There's endless advice on romantic love, but how can you nurture loving friendships? And what should you do if a friendship turns sour, or leaves you feeling taken advantage of?

This week's guest is writer and therapist Dr Suzanne Degges-White, the author of Toxic Friendships: Knowing the Rules and Dealing with the Friends Who Break Them.

In this episode Andrew and Suzanne discuss: 

⭐️ Making friends and why it gets harder as we age

⭐️ Being a good friend

⭐️ How many friends we need

⭐️ When to let go of a friendship.

Dr Suzanne Degges-White is a professor and chair of the Counseling and Higher Education department at Northern Illinois University. She is a licensed counsellor whose focus includes working with individuals and families facing transitions. Her academic research explores development over the lifespan with a strong focus on women’s relationships and women’s developmental transitions.

Subscriber Content This Week

If you’re a subscriber to The Meaningful Life (via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Patreon), this week you’ll be hearing:

⭐️Strategies to detoxify a friendship or work relationship

⭐️3 things Suzanne knows to be true.

⭐️AND subscribers also access all of our previous bonus content - a rich trove of insight on love, life and meaning created by Andrew and his interviewees.

Follow Up

Read Andrew’s new Substack newsletter The Meaningful Life, and join the community there.

Read Dr Suzanne Degges-White’s new book Toxic Friendships: Knowing the Rules and Dealing with the Friends Who Break Them 

Read Friends Forever : How Girls and Women Forge Lasting Relationships, the book on friendship co-written by Suzanne Degges-White and Christine Borzumato-Gainey

Read Dr Suzanne Degges-White’s articles for Psychology Today

Follow Dr Suzanne Degges-White on Twitter @DeggesWhite

Read Andrew’s book Wake Up and Change Your Life: How to Survive a Crisis and be Stronger, Wiser and Happier 

Join our Supporters Club to access exclusive behind-the-scenes content, fan requests and the chance to ask Andrew your own questions. Membership starts at just £4.50.

Andrew offers regular advice on love, marriage and finding meaning in your life via his social channels. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube @andrewgmarshall