The symptomatic sting of a breakup is truly horrific.

The heart-wrenching loss of that connection. Painstakingly running through what went wrong. The panic of bumping into them again. Scrolling through old messages sent to each other. Questioning if you were to blame. Fury over what they did. Detaching from the deeply ingrained habit of talking every day. Feeling unloved. Feeling lost. Feeling alone.

But these side-effects of a breakup don't just apply to romantic relationships. They're found in the weeds of a friendship fall out too. And are felt to a heart-cracking degree when that fallout happens with your best friend.

It's a trope we've seen played out on screen recently – with the central 'unromantic arc' ofEverything I Know About Lovesurrounding two best friends, Maggie and Birdie, and the unravelling of their decade-long friendship.

There are flashback montages, heated fights in their kitchen and a post-breakup scene involving one side crying in the other's empty bedroom. The last audibly amped up by the heartbreaking vocals of Laura Marling. It was the friendship equivalent ofthatEmma Thompson necklace scene inLove Actually –and, frankly; it stung more.

Perhaps that's because there's a unique pain associated with the ending of a friendship.

It's arguably an equal (if not, greater) loss of a romantic love, but it's one that often isn't given the respect it deserves, nor the space and time to recover.

To find out the ramifications of a friendship breakup, we spoke to 22 women about their own experience with it – and asked them what they wish they could say to their ex-bestie now, if their paths were to cross again.

Here's what they had to say.

How long had you been friends before the breakup?

We've been best friends since we were in fourth grade – seven years in total. We were inseparable!

We would always get matching outfits, accessories, everything we can think of. We know each other's deepest and darkest secrets – we even took showers together. She's the only friend my mum trusted and vice versa. Whenever I feel like everything's about to fall apart, I would always call her and she'd be coming right up with a pint of ice cream for us to share. Even our goals were matching! She wanted to be a pilot while I used to pursue being a flight attendant, we would plan our whole future together – including getting pregnant at the same time. She was my everything and my only friend and I really have no issues with having one brilliant friend. It was almost perfect.

I did. Though she was so fun to be with and I felt seen by her, there's also a bad side of her in which she would always lie to save herself – even if I went down because of it. She lied to me many times, she stabbed me in back a lot too when we were in high school just for the sake of her own image. I would always forgive her but everything went down when she became a pathological liar. It sickened me because she put me at risk just for other people to like her. And that's when I ended it.

Relief. I felt like I was in a fake relationship for too long.

We've spoken a lot of times after the breakup but it was no longer like before, there was already a space between us. She would still reach out to me but I no longer want to be involved with her. No hate though, I just don't care anymore.

I wish you all the best! This may come off harsh but I feel like your endless lies and stabbing me in the back (and me being so forgiving) is a sign that we really shouldn't have been best friends in the first place.

How long had you been friends before the breakup?

We were a group of four and had been best friends from 12 to 16 (so short-lived, but when we ended, my whole world came crashing down). We were all basically inseparable for the first few years. We had the same humour, we bounced off of each other and our experiences with life were so different but we loved discussing all of it (for example, I was Islander while they were all a mix of Italian, Lebanese and Danish).

It was the perfect definition of a 'girl squad'. Everyone knew we were obsessed with each other.