hug method, is an exercise where an individual should cross their arms in front of their chest and lock their thumbs together, close their eyes and mimic their hand movements like a butterfly. While completing the physical form of the exercise the individual should focus on their breathing and let their thoughts float. This has the potential to bring down the state of agitation to a manageable level and help clear the mind of the individual enough to concentrate on tasks that are before them. Note that this exercise, if done in a classroom setting, should conducted between parts of a lecture to mimic the pattern of behavior of someone having an emotional crisis. 

The next exercise in conjunction with the first exercise, whereby the individuals in the exercise plant their feet on the ground and close their eyes. They must visualize a safe, comfortable environment focusing on the sights and sounds of the place that brings them the comfort and happiness. Once they have identified the sensory cues, they should think of a word that matches the feeling of what they have achieved and repeat the word to themselves. This exercise can also be utilized with in the same manner as the first exercise. 

The third exercise is one that will involve journaling their emotions throughout the day. Over the span of a week, participants should mark down the time, their emotional state, mood, and what triggered that specific mood and emotion at that time, if any, and any optional information that may be relevant to the mood that they are in. After the week in over, they should look at the overall course of their emotions from the journal and find the most common states they are in and what caused those states. The objective of this journal is to show the individual just how much their moods and emotions change from hour to hour and day to day. This should then prove what triggers their emotional responses and how they process those emotions as well as bring up a solution to improving their emotional health using the techniques as aforementioned.  

Sources

Goerlich, K. S. (2018, August 29). The Multifaceted Nature of Alexithymia – A Neuroscientific Perspective. Frontiers. Retrieved May 19, 2022, from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01614/full

Catrone, C. (2021). An Integrated Treatment of Psychosomatic Symptoms and Disorders of the Self: The Role of Alexithymia. Psychoanalytic Social Work, 28(1), 25–42. https://doi-org.radford.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/15228878.2020.1809475

Knipe, J. (2014). EMDR toolbox: theory and treatment of complex PTSD and dissociation. Springer Publishing Company. Retrieved May 22, 2022, from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/radford/reader.action?docID=1760905&ppg=16.

Fabio D’Antoni, Alessio Matiz, Franco Fabbro, & Cristiano Crescentini. (2022). Psychotherapeutic Techniques for Distressing Memories: A Comparative Study between EMDR, Brainspotting, and Body Scan Meditation. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(1142), 1142. https://doi-org.radford.idm.oclc.org/10.3390/ijerph19031142

Healing, E. (2021, November 30). 3 Simple EMDR Exercises to Practice Any Time of the Day. EMDR Healing. Retrieved May 22, 2022, from https://emdrhealing.com/3-simple-emdr-exercises/

Emotions and health

Emotions and moods influence physical health in that when under a negative mood or emotional state, the effect is usually detrimental causing a reaction in the body to produce less immunity cells. In a stressed state, cortisol and adrenaline produced by the body in reaction to the stressed feelings. These physiological aspects of moods and emotions on health manifest in many ways, however research around mood and health due to the difficulty of the nature of emotions. Moods and emotions in people are difficult to quantify and to study as people have a diverse spectrum to how moods and emotions affect them. It is however, because of these differences, that an understanding concludes that there will be an effect due to emotions, that because people feel their emotions and moods differently, there is always going to be a full reaction by the body. 

Moods effect the physical health of an individual in the same way that psychosomatics does in the body. The term for this correlation is psychoimmunology, meaning the connection of the psychological wellbeing influences the physical health. In a study conducted by Masih, Belschak and Verbeke discovered that thyroid cells that were related to long term cell growth had been affected due to the mood of the participants in the study. This study looked at a cross section of adults ranging from 18 and 65 mostly Caucasian and made up of half male and female. What the data showed was a that most of the participants have negative or mostly negative affect are more likely to be immunocompromised or have problems with their immune system than those who have a positive affect or mostly positive affect. It was also noted that those with an active social grouping had better immunological responses than those who did not. 

Another way that emotions impact physical health is that on our attention, in that it can affect the ability to focus on simple tasks and even our peripheral attention. A study conducted in 2020 about emotions and visual attention and their interactions with task hierarchy. In this study, the full understanding of the tasks at hand early on were irrelevant to emotions however as the focus wore on and the task took longer, there was a “synergy” between the emotions and the task at hand, with the caveat that, the task at hand relates to the emotions of the individual participants. 

Coupling the impact

The two phenomena of psychoimmunology and the effect of emotions of attention, reveal that when in an emotional state, positive or negative, there is an impact on what we focus on, as well as, how we view it. This is to say, when in a depressive state, there is a lack of real motivation to get well when one is sick, but also that being depressed will also lead to a state where that sickness persists as it dampens the immune response in the body. These phenomena are related to each other and cannot be ignored. 

