A phenomenological investigation of the experience of ambivalence

Results obtained from analyzing interviews with eight research co-participants who described experiences of having more than one feeling at a time were discussed. Three major categories of experience emerged from the descriptions of ambivalence provided by the interviewees. Using the specific language of research co-participants, these categories of experience were labeled: imbalance, weigh, and outweigh. These category labels communicate a kinesthetic sense of the experience that conveys the multiple layers of meaning regarding various facets of the experience including: bodily, emotional, cognitive and interpersonal themes salient in the experience of ambivalence. Minor themes and their relation to the essential themes are also elaborated as is the relationship of these categories to broader existential themes. The relevance of ambivalence to psychopathology and psychotherapy are also considered. A phenomenological understanding of the experience of ambivalence provides an overview of the landscape of the world as multiple feelings lead to experiences of being out of balance, weighing, and rebalancing and may allow one to orient oneself in the world when it is experienced ambivalently.