In the Media – What to do when friends become needy
U.S. News and World Report
September 3, 2013
by Rachel Pomerance
“If you’ve ever felt the tug of a needy friendship, you may have found yourself stewing as you endured her umpteenth lament over the one who got away, becoming “crazy busy” every time she asks you to dinner and increasingly relegating her ring to voice mail.
You only have so much to give and so long to listen, you tell your spouse, mom and anyone else who’ll give you a turn to talk – at least you divvy up the venting, you tell yourself, so you don’t pay the pain forward.
What’s wrong with giving? Nothing. It’s humanity at its best. And the act alone makes us feel fantastic. Ever heard of the “giver’s high?”…
“All relationships need to be reciprocal to work, whether it’s a marriage or a friendship,” says Irene S. Levine, a professor of psychiatry at NYU Langone Medical Center and creator of TheFriendshipBlog.com. “One person can’t always be on the giving side and the other person always on the taking side.”..
Category: IN THE MEDIA
