Ambivalence: what is this condition, its symptoms and treatment

• September 10, 2018
• Psychological terms
• Olgerd Semenov

What is this ambivalence? You should start from afar. Although attitudes tend to guide behavior, people who hold ambivalence tend to be less influenced by it. The less certain an individual is in his attitude, the more impressionable he becomes, therefore making future actions less predictable and less decisive. Ambivalent people are also more sensitive to temporary information (such as mood).

Psychological reaction

Overt ambivalence can be perceived as psychologically unpleasant (or vice versa) when the positive and negative sides of the subject are simultaneously present in the person's mind. Psychologically uncomfortable ambivalence, also known as cognitive dissonance, can lead to avoidance, procrastination, or deliberate attempts to resolve the ambivalence. People experience the greatest discomfort from their ambivalence at times when the situation requires a solution. People are aware of it to varying degrees. Therefore, the consequences of ambivalence vary between people and situations. For this reason, researchers have looked at two forms of ambivalence. Only one of them is subjectively experienced as a conflict state.

Concept

The psychological literature distinguishes several forms of ambivalence. One of them, often called subjective or sensory, is the psychological experience of conflict (emotional manifestation), mixed feelings, mixed reactions (cognitive manifestation) and indecision (behavioral manifestation) when evaluating an object. A person does not always recognize and does not always realize that this is ambivalence. Although when an individual realizes this, he feels discomfort, which is caused by contradictory attitudes towards a specific stimulus. Simply put, ambivalence in psychology is a double, often paradoxical attitude towards the same situation.

Symptoms

Since ambivalence is a general concept, the identification of key symptoms must be based on the division that was originally described in the psychiatric context. It involves three key points: will, thoughts, emotions. If ambivalence is considered as a pathological condition, then a person can constantly experience all three of these components, giving rise to each other.

Emotional ambivalence

It is ambivalence in the emotional and sensory sphere that is considered the most common feature. It is characteristic of many borderline states and can appear in the life of a completely healthy person from time to time.

The main manifestation of this type of duality is the presence of two completely different emotions. A person is simultaneously capable of feeling love and hatred (typical of outbursts of jealousy), experiencing fear and interest, sympathy and antipathy, and so on. This ambivalence is especially characteristic of nostalgic states, when a person experiences a feeling of sadness because of past events, while feeling awe and joy from what is a pleasant memory.

The danger of emotional duality lies in which of the internal emotional states ultimately becomes dominant. For example, when fear and interest in something coexist, if interest comes to the fore, this can lead to the creation of life- and health-threatening situations. When hatred dominates, when a state of passion is “triggered,” a person is capable of harming not only himself, but also the people around him.

Polarity of ideas and thoughts

It is generally accepted that ambivalent thinking can manifest itself directly in neurotic states, obsessions that change each other.
The presence of two polarly different thoughts in the mind becomes a key symptom. The presence of different ideas in the mind is directly related to emotional duality. At the same time, the range of thought options can be enormous. Ambivalence within the framework of thinking can be perceived as an immediate “split”, indicating the development of schizophrenia.

Volitional duality

The volitional type of ambivalence includes the inability to decide on an action or make a specific choice. A person can feel thirsty, but refuse to drink or freeze for a long time in one position with a cup raised to his mouth, without taking sips. The condition can manifest itself in situations of sleep disorder, when the desire to go to bed and the desire to refuse such rest coexist, and attempts to go to sleep are stopped halfway.

From a psychological point of view, the inability to make a decision, ultimately refusing to make an independent decision, may be associated with such internal problems as:

• lack of a sense of responsibility for oneself and one’s life or, on the contrary, excessive responsibility, in which the fear of making mistakes dominates;
• pathological indecision, isolation, fear of attracting undue attention to oneself;
• tendency to self-criticism, perfectionism;
• the presence of internal phobias, increased anxiety, and so on.

At the same time, by avoiding choice, a person can simultaneously experience a feeling of relief and a burning feeling of shame for his indecision, which again indicates that one type of duality can give rise to another.

Since ambivalence itself is either a mental trait or a symptom of a disease, other background manifestations that arise in the context of the condition depend on the specific basis and root cause.

Methods of correction (treatment)

If ambivalence occurs in rare cases, does not manifest itself clearly and does not entail significant negative consequences, then there is no need to talk about pathology. Being a mental trait, it does not require targeted therapy.

