Is It Possible To Feel Love And Hate At The Same Time?

We know what it means to feel love, but we also know what it means to hate someone. But what happens when we have these two feelings at the same time? Why can we love and hate someone?

These totally opposite emotions find their place in the life of all of us.

For sure, you too will have experienced mixed feelings towards someone. It is not something that can be explained, it leaves us completely confused because they are emotions that are in two opposite extremes.

However, while it may sound strange, we actually experience opposite emotions on more than one occasion. Have you ever felt happy and sad at the same time? Maybe yes…

For example, when you have to leave the place where you have always lived for a new job opportunity or when a loved one passes away, even if you know they will be better because they no longer have to suffer. It is then that love and hate come into play at the same time.

I suffer from emotional ambivalence

When we have feelings of love and hate, we can begin to see ourselves as emotionally ambivalent people. This does not mean that we first feel hate and then love or vice versa.

Emotional ambivalence is characterized by the fact that the two emotions, love and hate, do not replace each other, but coexist together without one exceeding the other.

Can emotional ambivalence be considered a psychological disorder? On many occasions, ambivalence is a characteristic of someone with some mental disorder. For example, someone with depression, schizophrenia, psychosis or neurosis may exhibit ambivalent behavior.

However, the most common situation in which such an attitude occurs is when we feel jealous. That’s right, we love the person next to us, but at the same time we hate them for relating to other people or because others find them attractive.

Emotional ambivalence is normal, but it can trigger problems of various kinds when we relate to others, so much so that not even we are able to define what we feel.

Not to mention the couple relationships. Ambivalence can confuse us a lot and cause the relationship not to go the way we would have liked.

In the shoes of ambivalent people

If you’ve never been in such a situation, you probably have no idea how an ambivalent person who has both love and hate can feel as if they were one emotion.

• The ambivalent person feels attraction and repulsion towards a person.
• The ambivalent person loves someone, but hates certain attitudes of his.
• The ambivalent person may want to speak and not speak at the same time.
• The ambivalent person may want to act and remain passive at the same time.

All these contradictory feelings of the ambivalent person trigger feelings that for many are hateful. She remains paralyzed without knowing which path she has to choose.

Consequences of emotional ambivalence

Ambiguity is one of the characteristics of ambivalent people. They see their self-esteem hurt due to their inability to decide between two completely opposite feelings.

The same ambivalent person does not recognize his emotions. He doesn’t know how to act and how to stop having two feelings that should never merge into one feeling.

This situation of uncertainty greatly reduces self-esteem, so it is very difficult to maintain an emotionally healthy balance.

The ambivalent person begins to doubt himself, he doesn’t really know what he feels or what he stops feeling. This can sometimes lead to anxiety and loneliness, which in turn results in deep depression.

Emotional ambivalence is not a state that lasts a long time. Sometimes we feel confused by this fusion of emotions, but it is a passing thing and it will not happen forever. Unless, as we have anticipated, there is some psychological disturbance.

And you, are you emotionally ambivalent?