Does marriage threaten friendship?

Many women have abandoned their friends after getting married. Sometimes they simply ignore them despite a long and close history of friendship.  Before getting married, women will usually insist on keeping their friends with whom they have shared many years of good and bad times. Arabstoday explores the reasons of such attitude, and the appropriate respond to adopt when confronting a recently married friend. Wafaa, 30-years-old, recently got married. She explained that this issue does not surprise her, as she believes that friendship between women does not usually last long. But she cannot explain why menare able to keep their friends, even after getting married.   Karima, 37-years old, was angry when she received a message from a friend who said that they could not see each other anymore. At first she thought the message was a joke, but she then found out that her friend got married ans was leaving the country to go to Europe with her husband. Karima thinks she acted that way because of her wedding. On the other hand, 27-year old Mariam has had a different experience. She tells Arabstoday that she has kept her friends, but that she has had to compromise with her husband in order to see her friends. Soaad believes that a woman who abandons her friends after getting married is selfish, and explains that such a person does not appreciate the importance of friendship. She stressed that some women cut the bounds with their friends in order not to argue with their husbands. From a psychological point of view, some experts believe that such behaviour shows that the friendship was very fragile in the first place. Therefore abandoning a weak relationship is not so much a problem. Getting married is considered a suitable opportunity for taking such decision, according to experts.  It would be a mistake to generalise such behaviour as many women manage to keep their friends. Psychologists advise women to keep their friends in order to have a balanced and healthy life.