Any intervention is necessary if this condition brings discomfort to life or becomes a signal of the emergence and progression of a pathological condition. You should not attempt self-analysis or home treatment for serious illnesses. This not only may not produce results, but can also lead to unpleasant consequences.

Subjective ambivalence - what does it mean?

This form is typically assessed using direct self-report measures of experience. Because subjective ambivalence is a secondary judgment of the primary appraisal (i.e., it implies a dual emotional attitude), it is considered metacognitive. The essence of preventive measures is to find out how much a person experiences ambivalence in a particular assessment. This can be reported in several ways.

For example, Priester and Petty used a rating system in which they had subjects rate the level of conflict they were experiencing on a scale from 0 (as a subject experiencing no conflict at all) to 10 (as a subject experiencing the most conflict). However, people do not like to experience the negative emotions associated with ambivalence. Therefore, they may remain silent about their level of internal conflict. This makes the measurement of feeling ambivalence less reliable than a researcher might wish. Determining ambivalence in psychology is a quick process that involves taking various tests.

Ambivalence

On the one hand, the teenager wants attention, on the other, he doesn’t.
The ambivalence of feelings towards parents is complicated, but frank: “Leave me and my life alone, but be there when I need you.” The teenager feels confused in this transition to independence. Looking forward to the fact that he will soon cease to be the object of parental supervision and will gain freedom of personal choice, he nevertheless regrets the cozy parental nest and the fact that from now on he will have to rely only on his own strength. The price you have to pay for independence is a certain amount of loneliness and fear. Complaints about too much support and protection are now being replaced by complaints about the lack of it. “What if my car breaks down and I don’t have money for repairs? How will I get to work?

When the time comes for separation, parents can help plan the next steps because, with more experience, they foresee pitfalls that are invisible to the youthful eye. The amazing process of turning parents from people who had no idea about anything into people who know almost everything in the world begins.

At this time, parents should clearly define the degree, duration and conditions of financial support so that the teenager knows what to expect. It is very important that single parents restrain and do not show their anxiety in any way, confiding it to friends, but in no case to their children.

Unshakable Faith

During this period, parents' anxiety is perceived by children as mistrust, and this is completely unnecessary. The young man is already full of doubts. What he wants from his parents now is just the opposite: an unshakable belief that he has what it takes to take the next step toward independence, to make the right choices, and to recover from the possible consequences of making the wrong ones.

The fact that the boy (or girl) is not quite ready for this step is not a problem. This is to be expected. Perhaps the best training that parents can provide provides no more than 60 percent of the skills, understanding, and practical experience needed for life in society. If parents refuse to release their child until it is completely ready, they will never be able to part with it. A boy (or girl) at this age must get on his feet before he is completely ready for this. To learn the rest, this almost adult child must be left alone with Reality with a capital R, which completes the instruction with rather harsh methods, sometimes very painful.

And it doesn’t matter at all how adults learn. No one can be fully prepared for all of life's demands. The trick here is not to get overwhelmed when faced with difficulties. Like single parents, all sorts of surprises await a young man at this age.

28. Test of independence: difficulties of independent living

If a single parent is lucky, his offspring will spend the last phase of adolescence (between eighteen and twenty-three years old) away from the parental home. Renting a room, sharing an apartment with friends, living in a hostel, a young man is faced with the reality of independent living for the first time and usually feels it is much more problematic than he expected. In particular, it provides too much tempting freedom.

This is the age of limping and sliding. Most young people grasp—and then break—one or more chains of obligations: leases, loan agreements, bank accounts, academic programs, job demands, promises to themselves and others. Trying to put it all together and deal with it usually fails. There are so many things you need to do, but don’t want to do, and so many things you want to try. Sooner or later, a lack of responsibility, an excess of pleasure, or both lead a young man or girl to a crisis. What to do next?

At the same time, all the friends around are also struggling in search of their own support; everyone suddenly discovers that productive independence requires strict discipline and self-restraint. It is necessary not only to be able to provide for yourself financially, but also to be able to live according to the laws of society. They thought that they would finally feel free, but they encountered the opposite. Now they have to obtain information about their surroundings themselves and follow social rules and requirements, such as laws and taxes, which previously, living under the wing of their parents, they could simply ignore. The test of independence allows you to find out how much work it takes to fully serve yourself.

