[rdgrad15]

As it turns out, I was right about a friend that I rekindled a friendship. And this is in a good way, nothing bad happened. I had suspected her to having depression or something else related that could be causing her to not giving a crapmbout anything or anyone. And she even admitted to going through periods of not giving a crap about anyone or anything and not feeling any joy in social interactions. So basically, social anhedonia. She was okay with doing stuff on her own at times, but never with other people. She does have ADHD, so that does play a part of it at times.

She denied ever having depression but I've heard that most people with ADHD also get depressed and vise versa. Not necessarily severe depression. More of a mild depression resulting in feelings of isolation, loneliness, and worthlessness due to their ADHD. People tend to be very critical of those who have ADHD, a lot like how people with depression are judged harshly. The reason I feel like she may have denied it is either she may not realize she is depressed, or more likely, she just has a fear of being judged since that is common unfortunately.

Now I am able to understand some of her behaviors more. Not necessarily an excuse for everything, but I can at least now see what causes her to become so withdrawn from others and just simply not seem to give a single crap about anything or anyone. Right now, she is way more social. She is talking way more than she ever has in the past two years ever since her odd behavior has begun. She did admit though that she sometimes wonders if she is bipolar. That is also a likely cause. Who knows. But at leas I know it isn't just her simply being lazy and being a bad friend to others.

So her withdrawn behavior is why I think most likely she had or even still has a minor form of depression or even bipolar disorder that coexists with her ADHD. Her ADHD doesn't bother me but it may bother some other people and I believe that is why she may have felt hurt in the past and caused her to become withdrawn or depressed. But I did talk to her in general about it a little eventually to see if she would open up a bit and the fact that she did open up a bit means she is probably getting better and is becoming more trusting of others. I was nervous about talking to her about is since I was afraid she would get mad or become withdrawn again, but I am glad I took the advice people gave on here. I will not be surprised if she relapses back into her withdrawn ways again, but as of now, she seems to be doing better compared to the time where she literally could care less about anyone or anything in her life. And when I do see her, she is not completely emotionless or monotone, like emotional flatlined or anything.

It is sweet that you reconnected with this friend.

Speaking from the POV of someone who doesn't have many friends--the ones who are left (I include my family in this) are like gold.

[rdgrad15]

Originally Posted by Hopingtrying

It is sweet that you reconnected with this friend.

Speaking from the POV of someone who doesn't have many friends--the ones who are left (I include my family in this) are like gold.

Yeah she treats me a lot better now so that is why I am giving her a second chance. I am still very cautious, can't get too close, especially not too quickly, but at least we are on good terms. And now that I actually know more about ADHD than I did in the past, I can now see part of the reason why she acted a certain way years ago. Not making excuses for the behavior. No disability or impairment is an excuse for poor behavior. I am hearing impaired and I never use it as an excuse. But at least I can see what part of the driving force of the behavior was, as well as other things.

And in terms of not having any friends, I don't really have many friends either. One other friend just cut me off recently and I discovered she probably wasn't a real friend anyway. So besides the friend I reconnected with, I really am friends with a couple other people so it is a small group of friends. So I know exactly how that feels and Inagree with your statement.