UPDATE
- How to protect ourselves through a
 rapidly changing new world affected by
 geo-political threats, climate change and
 the threat of a pandemic..
 

The mental and social impact of the epidemic, extreme weather events and the dangerous geo-political situation in Europe and China and the ongoing threat of a pandemic.

The recent epidemic, extreme climate change and unstable geo-political order is playing out through the magnified lens of a media system, where traditional mainstream media and social media collide.

Fear is, at its most basic, a survival mechanism. It's highly adaptive and can be triggered by a perceived threat.

Our fear of climate change, the pandemic and an unstable geo-political situation is multifaceted. There's the fear of the unknown. The fear of illness. The fear of death. The fear of having no future.

And that fear can rapidly spread through populations. Particularly if famous people or leading politicians display emotional fear and worry.

Obviously some of us are more prone to fear than others. Similar responses have been well-documented during times of extreme economic and social instability.

In fact the evidenced widespread panic buying during the epidemic was a form of emotional contagion. Simply defined, emotional contagion is the transfer of moods and feelings from one person to another. It happens all the time on a micro-level and is usually harmless, like a yawn that ripples from one person in the room to another. But at the macro-level, emotional contagion can be dangerous because it can interfere with making sound, logical decisions.

Emotional contagion affects everyone.
Emotional contagion can greatly amplify the damage caused by a pandemic and global threats to our survival. Leading to a surge in worry, anxiety and fear. Negative emotions, particularly fear and anxiety affect our decision-making -and we’re not even aware that are influencing us.

Workplace research has confirmed that organizations have shown a lack of awareness about how Emotional Contagion affects their people.

Organizations don’t realize the social influence their people are under or how it may affect them because the spread is often based on physiological and automatic responses (like the baby mimicking a smile). This “affect spiral” from negative emotions can even lead to disharmony and conflict within groups.

People can spread their feelings easily across social media platforms. That effect can be amplified by disinformation sources where individuals only expose themselves to online information that they agree with and disregard other points of view.

Negative emotional affects of "self-isolation" or working "remotely" at home.
Many people now working from their home are reporting feeling irritable or restless. Other commonly experienced effects of little in-person contact with their peers and workmates are:
• Lethargy
• Sadness or depression
• Trouble concentrating
• Lack of patience
• Food cravings
• Decreased motivation
• Difficulty waking
• Frequent napping
• Hopelessness
• Weight changes
• Inability to cope with the stress

NEGATIVE EMOTIONS IN THE WORKPLACE
Researchers have long confirmed the relationship between negative emotions and performance. In fact anxiety is the most common destabilizing influence on performance, creativity, job longevity and an individual’s health and well-being. It affects all of us at different times in our workplace or at school. Yet, typically we seek no help for assistance and are not offered it.

Stress in the Classroom
A recent survey across 10 countries led by Bath University found that young people view the destruction of the planet as personal. Many of those questioned perceive that they have no future, that humanity is doomed, and that governments are failing to respond adequately. Many feel betrayed, ignored and abandoned by politicians and people in power.

Chronic stress is increasing the risk of mental and physical problems. And if the negative global events worsen, severe mental health impacts will follow.

Anxiety generally leads to debilitative and facilitative performance (at work, school or play).

Numerous research studies confirm the debilitative nature of dispositional and situational anxiety such as; emotional exhaustion, self-regulatory processing, and cognitive interference

Anxiety generally leads to debilitative and facilitative job or school performance.
Numerous research studies confirm the debilitative nature of dispositional and situational anxiety such as; emotional exhaustion, self-regulatory processing, and cognitive interference.

Some Symptoms include:

Physical symptoms. Headache, nausea, sweating, shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat, light-headedness and feeling faint can all occur.
Emotional symptoms. Feelings of fear, anger, helplessness and disappointment are common emotional responses.
Behavioral/Cognitive symptoms. Difficulty concentrating, thinking negatively about oneself or a situation are common symptoms.

Psychological Affects include:
Poor coping skills (e.g., rigidity/inflexible problem solving, denial, avoidance, impulsivity, extreme self-expectation, negative thoughts, affective instability, and inability to focus on problems) are associated with negative emotions. Negative emotions are also linked and perpetuated by the person's own pessimistic outcome expectancy and how they cope with feedback negativity.

Suffering from anxiety in the workplace or at school can be debilitating -and it is something that most people find difficult to talk about.

Learning to manage our negative emotions and our feelings enables us to make better decisions and also recognize when they are taking over and negatively affect us.

Note: Most positive psychology interventions are designed to help make people improve their mood. However, just trying to raise the mood of people who are anxious may make them temporarily feel better, but it tends to lead to poor performance because it doesn't make their fears and anxiety go away.

A recent publication by the American Psychological Association confirmed that to help people feel and be better requires attending to their underlying emotional needs.

Negative Emotions -affect on our Behavioral and Physical Health
Negative attitudes and feelings such as despair, helplessness and fear can create chronic stress, which upsets the body's hormone balance, depletes the brain chemicals required for happiness, and critically damages the immune system.

