Emotional intelligence impairments in affective spectrum disorders and schizophrenia

The article is devoted to an urgent problem of clinical psychology -psychological factors and mechanisms of symptom formation of psychopathology in connection with the intensively developing concept of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is understood as a special meta-ability consisting of hierarchically organized abilities of perception, understanding and regulation of emotional conditions, which realizes its functions through a special activity. The main objective of the activity is the most exact and effective reflection of one's and another's emotions so that people successfully manage purposes and problems of another, more general activity (for example, professional, activity of dialogue, experience). The research objective is the analysis of the structure, features and infringements of emotional intelligence among patients with affective spectrum disorders (depression, anxiety and somatoform disorders) and schizophrenia in comparison with emotional intelligence of healthy examinees. The main research methods are experimental (the author's techniques directed to estimating perception of emotions), psychodiagnostic (the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test - MSCEIT) and mathematical-statistical. The received results visually show that with mental disorders total disintegration of emotional intelligence is not observed: separate components of the given functional system remain safe, and concrete infringements of emotional intelligence, as viewed within the syndrome analysis approach accepted in Russian tradition, can be qualified as primary and / or secondary. It was shown that with depression and anxiety disorders the main emotional intelligence impairment is a deficit of emotional regulatory systems. With somatoform disorders the regulatory component of emotional intelligence is also disturbed, but the symptoms of emotion disregulation are rather secondary to the stronger impairments of emotion understanding with their perception intact. The data conforms the conception of alexithymia as a phenomenon inherent in psychosomatic patients. With schizophrenia the primary impairment is a deficit of the emotional intelligence perception component. Accordingly, comprehension and regulation impairments are secondary. In whole, methodical instruments used in current work and the syndrome-analysis principles realized in data interpretation show their adequacy in researching emotional intelligence characteristics and impairments (in the sphere of mental disorders). From a practical point of view it is necessary to notify that primary and secondary impairments of the emotional intelligence activity can become 'targets' for psychotherapy influence.

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