How to navigate a friendship breakup [Video]

If we said breakups were hard, that would be an overstatement so strong it would be kind of insulting. But we will say that they’re complicated, and they’re varied – ranging from the “OK-I-guess” to the heartbreaking and messy.

Then there are friendship breakups. Less talked about, but perhaps the most complicated. So, how do you manage the delicate dynamics of a friendship breakup? Speaking to those who’ve been on the friendship breakup frontlines and experts in how to handle them, Mashable has a guide to working it all out. 

How do I know the friendship is over?

Friendship breakups often don’t come with the clear markers that romantic breakups do, which can leave lingering feelings of ambiguity. That ambiguity can lead to all kinds of stress, including not feeling sure if a friendship has even properly ended. 

That was the case for 26-year-old Elizabeth, a nursing student (who, like the other case studies interviewed in …