Emotional intimacy can only be, in my opinion, in contact with the closest people - with a relationship partner, with children, with parents. For some, a girlfriend/boyfriend will be a truly close person. All people are looking for emotional intimacy, but few people understand what it is and why it is needed. Does discussing the current day's events with each other every day constitute emotional intimacy? And why does communicating with one person bring emotional satisfaction, but not with another? What makes up emotional satisfaction from the process of our interaction with each other? The means to achieve emotional intimacy is direct live communication. Domestic psychologist G. M. Andreeva cites 3 sides of communication: 1. communicative (two-way exchange of information) ;2. perceptual (the partners’ perception of each other to establish mutual understanding); 3. interactive (interaction - actions in relation to each other). Russian psychologist Ilyin E.P. cites another, and very important, side of communication - the emotional one (contagion of an emotion from a communication partner or evoking some emotion in him). The stimulator of communication is the motive of satisfying some need that is important to us. Communication in a relationship with each specific person satisfies some need. For example, in a passionate relationship, the emotional side comes first. In sociable relationships, in which partners have been in relationships for many years, the emotional side is just as important, but in them the emotions are not so vivid, because... values ​​of a different nature come to the fore - trust, safety, care. A child, for example, perceives an adult as the only source of all benefits to him. A dependent person perceives his partner in the same way, if, of course, he is dependent on his partner, and not on vodka, gambling, etc. A psychologically mature person is able to satisfy most of his needs on his own. However, it is impossible to satisfy the need for affiliation alone. Affiliation is the need for belonging, the individual's need to create trusting, warm, emotionally charged relationships. Such relationships give us a basic sense of security. Already being born, the child begins to cry and, normally, calms down when the mother presses him to her chest. If neither the mother nor anyone else interacts with the child, he either calms down and begins to suck his thumb (engages in detached self-soothing, which can subsequently cause autism, avoidance of close contacts, chemical addictions), or dies (in the book of the French psychoanalyst Caroline Elyacheff “Hidden pain” also describes such cases). Trust and warmth in relationships let us know that we are safe and loved. While emotionally distant relationships only increase the feeling of abandonment and dissatisfaction with life. Likewise, alone we cannot satisfy the need for knowledge of another and, through him, for self-knowledge. Emotionally close relationships allow you to satisfy this need on a deeper level - to experience another universe. Have you ever wondered why you need emotionally close relationships? *Image created using the Kandinsky 2.2 neural network. More useful information and communication in my telegram channel. I would be glad to subscribe 😉 https://t.me/burkova_psy Respect copyright in accordance with Art. 146 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ©