I know what you mean. Through the worst times of my divorce I wished the pain would stop, until it became so bad that I became numb. That was scary! Worse than the pain - the nothingness, the void, the unendingness of everything. Very scary. No, I don't believe anyone would give up their emotions, especially if they have experienced this "numbness". Thank goodness, that's over!

Have you ever wondered about the meaning of pain? I am reading a book by Philip Yancy, and this is a question that he grapples with. Basically, pain is there to warn you of more severe hurt. Pain is there to preserve you. An example of this may be, like a person who puts their hand on a hot stove, they burn their hand and pull away. Conversely, someone who is oblivious to pain may also put their hand on the stove, burn their hand, not pull away - and they burn their hand so badly that it may have to be amputated. This is a reality for some who do suffer from living a "painless" life.

This may be true for your friend. Perhaps burning himself now is painful, but should the relationship have continued, worse harm may have awaited him - in whatever form that would have been.

He is lucky to have a friend like you. My best friends are the ones who allowed me to be whatever I was - sad, angry, blah, blah - at any given moment. In their presence I found healing and self-worth again. Soldier on with your friend and good luck :-)

I think that your friends condition is prevalent,but sometimes we miss it  .  In the course  of everyday people interaction,some see what may be described as a behavior different from the norm as -well different. And perhaps less fortunate,etc.   Sometimes I see people in this light also. I must admit though that the creative people I have admired most;the Artists,writers,musicians,the thinkers ,those we have heard of and not heard of,have been subjected to,or subjected themselves to,this behavior.Man vs. Mind??  Our selfs,and how we relate to ourselves.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             I know a professor who is brilliant and was successful in most  aspects of his life .  Certainly in a professional sense,except when he does drugs.  Why on earth would he put everything at risk that he has worked for,for the sake of a lost weekend in his apartment??  Of course it makes no sense ,but if one understands the dynamics of addiction ,and how addiction permits and promotes an improper relation of self to self,it makes much sense.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    I have recently learned that Experience actually forms the neural pathways in our physical brain.Our experience actually influences the cell structure and chemical interaction within.When I read this I was at first surprised and then not surprised at all.  How else would one explain the variants of human behavior and what we perceive as the norm or a deviation from that norm??