i‘m in a relationship with my boyfriend for well over a year now, i‘m 22 he‘s 28, and i can honestly say it‘s the best relationship i‘ve ever been in. he‘s gentle, sweet, cares for me and has a lot of qualities i look for in a partner. i‘m in law school and he‘s working a high pressure job in which he makes really good money but has times where he struggles with it mentally. i never thought much of it because in law school i‘m going through the same stressful cycles and we‘ve always been good at open conversations and helping each other deal with the pressure we‘re both experiencing from time to time. but lately i notice a massive change in him, it‘s started 3 weeks ago when we were on a skiing holiday. every little thing started to get to him like not waking up at 6:30 in the morning (even though it‘s a holiday and we literally had nowhere to be) and could really ruin half a day. he‘s been finding faults in me and makes every little thing in a really big deal and it‘s so unlike him. he‘s the sweetest boy in the world for a whole day and then he finds something and i can see him change- he starts talking himself into it and then it‘s like he can‘t get out anymore. i try to be patient because i love him so much and i want to be there to support him even in dark times but i feel deeply hurt by the way he treats me currently. after an hour or more of conversation where i try to calm him down i can see that he‘s starting to notice what he‘s doing to me and it‘s like he wakes up from a dream. he‘s shocked by the things he said and apologises a million times and tells me that he‘s in a really bad place mentally and that he doesn’t even recognise himself anymore. tonight we made plans to see each other and i suggested we could watch a movie i really wanted to show him at my house and he started getting mad and acting like everything always had to be my way and said really hurtful things. i just feel like everything i say is wrong right now.

i feel helpless and like i irritate him more than i can support him. i never wanted to break up and i still don‘t but i‘m just backed in corner here. what can i do to help him and our relationship?