Emotions are defined as feelings or signals that influence the mind in reacting to certain situations. Emotions are unique to humans and we have learned many ways on how to express emotions to other people and to our environment. We usually respond to our emotions accordingly but there are people that react negatively to emotions such as with apathy or doing nothing; or overexagerration; or using emotions as an excuse for assaulting others. People that react positively to emotions are aware of their emotional insights and aware that those insights are congruent with the situation. Positive reactivity also involves some defense mechanisms such as suppression wherein you don’t take an immediate action until you have thought of the possible outcomes of your emotional response.
Positive characteristics in responding to emotions in healthy ways include being emotionally stable, not letting your tide of emotions affect your life negatively. Another one is being empathic as as we understand our own emotions, we also learn to understand the emotions of other people thereby increasing our empathy towards others. Lastly, healthy emotion handling leads to overall mental health as this prevents people from developing anxiety and other neurotic disorders that may progress to depression, or ultimately psychosis.