Complicating matters is the fact that those three to five years after high school are when drug and alcohol use and sexual activity peak. Now is an unusually pleasant time - payback will come later. It is a blessing for parents to remain ignorant of the adventures and misfortunes of their offspring during this wild period, until passions finally subside and life enters the shores.

Some young people manage to catch responsibility by the tail as soon as they enter the stage of tentative independence, but most do not. Stumbling and falling, they reach out to their parents for support, ask for help and even take them back. If such assistance is provided, parents must set strict conditions: the young person must take most of the responsibility for what happened and compensate for the losses. Parents are ready to help, but they are not a lifeline. If a boy (or girl) returns home, he needs to make it clear that his stay here is temporary. The parent gives him the opportunity to think things over, learn lessons and prepare for a new attempt to enter a world based on the laws of independence.

There is no sin in having to resort to help during the test of independence, and in the fact that the first attempt to live independently may fail. Parents should express this understanding in their attitude towards their children. They should not panic, but demonstrate faith. They should not punish - they should be patient. They should not criticize - they should advise. Their task is to help the young person accept and understand the difficulties of independent life, to respect their son or daughter for their efforts in this difficult struggle and in every possible way to encourage their desire to try again.

The problems are very real. Even having a roommate is a lesson in independent living. Sharing space, cooperating with others, depending on mutual agreements, accepting differences, communicating, quarreling, living with someone you don't always like, and resolving conflicts are all part of the informal education that occurs during the test of independence.

Over time, the young person will slip and stumble less, will gain more stable footing, and will be able to establish greater control over his or her own life. At this moment, entry into adulthood begins, childhood and adolescence and the parent’s activities in raising a child are left behind.

29. Achievements are very important, but...: Seeing successes in perspective

Without a doubt, academic achievement is very important. They support self-confidence and facilitate future mobility. However, achievement is just part of a child's development. There are many other important areas of growth: social, emotional, moral, spiritual, physical, creative, and more. There is much more to a child than his school achievements. After all, he is a human being, not just a performer. This is often forgotten, especially in a society that is accustomed to judging a person based on his achievements, extolling excellence and rewarding winners. Sometimes it is useful to remember President Truman's remark: “C students rule the world.” It takes a lot more than good grades to become famous.

Measuring a child's success with grades in general can lead parents to the wrong conclusions. Fives do not guarantee that their child is responsible, diligent, healthy, happy, well-behaved, or great at other things; it doesn't even mean that he is interested in studying or is going to achieve extraordinary success in the future. Some of these assumptions may turn out to be true, some may not. It is best for parents not to rely on such “patterns.” Instead, evaluate each area of ​​development independently.

Beware of another misconception that a child’s school success depends entirely on the efforts of the parent to raise him, and the teacher’s abilities are assessed by the child’s success. So, if a child studies well, the parent receives praise for a job well done. If the child has nothing to brag about at school, the parent deserves all kinds of censure - as if he failed to cope with the task. Using a child's success as a measure of parental success leads to very disastrous consequences. The child is either held accountable for his parent's accomplishments or is blamed for the parent's negligence.

Parents who have no one to share daily responsibilities with are often very concerned about their success. Is what they are doing enough? Are they doing the right thing? In order not to be bound by their children's school achievements, they must develop a strong, unequivocal declaration of independence in relation to the child's progress. It might sound something like this: “No matter how you decide to study at school, I will be calm for us - for myself, as your mother, and for you, as my child. If you have good grades, I will not take credit for it and praise myself. But I won’t scold you for the bad ones either. My responsibility is to guide and support you as best I can, but you make the choice yourself.”

The last mistake that a parent should beware of is in the usual congratulations to a child: “Well done, I’m so proud of you!” Although this reaction may be perceived as a simple expression of approval, it often indicates that the parent-child relationship is moving in a dangerous direction. The parent thus lays claim to the child’s achievements, hinting at a deep connection: “By your action, you helped me feel that I am a good parent.” Thus, the child learns to think that his personal successes are determined not only by the attitude towards himself, but also towards his parent.

And vice versa, if successes become less brilliant, the child may feel threatened: now the parent will stop being proud of me and will be disappointed.

