Emotional Intelligence and Suicidal thoughts – How Related are they? – Systematic Review

Abstract

Background The literature on interpersonal disparities in health and well-being has grown steadily in recent decades, leading to an overall body of studies on relational factors correlated with outcomes in mental health. One factor that has demonstrated consistent connections with outcomes related to health and is thus an especially important subject of clinical studies is Emotional intelligence. The objective of the Study To review and study the association between suicidal thoughts and emotional intelligence in general condition and during COVID - 19 crisis. Method This systematic review was performed according to the PRISMA guidelines. Articles were looked into sources like Science Direct, PubMed, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library using the relevant search terms. Results Twenty-two articles were included. EI and suicidal behaviour correlated inversely in almost all the articles that the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i) and The Emotional Intelligence Test (EIT) Scale were used. The higher the suicidal behaviour level, the lower the EI score. Although Emotional Intelligence (EI) has several factors related to the idea of suicide and its behaviours, there are various literature gaps. Conclusion This article discusses how emotional intelligence is important for healthy mental health. These results indicate an intrinsic mechanism by which EI will act as a preventive factor against the idea of suicide. Plausible directions for future study and interventions are addressed according to the limits of our experience.