hey.

first off, I think it's great you have that friend!. I'm sure she'll be back really quickly, I know you're all going to miss her

secondly, I think it's great you came on this forum, to talk to people that understand and can help you with questions you may have, or just to be their for you. you can post when ever you like, someone will always be here to respond

with regards to positive friendships, what's always worked for me is making friends with other people with the same issues

i'd say that most (if not all), of our friends have mental illness

it's hard enough trying to explain something like anxiety or bipolar to someone, but DID?. mention DID and people think you're absolutely crazy

i'm lucky enough to know other ssystems (I think I know at least 2), as well as understanding what you're going through, you can really talk to them and have good conversations

most of the time when we've tried to make friends with someone without mental health issues, it's ended in disaster, usually because we're just worlds apart.

stigma is getting no better, sadly