Instruments for assessing emotional intelligence in a clinical landscape: A critical analysis [Strumenti di assessment per l’intelligenza emotiva in psicoterapia: Un’analisi critica]

Epidemiology about mental disorders shows them to be the second cause of death among men and the third cause of death among men in Italy. For this reason there is a scientific commitment to identifying the etiopathogenetic factors of mental diseases in order to reduce their incidence and severity, through effective psychotherapeutic treatments. Emotional Intelligence (IE) is the capacity to recognise, express and understand emotions. IE is a variable of bio-psycho-social wellbeing. New research perspectives underline the importance of increasing IE within psychotherapy, especially in children and individuals with emotional difficulties. In literature, there are two types of instruments for IE: Self-report measures, which measure IE as a trait, and those that measure IE as a cognitive ability. This article presents a critical review of the most important instruments for the measurement of IE used in psychotherapy, highlighting their psychometric strengths and weaknesses.