Summary: A recent study reveals that seniors who are more susceptible to “emotional contagion” —feeling emotions from others—are significantly more likely to experience anxiety or depression. Experts found that mental sensitivity, when unregulated, could increase the risk of mental distress in seniors by up to twofold. Emotional infection, typically triggered unknowingly, helps develop empathy but perhaps stress mental wellness in communal living settings.
This study suggests that developing senior support networks can be made easier by understanding emotional disease. Resiliency and emotional stress could be improved with tools to maintain emotional sensitivity. These personal challenges may be reduced, which may increase senior citizens ‘ social quality of life.
Important Information:
- Seniors with high emotional tolerance are 8.5 % to 10 % more likely to experience depression or anxiety symptoms.
- Emotional Contagion Defined: Emotional disease is the unconscious implementation of some ‘ emotions, useful for compassion but challenging for mental endurance.
- Possible Interventions: Developing mental management tools for delicate seniors may enhance resilience and well-being.
Origin: University of Montreal
On a garden chair, Madeleine and Paul are seated. Madeleine’s eyes are filled with tears as she tells Paul about her financial concerns and how she has been battling to make ends meet for weeks. Paul’s grief and concerns about her troubles are heightened by her emotions, which also raise his doubts. His spirit pounds, and his eyes also become humid.
What’s going on? A kind of psychological mirroring, what psychology call “emotional disease”.
” Just as some people are more likely to find a respiratory disease through close contact, others are more prone to ‘ catching’ the thoughts of the people around them”, explained , Marie-Josée Richer, a psychoeducator at the , Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal, affiliated with Université de Montréal, who did postgraduate research on the subject in the old.
” A people susceptible to emotional infection is particularly sensitive to the emotions of people”, added , Pierrich Plusquellec, a teacher in UdeM’s School of Psychoeducation and co-director of the , Centre for Studies on Human Stress.
” It’s an dynamic response that occurs unconsciously through manipulation of facial expressions, gestures and expressions, leading to the thoughts convergencing”.
He cited examples of people with this sensitivity, such as those who experience physical tense when watching angry people on television, break up when they witness someone crying, or experience more upbeat when they are in contact with happy people.
To determine vulnerability to mental contagion, we look at a range of emotions: happiness, adore, anger, fear. Personal contagion plays an important role in a community, as it is the foundation of empathy”.
But this risk can be a double-edged weapon. In a fresh research co-supervised by Plusquellec and UdeM philosophy professor , Sébastien Grenier , and , published , in , PLOS Mental Health, Richer found that risk to personal infection is greater among elderly suffering from mental stress.
She stated,” This study was a component of my study on older adults ‘ mental resilience.” The primary objective was to better understand the factors that affect senior endurance, including the increased risk of cardiovascular disease, mental decline, and premature death, among others.
The study discovered that personality traits and risk to mental infection vary from person to person, and this is frequently overlooked in research of mental health, particularly among the elderly.
170 individuals studied
170 people over 55 who were using the services of community organizations or living in retirement homes and who were dealing with some form of hardship were examined by the UdeM researchers. An individual’s ability to face challenges, obstacles, or challenging circumstances, such as bereavement or a conflict with a loved one ( explicit adversity ) or vulnerability to emotional contagion ( implicit adversity ), was defined as an individual’s challenge.
A larger initiative aimed at examining the effects of a stress-management strategy was conducted during the investigation. To be included, individuals had to live in a metropolitan region and be interested in team stress-management techniques.
To become representative of the general population, the researchers sought a large specimen that included people with varying degrees of physical limitations and emotional distress.
Between September 2018 and September 2019, data were gathered. Most of the respondents – 85 per cent – were women. They ranged in age from 56 to 96, with an average of 76.1. The majority of them were single mothers in Canada.
Based on their level of mental anguish, participants were divided into three groups:
- Roughly 45 per share fit the , stress profile, with clinical or mild symptoms of anxiety simply.
- Around 20 per share were classified in the , restless despair status, with medical or mild symptoms of both anxiety and depression.
-  , The next team, the , no-distress account, consisted of people with no major symptoms of anxiety or depression.
” We classify signs of varying magnitude that are sturdy enough to interfere with a person’s daily life as’ mild’ or ‘ medical ‘”, Grenier explained.
If symptoms meet the requirements for a proper anxiety or depression diagnosis, they will be considered therapeutic. For instance, a person with scientific anxiety may experience repeated panic attacks, problems leaving the house and social isolation.
A person with mild anxiety may practice physical symptoms and worries that might affect their daily functioning but not a proper diagnosis.
Up to 10 times more symptomatic
The researchers analyzed levels of psychological distress in relation to factors such as sex, age, income, living situation, independence, satisfaction with one’s social network and one’s way of coping with adversity, and in relation to an emotional contagion scale that measured subjects ‘ vulnerability in this regard.
The results reveal that seniors who were most susceptible to emotional contagion were 8.5 % to 10 % more likely than those who were less vulnerable to display symptoms of anxiety or depression. This finding was independent of other factors, such as an individual’s social support or coping strategies.
According to the researchers, this study is the first to examine the role of vulnerability to emotional contagion in senior psychological distress.
Although they did not establish a causal relationship between psychological distress and a person’s vulnerability to emotional shock, their study does stress the value of taking both explicit and implicit factors into account when identifying seniors who are psychologically vulnerable.
In communal living environments, such as seniors ‘ residences, and in caregiving situations, the risks of emotional contagion need to be addressed proactively, the researchers argue.
They advise creating tools to help those who are most vulnerable to emotional contagion manage their sensitivity. This could improve their psychological resilience and raise their standard of living.
They also recommend future studies on how to better understand how vulnerable people to emotional contagion affect mental health and help older people who are mentally ill.
About this information on mental health research
Author: Julie Gazaille
Source: University of Montreal
Contact: Julie Gazaille – University of Montreal
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
Marie-Josée Richer and al.,” The role of vulnerability in older adults ‘ psychological distress is influenced by their own emotional contagion..” PLOS Mental Health
Abstract
The role of vulnerability in older adults ‘ psychological distress is influenced by their own emotional contagion.
This study examines the differential weight of a wide range of factors —sociodemographic factors, indicators of autonomy, social support, coping styles, vulnerability to emotional contagion, and empathy—in the presence of two profiles of psychological distress and in their absence.
This cross-sectional study included 170 older adults. According to the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale ( HADS ), 65.9 % of the sample’s participants (score >, 1 ) had a clinical or subthreshold level of anxiety and depression.
Based on the HADS’s clinical cutoff scores for the anxiety and depression subscales, three profiles were created for the no distress, anxiety, and anxious depression groups.
With the exception of sex, the profiles did not differ in terms of demographic indicators. In contrast to people who do n’t experience any distress, the likelihood of being in either of the psychological distress groups was assessed by their vulnerability to emotional contagion, social network satisfaction, and coping strategies.
After controlling for adversity and psychotropic treatment, both psychological distress profiles were most strongly related to vulnerability to emotional contagion.
Future studies, such as a prospective longitudinal study, might be able to explain the relationship between psychological stress and the factors studied, particularly sensitivity to emotional contagion.
