I understand how tough this can be..I'm down to just a couple of friends, and I don't talk about it to them at all - just my family. But it really did turn out for the best...When someone says you're lying to yourself, they're not helping much. Maybe you are, or maybe what's in your mind at the time is real, even if it doesn't make sense to anyone else.

I don't believe anyone can "make you" feel guilty. Things they say can trigger emotions like guilt, but you have control over how long you let it worry you. Maybe your friends should learn more about mental illness...I'm guessing that being a brilliant liar is going to factor in one way or another.

I guess if you deliberately lie and your intent is to hurt someone, then the best thing to do is admit it, apologize, fix what you can, then put it in your "lessons learned" file along with the guilt.

Or something like that ...

I expect this "horrible patch" will likely go away, but who knows when..the analogy is great, tho..it's a patch in our lives, so as we move forward, eventually we move off the patch and on towards then next one, which could be a good one...