The statement “You have greatly disappointed me” can have a devastating effect. A child who stumbles not only has to cope with the consequences of failure and seek the return of parental approval, but also compensates for the damage caused to the parent so that he can regain the lost respect of others. It is much better to reward a job well done by expressing approval in a simpler way: “This will do you good” or “Well done, great.” If parents feel that a child is performing below their abilities and want to point this out, they should try to avoid the slightest hint of personal disappointment. "I think you're capable of more."

If a single parent wants to explain what he expects from his child in terms of school, he should choose as specific words as possible. General statements such as “try to do your best,” “try your best,” “try to reach the highest level of your capabilities” leave the child free to interpret. It is as if he is free to choose the standard to be equal to. But how does a child know whether he is trying his best, whether he is reaching the highest level of ability? He doesn't know this. And no one knows. And then he has to live under great tension, fighting for some vague standards that no one bothered to define.

Without forgetting about the child’s real abilities, clarify what level of performance would satisfy you. “I don’t know what grades you could get ideally, so I’ll just list you the minimum grades that I’m willing to agree to. If you slip below this level, I will intervene to help you climb back up.”

30. Encouraging knowledge: Educational mindset

Most single parents encourage their children's education because they believe knowledge increases competence and increases self-confidence. Purely theoretically, this belief is correct. But, unfortunately, the educational process is often carried out in such a way that it suppresses the desire to learn. A lot here depends on the teacher, and the most influential teachers are parents. Home education largely shapes children's attitudes toward school and the other teachers they encounter.

It is easy to discourage the desire to learn, because studying often seems like a risky business. What's the risk here? To acquire new skills or knowledge, we must accept that we are initially ignorant. The child must be ready to make mistakes, feel stupid, look like a total fool, and as a result receive appreciation for his work. It is not surprising that young children often resist, not wanting to try something they have never tried before or have not yet learned how to do properly. They are afraid to take risks. After all, their self-esteem is inflated due to their age. Children experience fear of failure. Although gaining knowledge builds a strong foundation of self-confidence, some self-confidence is required initially to decide to take risks.

Parents, acting as teachers, are often quite insensitive to the child’s pride, because they suffer from educational amnesia.

As soon as a person masters a skill or understands something, he completely forgets how hard it was to achieve it. Sitting next to a first-grader who is doing his homework too slowly, parents often do not understand the reason for his difficulties - after all, the task seems unusually easy to them. What happened to the child? Never mind. Parents simply forgot their school experience. They have long been unaware of the attacks of fear that now haunt their child.

When encouraging a child to learn, parents should be aware of difficulties that they themselves no longer remember, and try to reduce the risk inherent in this process. Teaching must be safe. There are several ways parents can help create this feeling of security:

1. They accept ignorance by declaring: “It’s okay not to know something. All knowledge begins with complete ignorance."

2. They regard any mistakes as attempts: “An attempt is not torture. Try again."

3. They understand the fact that the child feels like a complete fool: “It’s always scary to take on something that you’ve never dealt with before.”

4. They admire the fact that the child is not afraid to look stupid in front of his peers: “What a great fellow you are, asking to explain the assignment in front of the whole class.”

5. Regardless of the result, they always give a positive assessment: “Now you know more than before.”

It discourages the desire to learn and the impatience of parents. By rushing and pushing, they only increase the risk: “It’s time you knew that.” They are annoyed by mistakes: “Why can’t you do it right right away?” They may criticize the child for being stupid: “Why are you so stupid?”

They can reduce the child’s efforts to “no” and increase his sense of his own narrow-mindedness: “Even a three-year-old child could cope with this faster than you.” Evaluating his works, parents can act as a “formidable judge”: “It is quite obvious that you will never learn to do this correctly.” If a tired, exhausted parent suddenly discovers that a similar reaction is arising in his soul, he should immediately tear himself away from his homework and call a break. Don't try to interfere with your child's education if you don't feel emotionally equipped to encourage him.

Remember that children imitate you. When parents criticize and get angry at themselves for mistakes, when they call themselves names or get upset because they can't figure out something important or don't know how to deal with a problem, they are showing the child that learning difficulties reduce self-confidence. They also show children that if someone is unable to learn quickly and easily, there is something wrong with them.

