To Feel Love And Hate At The Same Time
We know what it means to feel love, and also what it means to hate someone. But what happens when we feel both emotions at the same time? Why do we feel both love and hate for someone?
These completely opposite feelings are found in every human being. You have probably felt this kind of mixed feelings towards someone before. We can not explain it and it is quite confusing, because they are extreme emotions at opposite ends of the scale.
But even though it may seem strange , we have really felt contradictory feelings on more than one occasion. Have you ever felt both happy and sad at the same time? Perhaps…
This happens, for example, when we leave our hometown for a new job opportunity. Or when a loved one passes away, even if it was the best thing that could happen because he suffered. It is on such occasions that love and hate become a feeling.
Suffering from emotional ambivalence
Emotional ambivalence is a part of us. We can not avoid feeling both love and hate, even if it causes us discomfort. When we feel both love and hate, we can consider ourselves emotionally ambivalent. This does not mean that we first feel hatred and then love, or vice versa.
Emotional ambivalence means that these two feelings, love and hate, do not replace each other, but rather coexist without replacing each other.
Emotional ambivalence can also occur in people who suffer from some form of mental disorder. For example, people with depression, schizophrenia, psychosis or neurosis may exhibit ambivalent behavior.
But the most common situation of emotional ambivalence is when we feel jealous. In these cases, we love someone, but at the same time we hate the person because he has relationships with other people or because he is attractive to others. Jealousy is one of the natural causes of love and hate that are combined into a single feeling.
Emotional ambivalence is normal, but it can cause problems when we are dealing with other people, because we can not even explain how we feel.
And when we are in a love affair , ambivalence can confuse us and make things not go as planned.
How does emotional ambivalence feel?
If you have never found yourself in this situation, you probably do not know how it feels to feel love and hate in the same feeling.
You can feel attraction and aversion to someone. You can love this person but also hate certain attitudes he has. Maybe you want to talk and not talk at the same time. Or you want to take action but still remain passive.
All of these contradictory feelings can have a negative effect that many of us hate: feeling paralyzed without knowing which path we should take.
Consequences of emotional ambivalence
When we find ourselves between two opposite poles that become one, our emotions make us paralyzed and confused. Ambiguity is a trait of ambivalent people, whose self-esteem is damaged when they can not choose between two opposite emotions.
They feel that their feelings are strange. They do not know how to act and they do not know how to stop feeling two emotions that should never feel like one.
This stage of chaos lowers their self-esteem because they cannot maintain a healthy emotional balance.
They lose confidence in themselves. They do not really know what to feel and what to stop feeling. Sometimes this can give rise to anxiety and loneliness which can lead to depression.
Emotional ambivalence does not last for long periods. At times, we may feel confused by this fusion of emotions, but it passes and will not always occur; unless you suffer from some form of mental disorder.
And you? Are you ambivalent?
