Friendship Therapy: What It Is & Do You Need It?
Friendship Therapy: What It Is & Do You Need It?
Friendship therapy helps friends strengthen their relationship by sharing their concerns and working towards the same goal. Although we’re used to hearing about couples therapy as the most popular therapy to go with someone else, friendship therapy can be extremely beneficial for friendships that are facing an obstacle and are uncertain about the best way to solve it.
In this article, we’ll look closer at friendship therapy, who needs it, and what outcomes to expect from it. If you and your friend think that friendship therapy is something that you both need, make sure to share this article with them as well.
What Is Friendship Therapy?
One of the most important things in life that you will encounter is friendship. Friendships feed and nourish us, satisfying some of our most basic needs for connection and belonging. However, we can find ourselves lacking the means to provide continuous, loving care for these connections, in part because our culture has long maintained that romantic and sexual relationships are the height of intimacy.
Just as traditional romantic relationships need time, intention, and care, platonic connections are as important to our well-being. During friendship therapy, mental health professionals offer a quiet, judgment-free environment where you and your friend may examine the causes of any lingering issues and use your strengths to forge a consensus, make repairs, and rebuild trust. Friendship therapy offers a space where both parties can hear and be heard, allowing them to make their connection even stronger.
Signs You Need Friendship Therapy
If you have friends, you’ve probably encountered a few bumps on the road several times. It’s normal to have issues in your friendship, whether that’s a lack of communication, misunderstandings, or something else. The problem occurs when these issues are not addressed properly, and you’re unable to find a solution that is satisfying for both of you. That is when seeing a therapist might be beneficial to solve these underlying issues and feel closer to each other.
These are just some of the common situations in which friendship therapy could be beneficial:
- Frequent arguments or conflicts
- Spending less time together or communicating less
- Not being invited to the occasions you used to go together
- Noticing a harsh tone or negative comments from your friend
- Noticing you’re not receiving some amount of support you used to
- Being overly competitive with your friends
- Changes that concurred in distance or life priorities
How Therapy Can Save Your Friendship
If you’ve found yourself in one of the situations mentioned above, you should consider going to friendship therapy. There are many ways that such therapy can help you navigate your friendship better. More importantly, with friendship therapy, you will learn how to recognize the signs that something is ‘off’ and how to become proactive in solving issues that appear in the future.
After all, therapy aims to provide us with efficient tools to better manage different areas of our lives. Talking to mental health experts allows you to learn from them and become more self-sufficient. Whichever the reason for pursuing a therapist, you will notice more benefits than just solving the issue that was bothering you.
When talking about friendship therapy, you will learn to communicate more efficiently with your friends. Also, you will learn how to set boundaries and share your needs in a healthy manner. As friendship is a two-way street, you will also learn to listen better and provide your friends with what they need.
All of this will help you build and maintain more significant friendships while also learning more about yourself. As social beings, we need to get to know ourselves first to be able to get to know others.
Lastly, it’s possible that the outcome of the friendship therapy is parting ways with your friend. As much as it might hurt, sometimes certain relationships can hold us down or impact us negatively, so it’s best to say goodbye and not hold a grudge.
Is Friendship Therapy Right for You?
One major advantage of therapy for friends who are having trouble communicating openly and healthily is that it provides a secure environment in which such conversations may take place under the supervision of a professional. That way, therapists are able to make necessary modifications in real time if they pertain to communication and conflict resolution.
Not every friendship endures, and going to therapy won’t be worthwhile for every difficult connection you have. However, friendship therapy is absolutely the best course of action if you find yourself in a long-term friendship that truly seems worth preserving and resolving.
If you have persistent problems in your friendship that you haven’t been able to identify and address on your own, therapy may be very beneficial. To determine whether therapy is the best course of action for you and your buddy, think about scheduling a consultation with a mental health professional before beginning treatment. A lot of therapists are quite willing to talk with you and answer your questions before you enter the treatment session.
How to Suggest Therapy to Your Friend
Make sure you speak about the idea of friendship therapy with your friend. Tell them how much you cherish their friendship and why you think it’s crucial that they try to strengthen it.
Also, you might want to admit that the tough period in your friendship is painful for you, and you want to do something about it. You may say something like, “I know we are both hurting in this situation, and I want us to be the healthiest and closest friends that we can be.”
If you believe your friend might be concerned about the cost of treatment or other practical issues, you can also help alleviate some of their worries by conducting your own research and having a variety of solutions ready for them to choose from.
Pursuing individual treatment in addition to friendship therapy would be a good idea for people who have issues with their interpersonal interactions. This will provide access to crucial resources for communication and self-care, enhancing relationships with others and yourself.
Conclusion
In a secure environment, friends may be more motivated to express what they need from one another. After that, the friendship therapist may help identify the disconnects and offer both friends the tools they require to process, resolve, and recover. A friendship therapist may even assign homework, such as suggesting that friends go on a “date night” to replenish their intimacy reserves and rekindle their bond.
After all, people are social beings. Friendships are essential to our happiness. It is a great shame to lose a friend who holds great significance for you, even if the friendship may still be preserved.
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About Life Coaching and Therapy
Life Coaching and Therapy (LCAT) is a therapy and coaching practice that transforms our clients lives through our flexible. Multi-technique approach and pleasure-skills training provided by systematically-trained and licensed therapists!
Get to know our founder and owner, Amanda Pasciucco, (a.k.a. The Sex Healer) PhD, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), and an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist (CST) that has developed innovative therapy programs and therapy videos that get results.
Our team of compassionate, licensed therapists and certified sex therapists help all clients who visit us for a variety of personal, relationship, intimacy and sex problems.
LCAT provides on-site appointments, as well as video chat and text therapy programs.
Learn more about how LCAT can help improve your life at What We Do.
