By Emma Nadler

Special to The Washington Post

I am a relationship-based therapist, but like anyone, I can be lured by the illusion that friendship should be logistically simple. But I know from research that the restorative power of true connection requires effort.

Embracing friendship means accepting that friends bring varying levels of inconvenience — yet the many benefits of these relationships are well established.

A 2023 review of 38 research articles about adult friendship indicated that people with close relationships report higher well-being, including overall increased life satisfaction. In addition, a 2010 meta-analysis involving 308,849 participants found that social ties have as much influence on mortality as other known health factors, including smoking cigarettes.

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