How do you talk?

I have been thinking lately about communication?

How do you communicate the best way in order to not create confusions and conflicts? To talk around things or to be straightforward? A female friend of mine needs very straightforward communication to understand... She has a lot of pain and gets easily stressed out. I know that that makes her to cut off most things around her and thus I need to tell her exactly what I mean - and eye-to-eye...
It is very frustrating from time to time... and somehow I've got the feeling that this is the way men communicate... am I wrong?

Still I know I need to practise on this kind of communication... I usually tend to talk around things...