In the sense of having better health, it is best to process and keep ones hopes to not only boost the immune system but also focus on being able to heal when one is sick or injured. As previously discussed, emotions have a physiological effect as they illicit a response across all the bodily systems. As well emotions will also affect the function of focus on the individual, as strong emotions will cause someone to look to the periphery of a task or be unable to be attentive to the details of the task before them. 

Conclusion

The ergonomics of emotions in relation to health and focus is undeniable as they affect the human body and mind. In medicinal doctrine and psychological treatment today, there is an attempt to holistically work on healing by looking at not just the purely physical but the emotional health as well. Both are necessary for an individual to be well. This means not only understanding emotions is important for individual health, but also maintaining a positive emotional state can be quintessential for the overall immune system and treatment of ailments. 

Sources

Masih, J., Belschak, F., & Verbeke, J. M. I. W. (2019). Mood configurations and their relationship to immune system responses: Exploring the relationship between moods, immune system responses, thyroid hormones, and social support. PLoS ONE, 14(5). https://doi-org.radford.idm.oclc.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0216232

Udelman, H. D., & Udelman, D. L. (1983). Current Explorations in Psychoimmunology. American Journal of Psychotherapy (Association for the Advancement of Psychotherapy), 37(2), 210. https://doi-org.radford.idm.oclc.org/10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.1983.37.2.210

Schindler, S., & Straube, T. (2020). Selective visual attention to emotional pictures: Interactions of task‐relevance and emotion are restricted to the late positive potential. Psychophysiology, 57(9), 1–14.

Oliveira, L. (2013, July 12). Emotion and attention interaction: a trade-off between stimuli relevance, motivation, and individual differences. Frontiers. Retrieved May 21, 2022, from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00364/full

Psychosomatics

The term Psychosomatics as defined by the American Psychological Association in simple terms, “referring to any interaction between mind and body.” However, in a broader sense, it is a relationship between the psyche and the soma that or mind and body and how they interact with psychological and pathological systems in the body (APA, 2022). For example, when a person is in a state of anger or rage, their blood pressure increases as well as an increase in fatigue. Psychosomatic disorders often stem from the prolonged effect of stress on both the mind and body. Other examples range from gastrological problems to nose bleeds and migraines,

In the publication, ‘’Psychopathology and philosophy of mind: what mental disorders can tell us about our minds’’, the fourth chapter discusses the correlation between Post Traumatic Stress and its effect of the ability to reason. One major link between trauma and its effects on mental health is the issues of cognitive function as traumatic events faced by individuals, lower the reasoning capabilities of an individual. This correlation decreases their ability to separate their feelings and emotions from events and memories, as well as impact the function of rational thought. 

Through the studies in PTSD alone, the determining factor of the negative emotional states on those suffering from PTSD triggered a negative response when faced with a comparable situation. In many studies, results determined that the more severe the trauma the longer it took for the person in the test took to complete the tasks of the experiment. As it also determined in the study that the level of education of the individuals also impacted the severity of the traumatic experiences. In a study conducted with first responders to the September 11th attacks, those that returned to complete higher education, had a lessened effect from the more negative aspects of PTSD. Likewise with combat Veterans from Vietnam and Israel exhibited the same results in separate studies. 

In relation to leadership, often of great stress will lead to both leaders and organizations to exhibit psychosomatic symptoms themselves. For example, when leaders are incapable of their station, the stress caused by the inept leadership will manifest itself in the form of burn out, anxiety and depression in an organization (Jacobs, 2019). There is a caveat in that while formal leadership has an ability to regulate some emotional aspects of psychosomatics, informal leadership can go farther than what formal authority can exercise. 

In a study on the failure of leaders to understand the importance of emotions and psychosomatics, found that in an informal leadership role in the military, those who were ineffective as leaders lead to the deterioration of the unit they were assigned. These leaders were found to have impacted the overall advancement of the people under their command, which found later, a correlation between the emotional health.

Exercises in Psychosomatics

The first psychosomatic exercises, starts with closing one’s eyes and focusing on breathing. Much like in previous exercises focusing on breathing is key for the efficacy of the technique. Accompanying the breathing the individual should be repeating positive phrases, such as “I am at peace,” “I am safe” or “I am ok” for a span of ten minutes. The outcome of this exercise is to push the mind for a feeling of calm and serenity when the individual feels anxious or stressed. This can exercise is perfect for a classroom setting during class time for observation. This can also work in tandem with tensing and relaxing different muscle groups through a technique called progressive muscle relaxation. 

