Solidarity, Conflict, and Ambivalence: Complementary or Competing Perspectives on Intergenerational Relationships?

Ambivalence is an apt term to describe the contradictions we experience in our intimate social relationships.We can feel it: the paradox between closeness and distance, the push and pull between intimacy and setting boundaries.Ambivalence is a phenomenological reality, a universal human experience, a reflection of the dilemmas we face in close relationships.That ambivalent feelings characterize family interactions will be no surprise to family therapists and psychotherapists because much of their practice involves helping people disentangle difficulties