Is "friendship counseling" a thing? It should be

January 29, 2017 4:03pm CST
I had an online chat with an old friend that went of the rails something fierce. I think she was trying to take a "tough love", "constructive criticism" approach but frankly I feel insulted by some of the things she said about me. And I highly doubt that she would be as willing to listen to reciprocal criticism from me about what I perceive as her shortcomings. Now we're at the point that our communications have broken down and I feel pretty seriously disrespected but unable to address that without inciting more anger and bruised egos. This is someone who has done some spectacularly awesome things to help me in the past, and I'm very sad at the prospect of our friendship ending, but honestly I don't know how to resolve this situation without either acting like a complete doormat or forcing the discussion in a direction that she doesn't want it to go, neither of which are very appealing options to me. I really wish a had an impartial 3rd party that could step in and help us negotiate this. Because otherwise I'm going to lose a friend - which might even be a good thing, considering some of the derogatory things she's said toward me, but I'm still sad for the loss.
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4 responses
@Slayqueen (918)
• India
30 Jan 17
I am going through the same situation.
1 person likes this
30 Jan 17
sorry to hear
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@PatZAnthony (14752)
• Charlotte, North Carolina
29 Jan 17
An impartial third party is often a good idea. Sometimes friends need to just listen, not chastise or ramble on with insults.
1 person likes this
30 Jan 17
I think we both feel like the other one isn't taking us seriously. It's a pretty lousy situation. I kind of love her, so that makes it hurt that much more.
@besweet (9860)
• Ireland
29 Jan 17
I am sorry that you feel like your friendship is ending. Sometimes we critisise our friends for their actions believing that it's for their own good. After many years of sucessful and failed friendships, I concluded that part of the friendship is to accept our friends as they are. I think that you should talk about it and let your friend know your feelings about the misunderstanding.
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@_Koko_ (349)
• United Kingdom
29 Jan 17
Well if your friend actually meant to help you with her tough love and constructive criticism i think you should look into it more if shes an old friend i doubt she means any harm and just wants to help you improve as a person from her perspective.
1 person likes this