Benefits of Friendship
“Friendship is the golden thread that ties the heart of all the world.”
This quote by John Evelyn illustrates the significance of friendship connections throughout cultures and across time. While Valentine’s Day may be associated with romantic love, there are other kinds of relationships that are just as important to honor such as familial, platonic, and self-love. Just like romantic relationships, friendships also provide a plethora of benefits and require mutually consistent effort in order to be maintained.
Friendship Benefits
There are a multitude of benefits associated with developing meaningful friendships. Friendship reduces feelings of isolation and stress while simultaneously boosting mood and self-esteem. Friends are able to provide vital support during challenging times of life and encourage healthier habits and coping skills. In fact, there are physical changes associated with platonic intimacy. Blood pressure is lowered when confiding with a trusted friend. The company we keep matters immensely and offers a protective factor against negative brain and body changes. Those who have close friendships are less likely to experience depression and anxiety symptoms and less likely to suffer from chronic conditions and heart problems. On the other hand, isolation, loneliness, and poor quality relationships can increase the risk of premature death as well as a host of other issues.
Building Friendship
Even though weak social ties can have a positive impact on our health and wellbeing, many people desire true intimacy and closeness with others. In order to build new friendships and allow them to blossom, we must aim to be curious and open to getting to know someone. Ask questions and make an effort. Research demonstrates that neural patterns can predict if people will become friends based on similar brain activity associated with motivation, reward, identity, and sensory processing. What we direct our attention towards and how we choose to think about things can offer insight into the people we are most likely to connect with initially and over time. Cultivate community by seeking out third spaces, which are social settings outside of home or work that foster connection. Lastly, resolving conflict constructively and productively allows for the opportunity to grow closer with the other person.
Sustaining Friendship
Despite love ballads and other media portrayals, one of the most common reasons people seek mental health counseling is due to friendship endings, which are often ignored or dismissed in larger society. Nevertheless, friendship breakups can be confusing and devastating, leading to an array of mental health challenges and grief experiences. Sustaining friendship requires values of trust, mutual respect and acceptance, effective communication, shared interests and activities, and an abundance of support and empathy. When problems arise, relationships of all kinds that last are able to repair and strengthen their bonds.
Friendships are the first relationships we freely choose, so it makes sense why they are vital to not only surviving but also thriving. If you are struggling with making new friends as an adult, navigating a friendship breakup, or even wanting to learn how to build closeness and intimacy in your existing relationships, consider reaching out to Embrace Therapy today, click here.
