Dealing with a broken friendship can be one of the most heartbreaking situations you can go through in life, especially if you've been friends with the person for a long time.

There are a lot of things (big and small) that can sometimes cause a division between friends, but I think in general a truly broken friendship happens because friends sometimes take very different paths in life. This causes situations over time that makes it harder and harder for the two friends to relate. The result can range anywhere between gradually drifting apart to a sudden split due to a major argument.

Obviously time is going to play a big part in this situation. If there is at least the potential for the friendship to be reconciled, both people need some time apart to sort out the situation. After awhile, they may be able to start talking again. What may be the hardest part of this is the friendship may not be the same as it once was, according to the circumstances that caused the division to happen.

If there appears to be no chance that the friendship can be saved, you still need to give yourself time to basically grieve. Even if the person is physically still alive, when the dynamics of a friendship change that drastically you often don't feel like they're the same person anymore. People also have a tendency to cling to who the person used to be, not who they are right now.

The main example that comes to mind in my own personal experience was I had a really good friend when I was in high school who for lack of a better term began hanging out with a bad crowd. Over time, her personality and attitude began to match those other people more than the way she had been before. She became bitter and angry, and a lot of times took it out verbally on me.

I still made every attempt I could to save our friendship, especially since I'd known her for half my life at that time. Eventually however I had to break off my friendship with her because I realized she no longer cared about me. It was very sad, but given the situation it was a decision I had to make because I knew in life that we become like the people we're around the most.

No two friendships are exactly alike, and in handling them we have to make individual decisions based on your situation. There's no reason to end a good friendship over something relatively petty, but at the same time you should be careful in not clinging to a friendship that's too far gone. This is sadly a situation where there are no simple answers, and you just have to do the best you can with what you know in your heart is the right thing.