People often find themselves stuck between two competing positions. Many people commonly hold strong convictions on both sides of a competing set of statements and therefore stay stuck and paralyzed. This paralysis comes with strong feelings of helplessness and despair.
Once a person begins drinking, using substances, or engaging in some other problematic behavior, they may recognize the risks and costs of that behavior, but also see some of the benefits that using provides. They may be ambivalent about whether to make a change and stop using.