The second exercise in Psychosomatics is guided imagery, where a person in a relaxed state closes their eyes and guided by someone describing smells, scenes and images that invoke the senses in the person who is listening. The more descriptive one can be, stronger evocation. Adding scents to this that correspond to the guided images. The outcome should be complete relaxation and a focused meditative state, where the person guiding the images can create a reaction where the individual can influence senses of the person participating. 

Sources

APA Dictionary of Psychology. (2022). American Psychological Association. Retrieved May 17, 2022, from https://dictionary.apa.org/psychosomatic

Cardella, V., & Gangemi, A. (Eds.). (2021). Psychopathology and philosophy of mind: what mental disorders can tell us about our minds. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003009856

Cleveland Clinic. (2018, December 14). Mind-Body Exercises & Heart Health. Cleveland Clinic. Retrieved June 28, 2022, from https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/17231-exercise-mind-body-exercises--heart-health

Jacobs, C. M. (2019). Ineffective-Leader-Induced Occupational Stress. SAGE Open. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244019855858

Schaubroeck, J., Peng, A. C., Hannah, S. T., Jingjing MA, & Cianci, A. M. (2021). Struggling to Meet the Bar: Occupational Progress Failure and Informal Leadership Behavior. Academy of Management Journal, 64(6), 1740–1762. https://doi-org.radford.idm.oclc.org/10.5465/amj.2018.0956

Emotions and Work Performance

Like psychosomatics and bodily health, emotions are related to the social health as well, as an article from the Harvard Business Review stated, “Emotions are contagious.” What leaders feel, and how they deal with emotions is what reflects in their own work force. A leader that thrashes around and gets angry at the drop of the hat will get exactly what they put into their organization. Likewise, a leader that shows trust and is at ease, will often show more confidence among their constituents. The leader becomes the reflection of the emotions. Ascertaining from this is a need for leaders to keep an eye on the emotional health of their organization as well to find the flaws in their organizational structure. Failure in understanding the relationship between the emotions of workers and their leadership can result in burnout, loss of productivity and the degradation of the workforce. 

Case study in burnout amongst librarians

A study by the J. Willard Marriott library at the University of Utah conducted on the faculty and staff of the University library on the feeling of burnout and negative emotional working atmosphere, because of playing a series of team building exercises, to find if team building would assist in the treatment of burn out among library staff. The findings illustrated a pattern that participation in the games lead to a slight increase in socialization with people in the library, however it did not fix the overall emotional status of the staff and feelings of satisfaction and productivity. The conclusion of the study determined that the games were a success in creating a more amiable atmosphere in the library.

The lesson of this case study illustrates is the need for emotional intelligence amongst workers as well a leader to keep a finger on the pulse of the workplace. Staff burnout, dissatisfaction, and feelings of discontentment will directly affect and degrade the effectiveness of an organization. Furthermore, burnout also leads to physiological effects on workers, as stated from the Mayo Clinic, “High Blood Pressure, Anger, Alcohol and Substance issues…” (Mayo Clinic, 2021). From the illustration below, is the feelings wheel when discussing burn out. As previously discussed, it is essential to build a vocabulary of feelings, moods, and emotions in which these terms can be addressed by those who are feeling the effects of burnout. 

(Image from Talogy.com)

Treating emotions in the workplace

The Mayo Clinic states that to treat burnout, one should evaluate the circumstances, this could be as simple as finding solutions to stressful problems to finding alternate work. Seek out support, usually in the form of talking to fellow coworkers, Human Resources, support networks. Exercise, relax, both of which are self-explanatory and practice mindfulness, which is maintaining an understanding of one’s own emotional vocabulary and state of feelings. As leaders, what this means is allowing individuals to look for a balance of work and life, being mindful of the tone and emotional output to those who work for the organization, and most of all be sensitive to the needs of those who are emotionally taxed by projects that demand time and stress. If left unchecked, the symptoms can evolve into more severe consequences. 

