My relationship with my sister also brought me to this article. Very abusive. , indeed.

While I’m still working on extricating myself from friendships like this, I now realize that it’s better to avoid them in the first place. To that end, I’m learning to be wary of people who try to latch onto me too quickly and become insta-BFFs before I’ve had time to evaluate whether I really want them in my life. Real friendship takes time to develop, and I’ve found that people who want to rush into it without truly knowing me usually turn out to be pushy and clingy. They don’t want ME for a friend as much as they want anyone who will give them the attention they crave.

Over time, I’m also becoming more conscious of the signals I send out myself when getting to know someone. It’s much easier to establish boundaries in the beginning than later on, when I’m expected to be a people pleaser because that’s just what I’ve always been. Some of those boundaries have to do with my needs as an introvert, and I’m discovering that I have to be very firm and consistent about them, especially when dealing with extroverts. Actually, for this reason, I’ve started to steer away from extroverts when forming new friendships. It seems like no matter how much time and attention I give my extroverted friends, it’s never enough for them, whereas other introverts naturally share and feel at ease with my social rhythm. And more generally, figuring out what I want in a friend, whether that’s introversion or common interests or, at a bare minimum, sanity(!), is important so I can use it as a filter when deciding who to let into that small circle of people I hold dear.