Triggering Poll

At least it would be for me

If you don't mind responding I'd also like to know how many close friends you have and if you have always had friends/close friends. And do you have people who love you.

I personally had no friends until middle school. I had one close one only through that. about 10 friends, not the previous one included, none of them close, in high school. No friends senior year up through now besides my husband. I had no people who loved me until I met my husband, now I have 7 who do. None of them are close. (know me, someone I'd confide my feelings and struggles to) My husband is a special case, and does not apply to this

Including my boyfriend? Two.

Unless I count my sister, none. I don't blame anyone else, though, it's my own fault for being so afraid of people/everything.

I've always found it difficult to define a friendship. I mean, how do you know when someone's your friend and not just an acquaintance anymore? Anyway, if friendship is defined the way I guess I define it then I have four close friends (including my boyfriend).

I should have had definitions. An aquaintance is someone you interact/socialize with in a specific setting, only in that setting. A friend is someone you socialize with in multiple settings at irregular intervals. A close friend is someone you meet with regularly and knows a more personal account of you and is involved with more personal settings such as a family function.

I have three.

I have no friends and rarely socialize with the same people repeatedly for long. this is by choice not a phobia or anxiety thing. People just bore me. I bore myself too.

Nobody is saying how many people love them I don't think being a friend automatically means love is there and I don't consider any of my above 7 to be friends. I only see them in obligated circumstances and although we love eachother I would not share things with them I wouldn't share with an aquaintance. Currently I have 0 friends, but 7 people I feel might love me. Though they love me by being family through marriage. They have the advantage of only knowing me for so long and I am careful to keep very private about most of myself.

Oh sorry!

I think two love me.

If you count my sisters, I have 2. I had a dear friend from middle school who kept in touch with me constantly - but I would never pick up the phone. I drive people away because I'm scared of everything. What a small, lonely life.
Starbright777

No friends. Would say the only people who come close to loving me are family members.

Although other people seem to like me ok, I don't tend to let myself get real close. I had two 3 good friends and then decided to move out of town with the hopes of finding some new acquaintances . . . that was two years ago and that hasn't happened yet.

I have 7. And all of them are still kept at an arms distance. But I love them in spite of.

I used to have quite a few close friends and a lot of people I would hang out with, but not so much anymore... My paranoia about people being against me all the time made it so that I'm afraid of most of them now Thankfully, I have a good family and an awesome best friend who have stuck with me

I have about 5 people I would call close friends, about 2 others I have drifted apart from but we still talk, then I have "work colleagues" who I can talk to at work, but that's about it - they don't really know much about me.

I have one close friend I talk to daily and is the only person outside family I can talk about almost everything MH wise to, I've known her about 10 years but we've never physically met (I'm scared she'll hate me and I'll lose her) she lives on the other side of the country. I constantly worry she'll get fed up with me and leave me like everyone else does. But I class her as a close friend because she's always at the end of a text, has helped me through a *lot* in the past few years and we send Xmas & birthday & random presents to each other.

I also have two friends who used to be close friends who I've known nearly 15 years but have drifted away from me but I don't know why except that my mental health has been worse so maybe they just can't cope with that. I used to hear daily from one and every few days from the other but now I go weeks or months with no contact from them despite me trying. The loss of one of them in particular really hurts because I thought she understood and we were very close, visiting all the time, etc.
I have a couple of 'online' friends or old friends I only rarely hear from via email/Facebook who I guess you'd probably bracket 'acquaintances'.

I don't have very many people that I hang out with and honestly, I'm fine with that. What I'm not fine with is that I don't have any close friends in real life and I don't know if anyone really loves me (I assume my parents do, but that may be out of obligation though). I wish that I had a significant other who was a close friend and who I know could and would love me…but alas, I am just a dreamer.

i have one actual earth bound friend but as a sz the demons, monsters , dark angels etc that inhabit my world, i would also call friends as none of them scare me .we are on friendly talking terms.
take care