Emotions in Interpersonal Communications

Abstract
One of the most important concepts of humanity is Interpersonal communication. Our communication skills vary from one person to the next. There are many ways that we communicate in society with one another. Communication consists of verbal or nonverbal communication. Each individual has a unique style to communicate with society that it’s made up of diversity. Emotions are powerful feelings that may change the emotional well-being of a person. Emotions range from the feeling of joy, happiness, fear, sadness, anger, hate. Feelings will define the happy life journey of one person or the destruction of another.

Interpersonal Communication many times is a very difficult process due to the uniqueness of a person and the individualism we all poses. It involves verbal and non-verbal attempts to assist the other person to understand the argument or point that we are trying to communicate. Despite the strategies and paraphrasing and summarizing of information people will still have trouble in understanding our point of view or knowledge that we are trying to teach. Communication occurs on a daily basis in our lives. Many times we communicate our emotions without even thinking. All our daily activities require for us to communicate in one form or another. It is important to communicate in order to pass on information to people that we interact with. Communication is any action, verbal and nonverbal, which is conveyed by a person and received and understood by at least one other person. These actions or behaviors can be ideas, feelings, values and attitudes. When the receiver perceives the message, a meaning is obtained from the message.

A relationship is formed between people as they engage themselves in a communication process. Our communication output is composed of verbal, vocal and visual signs or signals. Verbal signals are words or speech that we speak. Vocal signals are the characteristics of our voice when we speak for example the tone, the volume or the speed of our speech and visual signals are all those actions that the receiver visualizes. These include facial expressions, body movement, posture and dress. Communication and Emotions go hand in hand, according to your feelings is the way we communicate and relate messages to other people. Successful communication often goes by unnoticed, while poor communication becomes obvious. It is important that we identify the factors that contribute to poor communication for example inappropriate language and sluggish body posture would not be considered effective interpersonal communication. If a client is in your office for their appointment and the counselor is sitting there rolling their eyes and constantly looking at the clock that will be considered to be lack of ethics and professionalism.

This gives the client the perception that the professional is not interested in what they are saying. If we change the scenario and the counselor would be listening attentively to a client, he/she would be using the three stage model to explore, clarify and the action stage. This gives the client the impression, that the counselor is interested in their issues and wants to help them. The key to successfully work with a client is to create rapport between client and counselor; this will be considered effective interpersonal communication. Emotions are very unpredictable and will change in blink of an eye depending on the circumstances that happen. When dealing with emotions it is very difficult for a professional to find solutions to a problem when the client is very emotional and not willing to cooperate with interventions. The vulnerability of a client’s emotional state plays an important factor in the effectiveness of treatment.

As professionals we need to be prepared and research the population we will be servicing. It is essential that we are aware of the customs and beliefs of a client, this way they do not feel disrespected or discriminated in any way. During the interview process we need to be ethical and professional and be considerate of a client’s emotional state. We have to be aware how a client’s culture influences their environment and what causing the issues that are surrounding them. In conclusion it is our duty as professionals to be able to develop strategies that will engage our client to feel confident and comfortable enough that they can confide in us. Our main goal as professionals is to assist a client in distress to find solutions to their life crisis. We need to understand that emotions will always be in the way of a client recovery that is why it is important that we learn to communicate effectively and respect our client’s emotions. We need to be able to design an individual plan that will allow a client to see positive results in their therapy session. Clients need to understand that when they act based on their emotions each action will have a negative or positive consequence that will have an impact in their life journey.

Bibliography

Cacioppo, J. T., & Gardner, W. L. (1999). Emotion. Annual Review of Psychology, 50, 191-214. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/205802484?accountid=45  Evans, D. R., Hearn, M. T., Uhlemann, M. R., & Ivey, A. E. (2011). Essential interviewing: A programmed approach to effective communication (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.