The Meanings of Friendship

‘... You feel like the one that got left behind’: a narrative inquiry into the friendships of people who have endured mental health difficulties

“…13 Distinct in its formation at specific times and places, friendship’s temporary attunement permits exploration and discovery of a joint humanity together. 21 Although ambivalence and open-endedness persist, 19 sustained friendship can become a compassionate ‘other self’, 11 with differing degree of psychologically ‘mattering’ to one another. 9 Friendship is a validatory experience of being known as a person, unachievable through individual volition, and in a qualitatively different way than that achieved through other modes of relating.…”

“…Theories of friendship privilege the affective component of the relationship and this has been theorised as a distinctive kind of ‘love’ for someone, located between passionate possession and unconditional love towards all. 11 As attested to by studies of childhood and adolescent friendship, 12 the capacity for friendship takes place prior to the maturational and passionately disruptive ‘erotic love’ and ‘romantic love’ it is often seen as a continuum of. The companionship of friendship represents an early psychological intimacy, 13 for which justification changes across the lifespan, from transactional self-interest to mutually established norms.…”