Jealousy is often rooted in insecurities and fears that a person may not even realize they have. These could include fear of oversimplification, fear of inadequacy, fear of abandonment, fear of being replaced, and fear of being judged.
Why do we feel jealousy? Therapists often regard the demon as a scar of childhood trauma or a symptom of a psychological problem. And it's true that people who feel inadequate, insecure, or overly dependent tend to be more jealous than others.
Psychologists generally agree that jealousy is a dis- turbing experience that combines the emotions of anger, anxiety, betrayal, and hurt when one feels that a valued relationship is threatened by a third party.
The root causes of jealousy and envy are connected to a person's inability to see what God has provided in their life and a lack of thankfulness. James 3:16 states, “For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.”
Only one third of the variation in jealousy seemed to have a genetic origin, so the rest must have been down to environmental differences. But whether genetic or environmental, hard-wired or learned, there's no doubting the ubiquity of jealousy.
Jealousy and envy both involve a feeling of desire for what another person has, but jealousy is usually thought to be more negative—it often involves resentment toward the other person. Envy is also a negative feeling—like a mix of admiration and discontent—but the word doesn't usually imply hostility.
Jealousy is often motivated by insecurity or fear. Showing compassion to your loved one for these difficult feelings is paramount.
Research has shown that jealousy can be a sign of feeling deeply in love with a partner. It may contribute to relationship satisfaction by signaling emotional commitment and investment. It may contribute to relationship stability by prompting partners to further nurture their bond and actively protect their union.
“Jealousy is the highest form of flattery.”
Jealousy can also occur as a symptom of a mental health condition. People who suffer from personality disorders have a difficult time sorting through cognitive distortions, unfair assumptions, and damaging judgments of other people. This can lead to intense feelings of jealousy and even relationship conflict.
The answer from evolutionary psychology is that jealousy evolved to motivate "mate guarding," and that mate guarding is a solution to an ancient adaptive problem: infidelity. Infidelity is not particularly common in our species - but it's not particularly rare either.
Summary: A new study has found that the hormone oxytocin, also known as the "love hormone," which affects behaviors such as trust, empathy and generosity, also affects opposite behaviors, such as jealousy and gloating.
When faced with the desire to get a mate's attention, jealousy induction might be quite effective, but it is risky. It can hurt the one you love and even cause the end of the relationship.
Jealousy can be a sign of insecurity. Jealousy is a fear of losing something you already have, like a relationship or friendship. People who deal with jealousy may often feel threatened by other people. You may also feel that you are in competition with others, even if you're not.
The cause usually lies in childhood
Many of the highly jealous people have experienced attachments as insecure in their childhood. Even as adults, they constantly fear being abandoned. This fear is so dominant that it manifests itself in delusions of control and jealousy.
Envy and jealousy also add to stress and anger that are closely tied to several illnesses. Anger has been shown to be a risk factor for heart disease. Also, long-term stress harms the immune system and has been linked with some forms of cancer.
Feeling jealous doesn't necessarily make you immature or insecure. However, a consistent feeling of intense jealousy for your partner is definitely a sign of emotional immaturity.
Past trauma
If you've experienced emotional abuse or betrayal from past relationships, that can start to taint your view of future relationships if the trauma goes unchecked. This is where jealousy can rear its head and feed into those feelings, by making you feel anxious or afraid of losing the person you're with now.
Psychotherapy is often an effective treatment for jealousy. A person who experiences jealousy might benefit from working with a therapist to process painful emotions and reframe negative, damaging thoughts that affect their behavior.
This strong emotion has the potential of leaving a long-lasting impact on the partners and parallelly affect the quality of their relationship. Everyone experiences jealousy in their relationships at some point or the other, however, it is in the moment and can fade away over the day or a few weeks usually.