Bipolar boyfriend
My boyfriend had a manic psychotic episode in March where he became paranoid and believed people wanted to harm him. He called the police on himself, was hospitalized, and later ended up in jail related to the same situation. During that time, he said a lot of hurtful and out-of-character things to me.
I understand he wasn’t in his right mind, but it was still difficult because he could recall parts of our relationship, which made it confusing and painful. We’ve been together for almost four years, so everything happening so suddenly has been overwhelming.
My parents are strongly against continuing the relationship due to concerns about his mental health, and my dad has said he wouldn’t be welcome around the family. That’s been hard for me to accept because it’s not how I imagined our future.
We’ve had limited contact since everything happened. During that time, I’ve been trying to process both missing him and accepting that the relationship may not be sustainable. I’ve realized that I can’t continue the relationship, even though I still love him.
I did express wanting to end things before, but I don’t think he was fully coherent at the time. I’m unsure what he remembers, and I’ve learned that medication issues and substance use may have contributed to what happened.
Now I’m struggling with how and when to tell him the relationship is over, knowing it will hurt him.