If you want everyone in your family to feel calm and safe, be sure to keep the relationships between your children under control. Often, in an effort to assert their dominance or tease, older children humiliate younger children who are struggling to do well in school. Single parents should discourage such interference. Every child in the family must clearly understand: “Learning is too important to allow anyone to discourage others from taking risks.”

31. First steps: group life and social cruelty

The school declares education as its goal. However, while studying in elementary school, young children think that their only task is to gain a position in the team and maintain it in a constant struggle, falling and rising again. At higher levels, although homework demands increase, so does the complexity of relationships with peers. A period of social cruelty begins. Self-doubt and ruthless authority battles can cause students to be cruel to each other like never before.

Bullying becomes the rule of the daily routine. It is much more pleasant to make fun of other people's qualities and character traits than to wait until equally vulnerable traits are discovered in yourself. Bullying is an act of defense. Making fun of others becomes a serious game. The instigator makes offensive jokes, amusing those around him, and the one at whom they fly feels offended. Words are a weapon, and you need to fire it in order to attack before they attack you: they will start spreading rumors behind your back, sending slanderous notes and gossiping on the phone. A child may be completely innocent from a social point of view, but with the appearance of informal groups in the classroom, not a trace of his innocence will remain. Social meanness becomes the norm, a tactic to leave other contenders behind, while social flattery is used by those who want to achieve something.

Leaders act like bullies, their followers, out of fear, join a group where they are less tormented - like cowards, and the targets of such treatment feel like victims.

Single parents should pay close attention to how their offspring are adjusting to high school life to see if they are being seriously bullied or bullied. If a child is constantly the victim of bullying, his dignity suffers. To protect himself, he only retreats and cowers. He is afraid to express his feelings, to speak out, to show that he is offended. Such a child cannot stand up for himself. He may avoid people, withdraw into himself, and find it difficult to make acquaintances. He is afraid of obstacles and is ashamed of his fear - and this is also a direct road to loneliness.

Having noticed such deviations, single parents should try to help their child:

1. They can sympathize with the child, and he will have a chance to calmly express his pain.

2. They can advise the child on how to behave without provoking or escalating the abuse.

3. They can put the situation in perspective and explain that such treatment depends on the age, and not at all on the personality of the child.

4. They can explain that as they get older, mates will treat each other better because they will feel more confident

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Objective ambivalence

Another type of this internal conflict is called objective, or potential, ambivalence and represents the simultaneous recognition of both positive and negative evaluations regarding a specific stimulus. Objective ambivalence allows people to answer questions based on more accessible aspects of their attitudes. Therefore, it is much easier to measure it. This type does not assume that the individual has full awareness of his conflictual attitude towards the situation.

Objective ambivalence, often assessed by psychologists and psychiatrists, is typically assessed using a method pioneered by Kaplan in which a standard bipolar attitude scale (e.g., extremely negative to extremely positive) is divided into two separate scales. Each of them independently estimates the magnitude of one valence (for example, from extremely positive to extremely negative). If a person maintains both positive and negative reactions to the same object, then at least some objective ambivalence is present.

Kaplan originally introduced the concept of ambivalence as the lesser of two reactions (i.e., positive or negative evaluations), also called contradictory reactions. He contrasted them with dominant reactions. For example, if objective ambivalence about exercise was assessed using two separate 6-point scales, and the individual indicated that his or her rating was slightly negative (e.g., 2 on a 6-point scale) yet extremely positive (e.g., 6 on a 6-point scale), that person's ambivalence would be quantified by the lower of the two scores (i.e. 2 in this case). To understand what ambivalence means, it is advisable to take one of these tests.

Causes of ambivalence in humans

The reasons for the emergence of duality are very different, as well as the varieties of this duality. In healthy people, only social and emotional duality can occur. Such disorders appear as a result of acute experiences, stress, conflicts in the family or at work. When the cause of an ambivalent attitude is eliminated, the ambivalence itself disappears.

Duality also arises due to neurasthenic and hysterical states, due to uncertainty in a person or another object of relationship. Ambivalence in attitudes towards parents occurs in children, since these people who are closest to him, who love him, at the same time invade his personal space.

Ambivalence regarding social and cultural values ​​is the result of a person’s contradictory upbringing, life experiences, and ambitions. For example, conformism and submission to state power gives rise to such phenomena as, for example, the coexistence of communist, monarchist and liberal democratic ideas in the same person, hatred of “American-imposed values” and simultaneous love for American goods, music, films.

