I think that a partner, presumably living together, does need to think about their own safety. If someone is exhibiting that kind of mental instability they should consider distancing themselves. A friend on the other hand, already having some distance, can coordinate help without feeling physically threatened.

I wholeheartedly disagree with you. If someone said that to someone I would almost instinctively consider mental illness to be the cause. Just my thoughts and experiences.

I said elsewhere I don’t think a marriage/romantic relationship is equitable to this type of friendship. There’s a distance between individuals in a friendship that makes it more plausible that a friend could actually help get this person treatment.

No one is obligated, you’re right. Generally friends are there to help out though.

I think this is the best argument I’ve seen so far, but I think I’d still disagree with you. Basically I’ve been this friend before, the one who dumped the author. You say something in a moment of mental instability that you regret, and instead of handling the fallout you destroy the relationship altogether. It lets…

Your second sentence is literally the stance of those with neurotypical privilege. You think that all actions undertaken by people with mental illness are being made with lucidity when they clearly are symptoms of the illness. Your third sentence is the stance of those who don’t want to do anything to help the person…

I stand corrected. I was referring to being truly responsible for these kind of outbursts. I think individuals with mental illness are absolutely responsible for the positive decisions they make in life, with the steps toward treatment they make, and for common mistakes that anyone can make. I absolutely don’t think…

The friend should help her get the help. That’s literally what I said. The friend should not be the one to treat her. So...yeah. You may have misunderstood what I wrote.

Never said they’re NEVER responsible. They are undoubtedly responsible for all the efforts they make to get help, for the steps towards positivity. But yes, for these outbursts that neurotypical people generally don’t exhibit or are able to prevent their illness has to be taken into account. It’s ridiculous to say…

So you’re saying this person needs help, but her long time friend should not be the one to help her get it. Right. Ok. I understand what you’re saying, but I just overwhelmingly disagree.

Because the long term benefits of maintaining this friendship may outweigh the short term comfort of not having to accommodate her friend’s mental illness. I stated this pretty clearly.

I would say the same thing, yes.

I think the level of vitriol in that text indicates she was acting outside of pure cogency. Just my thoughts.

They never ARE truly responsible though, that’s what I’m saying. Just as an epileptic is never truly responsible for their seizures, despite whatever treatment they’ve received. I think that we want to categorize mental disorder differently because it pertains more to this sense of the “soul” or the “self” rather than…

This is not a female friend dating a guy, though. This is (I’m assuming) a friendship that was born naturally with the implied intent of mutually supporting one another. I think the friendship/dating dynamics are very different. In some ways I think the friendship should be stronger.

I think that there can be times when a person shows themselves to be negative, and there’s nothing that can be done about it. Here though I think that’s not the case. Your situation lasted over many, many years. Brook’s situation really does feel like a rash decision, in my opinion (and yes, this is all subjective.…

I’ve been here before. Don’t let the friendship end. There’s no such thing as someone with mental disorder acting “on their own,” disconnected from the disorder. Even on medications, things can be said that they don’t mean. Or even worse, the mental disorder has conditioned the individual to think that hurting…

Having fun reading a feminist blog from OUR country criticizing an entertainment blog from OUR country? Seriously. Step back and take a thousand chaises.

You might want to add that the young woman’s differing opinion on Abdi Warsame was that he was not in fact a real Somali-American. I don’t know if you’re aware, but questioning someone’s ethnicity/nationality is highly disrespectful.