Mental Health Broke Friendship in Time of Need

I (21M) have depression, anxiety, OCD, and ADHD. I grew up with a very abusive father but he is now out of my life. From these experiences, abuse towards women and children can be quite triggering for me. I have gotten over a lot of my mental health issues over the past few years after some pretty intense therapy. However, the past two months have gotten pretty bad for my mental health because I developed horrible insomnia that has seriously impeded my thinking.

I have been good friends with Amy (Fake name, 21F) for many years. We eventually dated and fell in love for a few months last year. We broke up due to me requiring to get a job and defer for a year in another city which strained the relationship. It was a mutual breakup though. We drifted apart a bit but we still remained good friends. Eventually, Amy vaguely texted me that she was not feeling safe at her apartment and wanted me to sleep with her (not sex, literally sleep with her). I was still semi in love with her but I pushed those feelings aside because I felt she was really upset needed a close friend for support. When I got there, I asked why she did not feel safe. She told me that her friend just killed herself, she was recently raped a few months ago, and her grandmother just had a heart attack. She was seriously struggling. This was very triggering for me because I care about her deeply and it hurts to see her in pain, I have been suicidal in my past, violence against women and children remind of my father which trigger me, and my grandfather died a few months ago as well and I didn't cope with that well. I had a complete mental breakdown in front of her, even though she called me over to comfort her. I hadn't had a breakdown like that in 4 years. I felt so terrible that I did that to her in her time of need. I apologized profusely the next few days. I brought my mental health back under control and even fixed my insomnia. However, a few weeks later she told me that the scene was too much for her and that she needed a break from me. I am genuinely worried about her mental health right now, not to mention our friendship and any prospect of reuniting having ended. I am definitely going to give her some space right now but what else can I do for her if she doesn't want to see or hear from me?

Edit:

I just wanted to say this is my first post on a new account because I didn't want any possibility for it to be linked back to Amy.

Posted Mar 12, 2020, 5:43 AM UTC · edited

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