Another thing is ambivalence regarding certain pathologies. It can occur in a number of diseases

:

• For schizophrenia and schizoid conditions.
• For prolonged clinical depression.
• During obsessive-compulsive disorder.
• In the case of bipolar affective disorder.
• For various neuroses.

The human psyche, both healthy and sick, is a complex and impenetrable jungle that only a specialist can understand. And specialists - a psychotherapist, a psychiatrist, a clinical psychologist - must also establish the exact reasons for duality.

Simultaneous Availability and Consistency

In order to fully understand what ambivalence is, you need to become familiar with two concepts closely related to it.

Simultaneous availability is when potential ambivalence depends on how quickly and uniformly the polar assessments a person makes of a particular situation conflict. Positive and negative knowledge regarding beliefs about an attitude object are both known but not always accessible. Only when the appraisal connection is applicable and coincides with awareness does potential ambivalence lead to sensory ambivalence.

The consistency preference uses incentives to integrate incoming stimuli with current variables to respond to approaching impulses. In other words, people often consider their past behavior when making new decisions. If consistency preference is high, they are more likely to ignore new information and therefore tend to repeat ambivalence reactions that they have had in the past.

How to get rid of ambivalence: diagnosis and treatment

An ambivalent state should be diagnosed by specialists who work with the “mental” sphere of a person: these are psychologists (regular and clinical), a psychotherapist, a psychiatrist.

Various tests are used to identify a dual state. This is, for example, the Kaplan test, which diagnoses bipolar disorder; Priester test, which identifies conflict situations; conflictology test by Richard Petty. However, a standard test that would accurately determine the presence or absence of an ambivalent state has not been created to date.

Common testing used by experts includes questions

:

• Does a person show others what he feels deep down?
• Does he discuss his problems with other people?
• Does he feel comfortable talking openly with others?
• Is he afraid that other people will stop communicating with him?
• Does he worry if other people don't care about him?
• Does being dependent on others make him feel bad?

Each question is scored from 1 to 5, ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.”

When the presence of duality is established, you can begin to treat it. It should be understood that ambivalence is not an independent disease, but a manifestation of some other disease. Therefore, in order to eliminate ambivalence, you need to get rid of the cause of its occurrence.

The elimination of ambivalence is carried out both through medication and through conversations with a psychologist and psychotherapist, trainings, and group classes.

Medications used include antidepressants, tranquilizers, mood stabilizers, and sedatives. They relieve emotional stress, combat sudden mood swings, regulate the amount of neurotransmitters, relieve headaches and have other effects; all together allows us to eliminate the causes of the ambivalent state.

Psychotherapy for the treatment of ambivalence is no less important, and often even more important, than the medication method. At the same time, an individual approach to each patient is important; it is necessary to take into account the characteristics of his personality, character, and inclinations.

Theories related to ambivalence of feelings

Cognitive consistency theories were developed based on the belief that people prefer clear and consistent knowledge of the surrounding reality. Inconsistency in your thoughts, feelings, emotions, values, beliefs, attitudes or behavior causes natural tension. In the past, coherence theorists have primarily focused on the instinctive desire to reduce this psychological discomfort and return to a simple, balanced state. However, unlike classical approaches, theories of relational ambivalence are more concerned with the perceived paradoxical state itself.

Balance theory

This theory was developed to study people's thoughts regarding their personal relationships with other people and with the environment. Triadic relationships are used to assess the structure and quality of relationships within an organization.

The general assumption of balance theory is rooted in the philosophy that unbalanced states tend toward chaos. Satisfying relationships require balance, otherwise it is common to experience symptoms such as stress, tension or ambivalence.

Psychotherapy

As part of psychotherapy, individual counseling can be carried out to identify the internal state in which this pathology is active. In particular, a psychoanalytic approach to the patient can be applied.

Correction is carried out based on what internal state gives rise to duality. If the “trigger” is any childhood trauma, then it needs to be worked through. Work is aimed at changing self-esteem, instilling a sense of responsibility, and correcting the emotional sphere. In a situation where ambivalence entails negative consequences in the form of anxiety, phobias, psychotherapeutic influence affects the elaboration of these problematic issues.

In some cases, group and training sessions will be relevant, for example, on the topic of personal growth or in the format of combating internal fears.

