Boundaries and Friends Summary and Analysis

According to the authors, friendships symbolize a meaningful life. Friendships are relationships that one enjoys without other connection, such as a job, marriage, church, etc. Furthermore, these relationships are not intimate, unless otherwise stated. The conflicts in friendships results from a conflict of boundary personality, as discussed earlier.

The first type of conflict is a friendship between two compliant personalities. When neither person can say no, neither friend enjoys a happy relationship. To diagnose and fix all of the conflicts discussed in this chapter, the authors follow the following plan.

First, one must recognize the symptoms of this type of boundary conflict. In this instance, both friends experience dissatisfaction with the friendship. Next, the root of the problem the two people develop is a habit of saying yes to keep others happy. The boundary conflict itself, the...