Sources

Allgaier, A. (2020, November 19). Feelings wheel [Illustration]. Talogy. https://calipercorp.com/blog/emotional-intelligence-workplace/

Barsade, S., O’Neill, O. Manage Your Emotional Culture. (2020, December 16). Harvard Business Review. Retrieved May 18, 2022, from https://hbr.org/2016/01/manage-your-emotional-culture

Casucci, T., Locke, A. B., Henson, A., & Qeadan, F. (2020, October). A workplace well-being game intervention for health sciences librarians to address burnout. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 605–617. https://doi-org.radford.idm.oclc.org/10.5195/jmla.2020.742

Fricchione, G. M. D. (2016). Stress Management: Enhance your well-being by reducing stress and building resilience. Harvard Health Publications

Mayo Clinic. (2021, June 5). Job burnout: How to spot it and take action. Mayo Clinic. Retrieved July 2, 2022, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/burnout/art-20046642?reDate=03072022

Instincts and Intuition and their Relationship with Emotions

Instincts and intuition are tied in with emotions, as according to Brown, Dawson, and McHugh, relate the feelings of intuition and emotion to neurons tied into the heart and the brain. This network of neurons makes a pathway to the amygdala where emotions then are processed into a physiological reaction. This is the way for the heart to speak to the brain, giving the “gut feeling.” This relationship gives an explanation as to how “gut feelings” are processed by the person and how one feel about something is created through the whole body.

Importantly to note, there is a commonly held belief that emotions are good and bad. As stated by Brown, Dawson, and McHugh, “Love, happiness and joy, serenity and contentment are positive because they indicate well-being, have a pleasant subjective feel, and have positive social implications. Anger, fear, sadness, hate, disgust, and jealousy are examples of what are negative emotions, so called because they indicate some form of distress, are subjectively unpleasant and often painful” (Psychology, emotion, and intuition in work relationships: the head, heart, and gut professional, p.32). These emotions are associated the way they are because of the amygdala responding to keeping the body alive. These emotions as previously stated often have a physiological effect ranging from increasing blood pressure in anger and fear to the release of serotonin and dopamine when feeling happiness and joy. 

Use of instincts, intuition, and emotions in discourse

One aspect of intuition and instinct is the use in day-to-day interactions, and how they are utilized in understanding the world at large. In the article written by Giubilini, the differences in debating styles and use of rational arguments versus emotional arguments using gut feelings create a divide that often leads to attempts to negate the legitimacy of these feelings, for example, how political ideologies speak on an issue (like abortion, gun control, or climate change)

The argument of using intuition and instinct in conjunction with emotion dates to Socrates, though not championed until Aristotle. In which, Aristotle spoke that to present an argument and succeed, one needed pathos (emotion), logos (logic), and ethos (credibility). Importantly, in all cases, emotions and instincts are essential in interpersonal communication, which is the foundations of functioning society.

Connecting the physiological and the communicative ends

Instincts and intuition are the physiological way that the body tells the brain there may be something strange and that we should be prepared to act. In communication, it is how people can determine whether to trust what is told to them or if they should have an emotional response to what is being said. This comes to a point where the relationship between human emotions and the base necessity for individual survival. The relationship is housed in the amygdala, and it is the link between the physiological and the psychological, which makes intuition permanently linked to the baser functions of the brain. 

One aspect of this communication in the brain is what is referred to as the amygdala hijack (Psychology, 2018), in which the amygdala which is responsible for the baser functions of the brain, takes over the thinking processes and causes and individual to panic. This panic is sometimes referred to as a fight or flight mechanism, which is a genetic response to certain overwhelming stimuli. It is important to note that while this part of the brain plays a part in the gut feelings of intuition and instinct, the mind can be conditioned to be override and in some extreme cases, completely ignore the amygdala hijack. This relates to the communicative as it gives people a mechanism to gauge a reaction. For example, a police officer conducting an interview may notice that the person they are interviewing is being flighty and afraid, may not be forthcoming with information related to a case. Another example being that an employer hiring a new employee may have a good feeling about a candidate based on how that person carries themselves through the interview. 

The major take- away from these examples are the noticed behavior of our surroundings and those in the surroundings dictate how we react to stimuli, and most importantly, how we view our intuitions and instincts based on our emotional state. The stronger the emotions felt the more intense the “gut feelings” will become. 

Sources

Aristotle, & Kennedy, G. A. (2007). On Rhetoric: A Theory of Civic Discourse: Vol. 2nd ed. Oxford University Press.

Brown, H., Dawson, N., &; McHugh, B. (2018). Psychology, emotion, and intuition in work relationships: the head, heart, and gut professional (First). Taylor and Francis. Retrieved July 3, 2022, from https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9780203731710.

Giubilini, A. (2015). Don’t Mind the Gap: Intuitions, Emotions, and Reasons in the Enhancement Debate. The Hastings Center Report, 45(5), 39–47. https://doi-org.radford.idm.oclc.org/10.1002/hast.458

Link, H. C. (1921). Emotions and Instincts. The American Journal of Psychology, 32(1), 134–144. https://doi.org/10.2307/1413480 (continued on Emotional Leadership Page).