Despite the fact that duality is recognized as a mental trait, it is important to be attentive to your condition, noticing possible changes. If polar obsessions and desires begin to haunt you, but you cannot figure out the truth of your attitude towards something, you need to seek help and advice from a specialist. This will not only relieve the present discomfort, but also identify any deviation in the psyche in the early stages, which will greatly simplify the selection of correction options.

Author of the article: Alena Igorevna Lobzova, clinical psychologist, specialist in developmental psychology

Evaluative cognitive consistency theory

Evaluative cognitive consistency theory describes a situation where people hold opposing attitudes toward an object that does not have the same magnitude. The focus is on the overall difference in estimates without considering magnitude.

From the point of view of the theory of evaluative cognitive consistency, ambivalence in psychology is a function of the number of conflicts within the relationship, while evaluative-cognitive consistency depends on the magnitude of the difference between assessments.

If a person gave both a positive and a negative rating of 5 out of 6, then his answers have the same degree of consistency. However, the degree of ambivalence in each assessment differs significantly. This distinction is important when studying the consequences of ambivalence.

A two-dimensional attitude appraisal perspective can distinguish between ambivalence and evaluative-cognitive consistency. As ratings increase, both ambivalence and evaluative-cognitive consistency tend to be less stable, which means that the system itself for tracking and assessing them becomes less effective in predicting human behavior.

Past research has linked ambivalent mental states to slower response times (due to distracted attention) and low problem attitudes, although evaluative-cognitive consistency theories have not yet reported such findings.

Therapy methods

When a person is moderately ambivalent, which is accompanied by the absence of negative manifestations of this condition, there is no need to use various treatment methods. In this case, duality is a characteristic feature of consciousness. Medical intervention is required only in situations where an ambivalent attitude towards the outside world leaves a negative imprint on the usual life activities. In this situation, a feeling of discomfort caused by internal conflicts can become a kind of signal about the presence of mental disorders. Experts do not recommend that people with such problems independently look for various methods of resolving conflicts, as there is a high risk of developing more serious complications.

Drug therapy

To date, there are no narrowly targeted medications that can eliminate the duality of consciousness. The treatment strategy, as well as the means used, are considered on an individual basis . Most often, the choice of a specific medication is made on the basis of accompanying symptoms that complement the clinical picture.

As part of the complex treatment of borderline conditions, drugs from various drug groups are used. These can be either mild sedative medications or more “powerful” tranquilizers and antidepressants. The action of such drugs is aimed at suppressing the severity of the disease and normalizing mental balance. In cases where the disease is severe and there is a high risk to the patient’s life, specialists may recommend that the patient’s relatives undergo therapy in a hospital setting.

Mental correction

Psychotherapy methods are based on various methods of identifying the causes of duality of consciousness. This means that the main emphasis in treatment is on psychoanalytic action. In order to achieve lasting results, a specialist needs to identify the root cause of ambivalence . In situations where the role of the triggering mechanism is assigned to various traumatic circumstances that have childhood roots, the specialist must carefully “work through” this moment. To do this, self-esteem should be increased and a sense of responsibility should be instilled in the patient. Increased attention is paid to the correction of the emotional-volitional sphere.

Many psychologists believe that ambivalence is inherent in every person without exception, but the difference lies only in the degree of its manifestation

When duality of consciousness is the cause of the appearance of phobias and increased anxiety, the main emphasis of psychotherapeutic treatment is on combating problematic issues in the patient’s life. The desired effect can be achieved both through independent training and group classes aimed at combating internal fear and personal growth.

In conclusion, it should be said that duality can be both a distinctive feature of the human psyche and a symptom of a disease. That is why it is very important to pay due attention to your own condition. The emergence of a feeling of discomfort due to an ambivalent attitude towards the world around us requires urgent consultation with a specialist. Otherwise, the risk of possible negative consequences for human life increases every day.

Individual differences

Individual characteristics are necessary to decide the most beneficial strategies for coping with ambivalent states. Research has shown that certain personality traits can influence people who experience ambivalence. There are certain personality traits that make a person less likely to be ambivalent. Various factors can change these traits, thus contributing to the emergence of ambivalence, for example, a person's innate (or acquired) tolerance for any ambiguity. In particular, those who have a need for cognition or a tendency to evaluate discrepancies between positive and negative emotions are less likely to experience feelings of ambivalence. In other words, the desire to solve problems that require significant cognitive resources contributes to cognitive strength and, therefore, the ability to overcome ambivalence.

