Emotional intelligence and mental-health problems

Emotional intelligence is made up of four main strands: perceiving emotions, using emotions to facilitate thought, understanding emotional information and regulating emotions. People with mental-health problems are known to have emotional problems and difficulties with relationships and German researchers studied emotional intelligence in 179 people. 31 had depression, 19 had borderline personality disorder and 35 had substance-abuse problems; the remainder formed a control group of unaffected people. The people with mental-health problems had a lower overall score for emotional intelligence and had particular weaknesses in understanding emotional information and regulating their emotions. The patients with substance-abuse problems and borderline personality disorder were most impaired.

Hertel, Janine, Schuetz, Astrid and Claas-Hinrich, Lammers - Emotional intelligence and mental disorder Journal of Clinical Psychology September 2009, 65(9), 942-954