8 Signs of a Toxic Friend

Almost everyone stumbles upon toxic friends in their lives. Many people you hang out with don't have the best regards for you and don't truly respect you. Luckily, it easy to identify those types of friends and distance yourself from them. These are a few signs that indicate your friend is toxic and you probably shouldn't spend too much time around them.

A person who is truly fond of you and wants to have a genuine connection with you will be a good listener most of the time. If your friend always zones out when you start talking about something important to you or changes the topic quickly it is a sign they don't really care about your opinions or your feelings.

Good friends want to spend time with you. If your friend is hard to reach on their cellphone or social media, or if they always find excuses for not being able to see you or talk to you, it’s because they genuinely are not very interested in spending time with you. If that is the case, then it's best not to try too hard to establish a connection with them because you will waste your time and also feel rejected all the time.

If whenever you accomplish something in your life, they seem indifferent to it, or maybe even react negatively, they probably are not happy for you because they don’t care much about your happiness and are maybe even jealous. Such a person is not someone who has best regards for you and it’s best to distance yourself from them. However that shouldn't be confused with a friend who is not happy for you when you are in an abusive or a dangerous relationship, because those types of friends are good and want you to be happier.

Yes, friends that are close often make fun of each other but they do it when they both know they are comfortable with it. And they know that is not something meant to be taken too seriously or hurt anyone’s feelings. If your friend persistently makes fun of you even when you show them you are clearly uncomfortable with it, it’s because they don’t care about your feelings that much, and possibly even enjoy making you feel bad.

It’s common to get in arguments with people who are close to you sometimes but if your friend always finds reasons to be mad, and you feel like you cannot please them whatever you do, it’s because they are either not emotionally mature enough, or they purposely act mad to distance themselves from you. It's also possible that they are emotionally manipulating you and get mad on purpose in order to make you do something that you wouldn't normally do.

You can’t trust them with keeping your secrets and find that whenever you tell them something in confidence suddenly a lot of people know it. That is a clear sign they don’t respect your privacy and you cannot trust them.

With a friend like this it doesn't matter what you want and feel comfortable with. They will constantly pressure you to do things you don’t like and put you down if you express discomfort. Any person who violates your boundaries is toxic, and standing up for yourself is the first thing you can do in such situation. If you feel like that person has no regard for your feelings whatsoever, the best thing to do is distance yourself from that person.

If your friend doesn't bother to do anything to get you away from a dangerous situation (for example leaves you drunk or asleep at a party where you don’t know anyone well), it means they don’t care about your safety. That is a clear indicator your friend doesn't care about you much and that you cannot trust them very well. Of course, you cannot expect from your friends to be your caregivers, and you should take responsibility for your bad decisions, but a friend who truly cares about will at least try to do something to get you out of a bad situation.