</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
kim_johnson said:
Main Entry:
am·biv·a·lence
yeah... it is often used as 'undecided'. my memory of it comes from 'girl interrupted' where the main character described herself as being 'ambivalent' thinking it meant she didn't really care either way. her psychiatrist thought that 'ambivalent' suited her perfectly - but showed her from a dictionary that rather than implying that one doesn't really care either way it implies that one is caught or torn somehow. miriam webster seems to have both sorts of implications:

1: simultaneous and contradictory attitudes or feelings (as attraction and repulsion) toward an object, person, or action
2 a: continual fluctuation (as between one thing and its opposite) b: uncertainty as to which approach to follow

</div></font></blockquote><font class="post">

I tend to agree wtih the dictionary's defnition rather what was portrayed in the movie-- which seems to be how most people perceive ambivalence. I believe that ambivalence includes strong feelings-- the unknown, or the indifference, I think, refers to when the person does not know which of the opposing feelings to connect with. People usually struggle quite a big with ambivalence which would pretty much negate the idea that ambivalence means to "not care."

I have given up on the idea of not caring. Even in my deepest depressions, when I have been convinced that I "don't care," there were strong feelings of guilt and worthlessness-- I wonder how I could have felt those emtions if I was truly in a state of not caring. When people go to therapy and spend a great deal of time stating that they are ambivalent and don't care, I have to question that-- if you don't give a damn either way, then why are you spending the time to talk about it at all?