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Signs That Your Friendship is Toxic
Most of the time, friendships are a source of happiness — they’re the relationships we don’t need to stress about or obsess over. The right friends can provide a shoulder to cry on when things get tough and laugh with us when life looks good.
However, not all friendships are stress-free or make our lives any better. Some people can bring out the worst in you— twisting you up in gnarled knots until you’re just a ball of anxiety and paranoia. For lack of a better term, these are toxic friendships.
Most of the time, toxic friendships aren’t overtly obvious. Nobody introduces themselves as, “Hi, I’m toxic, nice to meet you.” You may not even realize you are or were in a toxic relationship until years later.
Fortunately, the good news is that, while toxic people may not tell you they’re toxic, there are certain red flags that you can look for. Dr. Susan Heitler and Dr. Sharon Livingston have highlighted eight key signs that tend to pop up in a toxic friendship:
They never want to hear about your day
Ever called up a friend to catch up and he or she immediately launches into how bad their day, week or month is? Your friend may go on for hours about every…
