Hi. This will be long post.

My ex boyfriend broke up with me three weeks ago. He has severe OCD, GAD, PTSD and panic disorder. The trigger of all these mental illness is stress. He lost his job and now he starts to learn new skills but it doesn’t go well.
We were on and off for more than a year and used to be very good friends. Last time we broke up because of his mental illness,too. He was the one who wanted to rekindle our relationship at the first place. But at that time he had a job and a promising career. Now he struggles a lot on pursuing his new career. These new development on his professional life may make OCD and panic attacks prone to happen on daily basis.

He was under enormous stress.
And being in a relationship was just too much for him right now. He worried about my well being. He was born with hyper sensitive brain so as we got closer he cared and worried more and more. I knew he cared about me a lot but his feeling about me was triggering OCD episodes and panic attacks. He wanted to make sure I was happy and satisfied with him but the stress came from being a good and available partner was too much. The OCD episodes were increasing a lot for last few weeks. He couldn’t barely do anything except fighting against the compulsion behavior. Eventually he had to break up with me in order to breathe.

I was extremely sad and depressed about this outcome right after the break up. We separated because he was incapable of being in relationship right now. On the other hand, this relationship had taken a lot out of me and I was just tired of worrying about how his illness affecting his well being and us. I felt a bit relief oddly. But the future we plan together was gone and I lost not only my partner but also best friend. I felt safe and home from him.  I think I relay on him a lot in terms of sense of security.

He said he would let me know his recovery progress but didn’t want me to be involved with the recovery treatment. Because that would make me think we were still together. And he didn’t want to take a break or take it slow because the recovery might take a long time.

We didn’t have any contact since the break up. I am doing better now and try to come to term with it. I still think of him from time to time and concern about his well-being. He lives alone in a foreign country from his family and I was his emergency contact on the lease. He should be physically fine since I didn’t receive any bad news. And I also saw him on Facebook messager tonight.

Should I reach out ?