Strength and weakness

Ambivalent relationships associated with feelings of weakness gain access to a person's consciousness more slowly than those associated with strong and intense feelings. This leads to a conflict called response reactivity, the process of slowing down responses due to the difficulty of choosing between positive and negative beliefs and feelings. Clinical research shows how high cognitive effort combined with beliefs leads to impaired information retrieval. When people are faced with multiple options for how to approach the same situation, they may report uncertain results on tests. Thus, psychologists concluded that slower response times may be caused by the systematic processing of information by the psyche.

Clinical picture

Since the term in question has many definitions, when drawing up a clinical picture we will rely on the criteria used in the original (psychiatric) context. These criteria are divided into three groups: emotions, thoughts and will. In the case when the ambivalent state is considered as a pathology, the patient has all three of the above components, which are generated by each other.

Emotional ambivalence

Duality affecting the emotionally sensitive sphere has the highest prevalence. This symptom, characteristic of many neuroses and other mental disorders, often occurs in completely healthy people. A clear sign of duality in the emotionally sensitive sphere is the presence of several opposing emotions. An ambivalent attitude is the presence of feelings such as hatred and love, curiosity and fear, contempt and sympathy. In most cases, a healthy person is in a similar state of nostalgia, where sadness about the past gives rise to joy from pleasant memories.

The danger of this condition is explained by the fact that sooner or later, one of the conditions takes on a dominant role. In a situation where fear accompanies curiosity, tipping the scales in favor of the latter can lead to traumatic consequences and a threat to life. The dominance of hatred over love causes the launch of defense mechanisms, in which a person, under the influence of his own emotions, can cause harm, both to others and to himself.

With ambivalence, a person simultaneously experiences positive and negative feelings towards someone or something.

Polar thoughts and ideas

Polar thoughts and ideas are an integral part of neurotic disorders. Obsessive thoughts and ideas that replace each other in the human mind are a peculiar characteristic feature of mental illness. It should be noted that polar thoughts in consciousness appear solely due to the duality of emotional perception. The very range of human ideas can be unlimited in size. Duality of thinking in psychiatry is considered as a “crack” in consciousness, which is the main symptom of schizophrenia.

Volitional sphere

Volitional duality is characterized as the inability to carry out a specific action due to the presence of several stimuli. In order to better understand this condition, let's consider a situation in which a person experiences extreme thirst. In such conditions, an ordinary person will take a glass, pour water into it and quench his thirst. With volitional ambivalence, patients refuse water or freeze in one position with a glass in their hand, while not paying attention to the strong desire to drink. Most often, most people encounter this phenomenon when they simultaneously feel the desire to stay awake and go to sleep.

Experts who study volitional ambivalence say that refusal to make independent decisions is most often generated by internal conflicts. The cause of such conflicts can be irresponsible behavior or, conversely, increased responsibility, accompanied by a fear of making a mistake. The cause of internal conflict may be reduced self-esteem and increased self-criticism, fear of public attention and a tendency towards perfectionism, increased anxiety, indecisiveness and various phobias. An attempt to avoid a difficult choice is accompanied by the appearance of two polar feelings - shame for one’s own indecision and a feeling of relief. It is by the presence of these feelings that experts confirm the theory that each type of duality is closely interrelated with each other.

Ambivalent emotions, like ambivalence itself, can be both a difference in human consciousness and a symptom of a disease. That is why, during a diagnostic examination, increased attention is paid to the background manifestations of this condition.

Ambivalent behavior can be a sign of emotional instability, and sometimes the first sign of the development of mental illness

Consistency problem

People with greater concern about the validity/invalidity of something have been shown to experience increased ambivalence, presumably because they are preoccupied with making illegal judgments, and as a result, any efforts to regulate the attitude become blocked. The response to ambivalence therefore depends on the individual's need for coherence. The higher the need for consistency, the more adverse the reaction will be to simultaneously maintaining two contradictory relationships, whereas someone with a reduced need for consistency will experience less mental distress associated with ambivalence. Those who strive to correct inconsistencies and resolve internal conflict can avoid ambivalence much better than most.