Cruel discard after 2 years: My Bipolar ex kept the apartment I furnished and went ghost. How do I cope?
I was in a 2-year relationship with a man who has Bipolar Disorder. It was an intense, exhausting journey. We lived together, and for most of it, I was the "anchor." I worked, supported us, fully furnished our apartment with my own money, and basically taught him how to function and organize his life. I have Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), so I often struggled with "splitting" and wondering if I was the "difficult one," but looking back, my intensity was often a reaction to his instability and lack of accountability.
The Breaking Point: Everything started spiraling when he entered an impulsive phase. We were paying off a car together, but he became obsessed with a $6k motorcycle. He abandoned his responsibilities with the car, racked up debt, and prioritized his whims while I had to pay for everything, even our food. When I lost my job, instead of supporting me, he started treating me like a "burden." He used my BPD as a shield to justify distancing himself, claiming "everything went wrong in his life since I arrived," conveniently ignoring his own impulsive spending and constant job-hopping.
The Discard: We broke up a month ago. I left the city where we lived and moved back to my mom’s house, leaving with nothing but my clothes and a broken heart. He stayed in the apartment that I furnished, enjoying everything I built, and completely vanished. Total ghosting. No messages, no checking in, nothing. It feels like he just deleted me.
The Pattern: I found out he did the exact same thing to his previous ex. He used to say he "felt guilty" about it, yet he repeated the same cycle of discard and silence with me. Right now, he’s in a big city, working, and seems to be in a "manic high" or a state of grandiosity, acting as if he’s entirely self-sufficient and as if I never existed.
Where I am now: I have him blocked, but I’m still dealing with severe anxiety and a "nostalgia filter" that makes me focus on the intense good times. I feel so much rage for being used financially and discarded like an object once I was no longer "useful."
Questions for the community:
- Is this "total erasure" common for Bipolar partners during a manic or "high" phase?
- Has anyone else felt like a "bridge" used to help someone get stable, only to be tossed aside once they got there?
- Do Bipolar partners like this usually come back?
Posted May 1, 2026, 9:17 PM UTC