A and B have a very close friendship - lots of mutual support and are each other’s go-to when things are bad and in life’s ups and downs. They talk twice a day.
A has anxiety, which has been made worse by a recent external event. B is depressed. They talk about their mental health often.
Last week, B did something to upset A - something that was bad for her anxiety she said. It was something B had done before on more than one occasion but it was the first time A told B this behaviour upset her.
B read the message and didn’t respond.
24 hours later A messaged again apologised for being clumsy with the original message and backtracking a little.
B read the message but didn’t respond.
24 hours after that - so 48 hours after the original message - A messages again and says please respond, this is really bad for my anxiety, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it, I want things to go back to normal.
B replies after a few hours - I’ll respond later, I’ve got a lot going on, I just need more time.
Another day has passed so my question is: when does a need for space become stonewalling?