Affective Care, The Secret To A Better Quality Of Life

Affective care, like other care at different levels, plays a very important role in our well-being. However, also like other cares, we only usually spend time with them when there is something that hurts us: an emotional wound.

On the other hand, quality of life -translated into well-being on a physical, emotional and social level- is closely associated with health. This is just one of the reasons why it is important to have a series of affective care, knowing what is its importance for our health in its dimensions: social, emotional, and physical, and what are the benefits of having them in our lives.

Affective care, what does it consist of?

Affective cares are those that are related to our emotional world. It is about the attention and assistance to our feelings, thoughts and behaviors.

This care requires disposition on the part of those who provide it.  In addition, it is about giving to those we love the most:

• Affection. It is about providing that feeling by expressing it, through details, caresses, looks, words, and smiles.
• Empathy. It consists of the capacity we have to put ourselves in the shoes of the other, thus we increase understanding and value their perception.
• I respect. To consider the other and be clear about their limits and ours.

• Gratitude. It is about recognizing what others and us do.
• Patience. It is the ability we have to deal with situations without losing our cool.

All these values ​​are key when it comes to emotional care, since the idea is to validate the emotional world, accompany in complicated situations, and give a perspective so that the person we serve is able to learn from these and from the situations they face.

In addition, trust will also contribute its grain of sand, so the person can count on the security of having someone who values ​​him and provides him with emotional well-being.

They are affective care because they help to protect, shape, and learn from emotions  to have a better quality of life. Now, they can be to give to others, for us, and for nature.

Importance of affective health care

In the beginning, our parents, loved ones or caregivers are the ones who provide this care and we who receive it. In fact, this guarantees our survival, because when we are born we depend on what others do for us.

Later we are getting an idea of ​​what feelings are, of how we should act before others and ourselves, and we too begin to be care managers. Care for others and also for ourselves; If our emotional world collapses, we will not be able to help lift that of others.

Affective care concerns emotional, physical and social health. In the emotional, because they provide us with security, guidance, understanding and support to understand the emotional world; in the social because it is the basis for knowing how we should treat the other; in the physical, because there are diseases that are worse accompanied by a negative state of mind.

Throughout the history of psychology and psychoanalysis, it has been explored and suggested that affective deficiencies can have effects on the development of children.

Most of the studies on affective care have been based on psychological problems related to the construction of identity throughout the 20th century, as suggested by Bion, Anna Freud, and Winnicott. Around 1969, John Bowlby, went further. He created attachment theory and suggested that the tendency to establish close relationships is essential for our survival.

Today, thanks to advances in neuroimaging, we can see the implication in relation to our brain. This is what Nafissa Ghanem suggests in her article “L’impact des carences affectives vus par les neurosciences”, she shows us that thanks to the material offered by magnetic resonance imaging, we can understand how the mechanisms of emotional deprivation, that is, lack of attachment, they impact our brain.

These new neurophysiological contributions confirm the importance of affective care for child development. In addition, they suggest that mental maturation will be conditioned by the social, emotional and cultural environment, and will adapt throughout life.

Benefits of having affective care

Having assertive affective care provides us with a better quality of life. Let’s take a closer look at some of its benefits:

• They help us understand the emotional world.
• They improve communication.
• They provide security.
• They help integral development.
• Create connections with what surrounds us, those around us and with us.

• They create favorable conditions for learning.
• Greater emotional management.
• Increase our self-knowledge.

Affective care opens the door to the world of emotions,  step by step they show us what they are like and allow us to develop to establish healthier relationships with others, with ourselves and with nature.

We can say that we are fundamental to our growth. A growth that in many cases will make its way thanks to assertiveness. However, our behavior will not only depend on affectionate care in our early years. We must remember that we are acquiring experiences that also shape us.