Hi all. For a few years, I've suspected that one of my best friends of over a decade, let's call him Jim, is bipolar. While it's probably not appropriate for me to speculate since I'm not a professional, I've read about bipolar disorder and it describes Jim to a T. Even if it's not bipolar, Jim has issues that I believe warrant seeking professional help. He has admitted this after some episodes over the past few years. I don't know if he has ever sought help or been formally diagnosed with anything.

Occasionally, Jim will lash out at me and/or my friends, usually over text message, for seemingly no reason at all. He will attack us very personally and it hurts. He seems to go back and forth between depression and mania. He constantly self-medicates with drugs and alcohol. Some of our friends have stopped talking to Jim because it's too much to handle. I've tried to maintain our friendship even though he's hurt me multiple times.

Jim recently stopped communicating with us. He's ignoring our messages, left our group chats, and stopped following us on social media. None of us know why. I should add that he lives far away now so any contact we did have was online. This is hurtful and confusing to me. I want to help Jim if I can. I worry about him. It feels like I've lost a friend. I'm wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction in terms of helping my friend or at least understanding what he's going through. Thank you.