Like Justitia who is often depicted holding a set of scales typically suspended from her left hand, human beings are a dynamic combination of biological, psychological and sociological (bio-psycho-social) factors whose healthy emotional and physical existence depends on balance. If more weight is given to any one side of the scale, imbalance on all sides will likely occur.
Our ever-increasing knowledge of genetics, the growing authority of neuropsychology over general psychology and the immense insight we now possess regarding neuroanatomy is helping to make clear the influence of human biology over human emotion. But even these advances in the hard the sciences are not enough to provide us with a definitive explanation for our emotional complexity. Social phenomenon, learning and repetition each play an important role in our emotional lives, making us much less biologically fixed-in-place than pure science alone would have us believe.
In the simplest way possible, eitheory.com encourages the idea that we can better address our emotional problems by improving our skill at objectively assessing our emotional behavior from a bio-psycho-social perspective – a balanced assessment of the origin of our emotional issues. EI theory hopes to integrate these often isolated systems into one coherent whole.
The biological reference in the bio-psycho-social model acknowledges the impact human anatomy and physiology have on emotional health. The influence of neurochemicals, hormones, the limbic neighborhood, the autonomic/sympathetic/parasympathetic nervous systems each contributes to the expression of emotion.
The social component of the bio-psycho-social model includes factors such as family of origin, community, tradition and the influence of one’s broader culture on thinking and emotion. Other common factors to look at from a social perspective include intimate relationships, socio-economic status and geography.
When viewed individually, the social aspect of the bio-psycho-social model is a more difficult phenomenon to translate into treatment. Often, emotional wellness includes assessing the strengths and weaknesses found in one’s environment and their impact on one’s ritualized and excusable (yet self-defeating) behavior.
One’s social environment is often quite static, frequently unchanging and resistant to new conditions, new relationships and new habits. Changing thought and behavior are essential to the EI theory model. Examining and making adjustments to how one relates, interacts, cooperates and congregates within the confines of one’s own unique social environment may result in ostracization, ridicule, mockery and scorn from one’s peers. Social change may be one of the more difficult issues to address when assisting individuals using an EI theory intervention strategy.
Now that we have recognized the bio-psycho-social framework of EI theory, it will be important to remember that EI theory depends on using a whole-person perspective to address emotional and physical health concerns. EI theory rejects modern-day psychology’s over-emphasis on pharmaceuticals as a single solution for most mental health issues, resulting in a lack of focus on other factors that have an equal or greater influence on mental health.
EI theory rejects modern-day psychology’s over-emphasis on pharmaceuticals as a single solution for most mental health issues, resulting in a lack of focus on other factors that influence mental health.
