An Aesthetic Approach to Developing Emotional Intelligence: Case Reports and Implications for Mental and Physical Health.

Emotional intelligence (EI) has been associated with improved psychological well-being, adaptive coping, and physical health. This paper introduces the Aesthetic Approach to Emotions (AAE), a framework that uses aesthetic descriptors to increase awareness and understanding of embodied emotional experiences. Current research on EI is reviewed with particular attention to its role in mental and physical health, as well as the importance of emotional clarity in psychological functioning. The theoretical foundations of the AAE and its research tool, The Aesthetic Descriptors of Emotion Measure (ADEM), are described. The AAE is illustrated by psychotherapy case reports which demonstrate how aesthetic descriptions of emotions can help patients identify affective states which they previously had difficulty recognizing or expressing. Potential applications of this approach are considered in both medical and behavioral healthcare settings with suggestions to expand emotional language to better facilitate provider-patient communication and improve clinical outcomes.