Recent research has confirmed that stress caused by negative emotions, such as fear, affects the release of cortisol from the adrenal gland. Cortisol has an important regulatory, daily function in various brain and body systems and disturbances in secretion patterns have direct implications in health outcomes. For instance, a flatter diurnal cortisol slope is associated with adverse health effects, including depression and fatigue.

Our ability to protect ourselves is directly dependent on our mental strength and our immune system which in turn is affected by our state of mind.

Emotional self-regulation / management is a critical condition that shapes our performance.


 

HOW TO TREAT THE NEGATIVE EMOTIONAL FALLOUT

The GOOD NEWS!

The “bright side" is that negative emotions can easily be remedied with spectacular positive results for both the individual and organization they work in. In fact every organization, small business and even sport clubs/bodies alike have the opportunity to reframe the negative energy of an individual or group into positive energy generating a cascade of sustainable, measurable, long-term benefits.

When people experience negative emotions, the Self is organized as scared and vulnerable because of the activation of emotion schematic memories of harmful and painful experiences in the absence of protection and support. As a result, people do not internalize self-soothing strategies and instead develop negative ways of relating to the Self and modulating emotions. People end up worrying in an effort to protect the Self from falling apart because of an inability to cope with the underlying painful feelings of fear and worry.

Organizations now need to ensure employees stay healthy -not just physically but also mentally.
In the wake of the global pandemic there is an urgent need for businesses to hire or train professionals to oversee their management and workers behavioral health and performance.

While many larger companies already have someone like a Chief Medical Officer on call to manage physical ailments, all companies now have to consider adding the position of a specialist, trained behavioral health and performance professional to their teams. Employers need to maximize productivity. It’s a highly competitive world at the moment and many companies will not survive.

If your workforce have psychological issues, they’re not at their best and you’re losing productivity.

The outbreak of coronavirus means many smaller businesses now also have to look at strategies to protect their employees’ health.

The move has been likened to many companies recruiting chief information officers more than 20 years ago to manage their IT strategies.

The responsibility for overseeing behavioral health and performance for most smaller businesses is typically outsourced to a certified behavioral practitioner (external accredited behavioral coach) rather than an extra member of staff.

Neuro-Behavioral Coaches certified by the Behavioral Coaching Institute.
All ICC Accredited, Neuro-Behavioral Coaches are trained in the use of advanced Emotional Exchange Change Models and techniques. Steps include:

(a) Working with a client to acknowledge negative emotions and develop an understanding of the story or narrative to make sense of casual event and their impact.

(b) Working with a client on identifying and changing the negative ways in which they relate to the Self.

(c) Working with a client to develop capacities to self-soothe using imaginal transformation via Emotional Exchange and Self dialogues to resolve emotional suffering.

The coach may choose to focus on one of these tasks more than the others at different times in the coaching process. The end goal is building a stronger sense of Self, but the process remains fluid.

Labeling their emotions, learning to regulate and modulate their intense feelings of distress, and transforming core painful maladaptive emotions enable clients to acquire the capacities to regulate and express their emotional experiences more optimally and develop more positive ways of caring for the Self.

The Behavioral Coaching Institute’s internationally recognized behavior-focused, Coach training courses.
The Emotional Exchange Self-Transformational Self-Change Model detailed in the Institute's courses have consistently proven to help a person adjust the way they react to stressful life events and triggers, as well as the scale of the reaction. The proprietary, evidence-based techniques used focus on exchanging the emotions and feelings driving limiting distorted thinking and negative thoughts.

Benefits include; enhanced well-being, productivity, a healthy disposition, improved vitality and outlook on life etc. Measurable, positive results are typically generated by the client within just three short coaching sessions. The client is empowered how to maintain control over the negative emotions and typically does not require any further help.

The key to success in any emotional exchange intervention is the selection of the appropriate brain-mind-body Change Model. For over 25 years, the Behavioral Coaching Institute’s internationally recognized Coach training courses have met the critical needs for practitioners to be trained in the use of a range of validated, reliable, neuro-behavioral change models, tools and techniques with a user-friendly, coaching delivery model.

Note: The Emotional Exchange Self-Transformational Coaching Model can also be used for an individual and groups/teams.


The Institute’s Courses include an easy-to-follow, accelerated, step-by-step, Emotional Exchange intervention protocol and extensive ToolKit. Measured, sustainable positive results are typically generated within just three, short coaching sessions.

The proven, easy to learn, evidence-based techniques taught in the Course are based on the principles of cognitive neuroplasticity therapy, which strengthens the functional neural pathways affecting their disposition. See Courses…

. DIPLOMA in WELLNESS ( STRESS, RESILIENCE ) COACHING

  DIPLOMA in ORGANIZATIONAL NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL COACHING

   DIPLOMA in HIGH PERFORMANCE BEHAVIORAL COACHING

. DIPLOMA in EXECUTIVE COACHING

. DIPLOMA in NEUROCOACHING

. DIPLOMA in EMOTION COACHING

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