Mariana Castel/Millennium Images, UK
When I think about the members of my social network, I am almost filled with feelings of pure love and warmth. I can’t wait to see them again, knowing we can bask in each other’s love and support.
But for some, it evokes a completely different emotion: a mixture of enthusiasm and fear. In terms of conversation, encounters like Russian roulette are guaranteed. If I’m in a good mood, these guys will give me a fun night, but if I catch them at the wrong time, they can suck all my goodwill. I have no idea what will happen.
If this sounds familiar, it means you have a frenemy too. Psychologists call them “ambivalent relationships,” and not only can they ruin a good party, but they can also have surprising consequences for your happiness. A wealth of research shows that love-hate relationships like this are often more stressful than interacting with people who are constantly mean. It can harm your mental and physical health. They can also cause you to age prematurely.
Knowing this, the easy solution seems to be to cut ties with these people. However, our relationship with frenemies is not simple, and it is not always possible or desirable to abandon them. However, gaining deeper insight into your own ambiguous relationships can help you cope more effectively. You might even become better friends that way. Because if you know the signs to look out for, you may realize that the frenemy in some relationships is you.
Since the 1970s, large-scale studies have been conducted examining thousands of people.
(Tag Translation) Psychology
