Friendships end for all kinds of reasons — distance, different interests, a lack of time. Sometimes, it can even be for the sake of your mental health.
Recently, Reddit user u/an_epiphany_asked, "Why did you need to cut off a friend?" Here are 16 situations people shared.
1. "She was using me for my money. She had a plan for my paycheck every paycheck."
—u/Bintamreeki
2. "I was fed up with always walking on eggshells around him. The sunk cost had me sticking around in that friendship for too long, but having the pleasure of knowing what actual great friends are like, I decided to pull the plug. I wish him well. I still want to see him eat, just not at my table anymore."
—u/Oapy
3. "She told another friend right in front of me, 'Yeah, if (my name) didn't keep in touch, we'd never see each other.' The light bulb went on."
4. "After 17 years of being 'best friends,' I finally figured out that she only kept me around to tear down my self-esteem to make herself look better. She never considered anybody else's feelings in what she did or said. If you tried to make plans and she couldn't come, she would bully you into changing it or make a big deal of how you must hate her. The worst part was she was related to some bigwigs in town, so if you pissed her off, good luck keeping or finding a job."
—u/Nairadvik
5. "He hit on my wife and tried telling her first that I said it was okay. Then, he tried to say I was having an affair with his wife, none of which was true."
—u/CorvidLupus
6. "Drugs and alcohol. Eventually, you need to just walk away."
7. "She never wanted to talk about my problems and life, only her own. When I'd try to open up, she'd shut me down by saying the subject was 'awkward.' The final straw was when I tried to tell her that I was experiencing PPD and needed someone to listen, and she wouldn't let me talk."
—u/villettegirl
8. "My so-called friend spread rumors about me so bad it got to a point where jobs refused to hire me. I was unemployed for almost two years because of it."
9. "She was an emotional vampire. Everything was either a pity party for her or a celebration of whatever achievement she had gotten. But if I or anyone else needed sympathy or anything, we were very selfish people complaining too much. Or if anyone wanted to celebrate an achievement, we were rubbing it in her face. Also, she was super flaky. Once, we planned to meet at the gym, and she never showed up. I texted and called but got nothing until about two hours later when she said she was at another friend's house."
—u/duckface08
10. "He told me he disliked my wife so much he didn't want to be around her. When I asked him what she did to offend him, he cited several situations that were all of the 'Bitch eating crackers like she owns the place' magnitude."
"(And for the record, I had long disliked his wife as well, but I valued our friendship enough that I kept my mouth shut and acted nice.)"
11. "Semi-truck driver here. Fucker called a Black man an 'incompetent N-word' simply because the guy was having a hard time backing up his truck and trailer and had asked for help. I called my dispatcher and told him that I needed off this truck and back into my own. I never, ever went back to team driving after that. He did call me later down the road, asking what I was doing these days. I said that I don’t like to be friends with racists and hung up."
—u/SleepOdd3462
12. "Trump, conspiracy theories, COVID denier, the usual modern American story."
13. "I recently looked him up under Megan's Law. He's a convicted rapist."
14. "Let's just say I began to suspect his obsession with the Confederate flag had to do with more than his family's heritage."
15. "Trauma dumping. At some point, I became a therapist and wasn't qualified to deal with incest, SA, money problems, etc."
—u/Cyn113
16. "He used pictures of me to catfish men."
What was your reason if you ever had to cut off a friend? Tell me in the comments below.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline is 1-888-950-6264 (NAMI) and provides information and referral services; GoodTherapy.org is an association of mental health professionals from more than 25 countries who support efforts to reduce harm in therapy.
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, you can call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) and find more resources here.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673), which routes the caller to their nearest sexual assault service provider. You can also search for your local center here.
If you are concerned that a child is experiencing or may be in danger of abuse, you can call or text the National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-44531-800-422-2253 (4.A.CHILD); service can be provided in over 140 languages.