The Friendship Checkup: How to Reevaluate Relationships and Take Steps to Repair Them

As the pandemic has led us to reassess what’s important in our lives, many people have been reevaluating their friendships, reflecting on who they really value and which relationships are healthy or balanced. While the pandemic may have spurred these current reexaminations, experts say that taking a close look at one’s circle of friends is something we should do from time to time, because our friendships can have a substantial effect on our health and well-being, for better or worse.

“We’re seeing more and more research about how beneficial it is to your health to have healthy friendships,” says Beverley Fehr, a social psychologist at the University of Winnipeg in Canada and author of “Friendship Processes.” “It also implies the flip side—if your friendships are not healthy, you will experience negative health outcomes.” In other words, she says, “bad friendships are bad for us” – both physically and emotionally.

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