I'm so happy I found this. I am in the same position and its nice to know others are too. Basically I met him 2 years ago. We clicked immediately, and he moved in with me shortly. It was in college at the time and he moved across the state. Things were amazing. Then the depression hit. He said he needed to move back to our hometown (we had actually gone to high school together years ago and never really knew one another) because his insurance did not cover any doctors here to see a therapist. He left, and we stayed together. A few weeks later he visited me, and we got in a pretty bad fight. He ended things 3 days later. I was set to move home for summer break from school to our hometown shortly after that. When I got home we hung out a bit and then his depression got worse. He would see me, then go silent for days, and see me, and on and on. As summer wound down and I was set to go back to school, things looked up. He came to visit me a few times when I was back at school. We got back together and he moved back down and stayed until I graduated and we both moved back to our hometown. This was this past January. Things were fine when we were back home, until about March when the depression came back and he ended things again, saying he needed to be alone to figure himself out. We did not speak for 2 weeks until we met up to return some things of each other's that we still had. We decided to stay friends because we truly were each other's best friends. That was great, but slowly it just turned back into the way it used to be. Hanging out all the time, staying over, having dinner with parents, going on dates. But we never made it official because we were just enjoying that we were having a good time together. Although we did have conversations about possibly actually getting back together in the future. We even went away in July for my 24th birthday and it was wonderful. Then, 2 weeks ago, he suddenly became distant. We went to dinner and when he picked me up I could immediately tell he had taken too much of his anti anxiety medication as he was slurring his words and swaying while standing. After that night he barely replied at all. I finally asked "why won't you acknowledge me?". He told me he was avoiding me because he felt that he would bring me down too if he was around me too much. And that he needed space to work on himself, and that even though we never said it, we were in a relationship and we were joking to pretend we weren't since we did everything we used to. He said if he keeps me around he will focus all his time on me as a way to avoid needing to work on himself. I get it. I told him I would give him space, and asked him what his boundaries were. If he wanted no contact at all, less, or what. He wouldn't answer me. He would never reply when I would ask that. For about a week now its been me sending texts that just go unreplied to, or get answered a day later with a hollow answer. Then, this past Friday, I was stranded at work with no way home, and reached out to him as a last resort and he was nice enough to come and get me home. When we got to my house, I told him I would run upstairs cuz I had some of his clothes. He followed me upstairs and just sat on my bed like were hanging out. We were joking, laughing, like nothing had ever happened. I casually asked him if he rememebered the joke he told me the night we went to dinner a few weeks ago. He looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language and said "...we went to dinner? I have no memory of going to dinner." I explained and he kepy saying "you're screwing with me right?" I had to show him my bank statement with a charge from the restaurant to prove it. Realizing he had ended things the next day I asked if he remembered that conversation. He said he hasn't remembered about a week of time, and only bits and pieces of that conversation, and that he would reread the texts. We ended up sleeping together before he left. I texted him today asking what he thought, and that I hoped I wasn't being used for sex. He told me it was not like that, but he was right in his texts that he needs space to figure himself out. I told him I respected that but thought it was absurd to deny the fact that we have a connection whenever we are around each other, and that he did not need to remove me completely. I told him I had no problem telling him no to things I thought might lead us down the path of just going back to being in a relationship again. He never replied. I texted him once more saying that after all we have been through the least I deserve is a simple conversation about what he wants from me. Still nothing.
I am so lost. He means the world to me. We had talked about getting engaged and finding a place together in our home town. It just feels like my heart has been ripped out. Because I know that we have a connection we can't pretend is not there. That even when both of us are struggling we always gravitate back to one another. I want to cut contact completely, but I find it so terrifying that in doing so I will never speak to him again. Even though the past has shown that is not the case. I'm just so lost.