Opening Up About the Emotional Abuse I Went Through As A Friend Who Tried To Help Another Friend
I’ve stayed silent for a long time out of fear, confusion, and loyalty to people who didn’t treat me with the same care. But I’m ready to speak the truth now—not to start drama, but to finally take my power back.
For over a year, I was emotionally abused. I was used, manipulated, guilt-tripped, and gaslit by someone I once considered a close friend that I met on this app. I was constantly pulled into their toxic relationship with someone who was harming them, and every time I tried to help, set boundaries, or express how I felt, I was made out to be the problem.
I wasn’t treated like a friend—I was treated like a therapist, a dumping ground, and a scapegoat. I was expected to always listen, always fix things, always be available—while my own pain was ignored or brushed aside. Whenever I tried to protect this person, or stand up against the abuse they were facing, I got dragged deeper into the cycle and hurt in the process.
Private conversations were shared behind my back. I was insulted, talked about, and blamed for “drama” that I didn’t create. I was told I needed to “learn my place” and was even threatened with legal action just for speaking out and protecting myself.
I was trapped in a cycle of emotional exhaustion and constant chaos—until I finally had no choice but to block them and cut ties completely.
I want to make this clear: what I went through was abuse. I was emotionally and mentally mistreated. And just because I tried to help someone who was hurting doesn’t mean I deserved to be hurt in the process.
I’m not sharing this for pity. I’m sharing it to reclaim my voice, to say I see it now, and to remind anyone else in a similar situation: you are not alone, and you don’t owe anyone your peace or your mental health just because they’re suffering.
If you have to walk away to protect yourself, do it. That doesn’t make you heartless—it makes you brave.
I’m healing now, and I’m done being silent.