I (M22) grew up with a cousin (M24) who lived near our place when I was little. We used to hang out a lot since I didn’t have any friends at the time, and we were very close. But after we moved when I was 10 years old, our friendship kind of fizzled out, and we stopped talking and hanging out.

Years later, in 2020, he called me out of the blue, which surprised me because we hadn’t talked in such a long time. The initial conversation was a bit awkward, but we eventually started catching up on what we’d been doing all this time. During the conversation, he suddenly opened up about how he’s been struggling with psychological issues and has been feeling suicidal.

This topic came out of nowhere, and I was really quiet, unsure of what to say. He told me he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and is currently very depressed. Hearing this, I did my best to comfort him and told him to stay positive, though I honestly didn’t know what else to say.

Since then, we’ve started having conversations regularly. At first, I didn’t mind, but over time, they became more frequent—almost excessive. He said he doesn’t have anyone else to talk to at home because his parents are always busy. I’ve been talking to him whenever he calls, but now it’s starting to take a toll on my personal life.

I really want to help him, but his constant reliance on me and need to talk every day is becoming overwhelming. I know it might sound bad, but I don’t want to keep talking with him like this anymore. His parents think I’m the only one who wants to talk with him, but that’s not really true—I just don’t know how to say no.

I want to tell him to stop relying on me so much and to seek more professional help, but I’m afraid it’ll come off as if I don’t care about him. How can I approach this without sounding insensitive or hurting his feelings?