[pphysch]

Having someone to talk to, who is somewhat emotionally intelligent, who doesn't have strong biases against you, and so on...

If you are fortunate, you have people like that in your immediate circle, but increasingly few people do.

[AmericanChopper]

What part of the therapist training regimen tests for emotional intelligence? What test do they use to measure this?

[pdabbadabba]

They don't attempt to measure it, but they do teach approaches like "unconditional positive regard" and other techniques that allow a practitioner to demonstrate (or at least seem to demonstrate) a higher level of emotional intelligence.

A big part of therapy is also rapport. Many people go through many therapist before finding one that works for them. In part, you can think of this as the market performing the assessment your'e referring to.

[AmericanChopper]

They don’t attempt to measure it because it not something that’s even properly defined with any rigour. Any person who seriously uses the phrase is going to have their own completely individual idea of what it means, and there’s no reason the think any therapist would have this nebulous quality, or even that their idea of what it means has any similarity to your idea of what it means.

[pdabbadabba]

I suppose I agree — "emotional intelligence" is probably not the word I would have used, writing on a blank slate. I think the idea is better captured in the concept of rapport, which is really just a function of clients' subjective experience working with a given therapist. A therapist can learn techniques to increase the chances of establishing a good rapport with a given client, but I'd be inclined to leave it at that.

[detourdog]

It is covered in the curriculum. They study emotional intelligence and with luck they are able to self-reflect using their education.

Actual maladaptive personalities are the result of low emotional intelligence.