Username changed for this.
I have a friend who I have known for years now and who I have spent a lot of time with, we have become very close as time has gone by. We see each often even if just for a drink/coffee and a catch up.
She has always been a bit on the depressed side and I think she struggles with anxiety but recently it has become much worse.
The problem is she is very low key angry as well as miserable these days and picks fights with me about almost anything I say, even tiny things that just don't matter. She's also very defensive, talks about her problems constantly but won't listen to any advice, in fact she argues against any advice I might try to give. And everything is a big drama even if it's a fairly small problem that is soon fixed. If I don't react enough when she tells me something that's happened, she goes on and on about it until it seems a much bigger problem than it really is.
It's incredibly wearing and I don't know how to deal with it anymore. She also never asks me how I am. My life isn't perfect by any imagination, as she well knows, but there is never any interest in what is going on with me.
I think about not getting in touch and just letting the friendship drift but then I feel guilty because I know her behaviour is down to depression. She can be great, we used to have a real laugh together. I know she isn't a horrible person although she is often behaving like that at the moment, to me
Interestingly, if we see anyone else when we are out she is sweetness and light to them, a completely different person.
Has anyone else experienced anything likes this and could offer any advice? I don't want to end the friendship but how do I handle her behaviour towards me?