The Main Ways That Adult Friendships End

Four tiers, give or take.

Feels like we talk often about “the need for community” and “mental health challenges” and “the age of loneliness” and “humans more connected but more isolated than ever,” etc. These are heady topics that columnists, pundits, and “thought leaders” make a dime off of via books and speeches. If we’re all generally in agreement that community matters, and we also can collectively understand that the bedrock of a community is a series of interlocking friendships, then we can wonder … hmm … how exactly are we in a “friendship recession?”

Well, there’s a lot of reasons for that too — you can check out that post for more on that specific topic around the decline of American Friendship as a concept.

But the reality is, as everyone has experienced probably 12+ times, friendships end. They end at superficial levels, they end at intense levels, they end and cycle back, or they end permanently. There are a million stories in the Naked Friendship City.

How do friendships end? A quick primer.