Boyfriend's having issues, and I don't know what to do

My guy's kinda goin' through a rough wave right now - he's in the Navy stationed over in Japan, which is cool. It sucks that we're so far away... He gets sad whenever we're talking on Skype and I have to leave for bed... .w.

But it's not so much that, as it is that after around 6 months of being over there, he now believes that he might have a bipolar disorder of some sort because of how much his mood shifts around for little to no reason. He can take some things personally, yes, and he's not terribly confident or secure with himself, but surely his mood wouldn't shift that easily simply from a single thought or something like a flick of a switch that just alters his mood. He says he began to notice it when he left for Japan, and even before he met me and actually went into the Navy that it was there - he felt happy, sad, irritated, elated, and frustrated just as often as he was depressed. It feels to him like his depression is his perpetuity, with periods of feeling at highs...

Now, he finds out, that while he could go into treatment for it, he'd be let go from the Navy. He thinks he would probably go into college. But we're both aware that if he does so, then he just may not have enough money to come visit during Christmas... And we do want to see each other again pretty badly. Yet it's obvious that the more he's gone through this, the depression has progressively gotten worse for him. Of course we wanna see each other, but we know that his well-being and health is more important... He doesn't care about the Navy if he's only going to be miserable the whole time. And I can agree with that. We're just worried that stuff like this will prevent us from being with each other. He wanted to go into the Navy because he felt like it would be the best shot for us to be together - that he'd make all this money to support us later in life, along with actually managing to visit me when he got leave time, with me going into school in the meantime to go into a career that could make sure I was doing my part in keeping our income stable.

Sounds kinda like a dream, huh... Obviously he should look into treatment, but we don't not want to see each other again... And he's American. So... it basically would cost either of us just over a grand to fly to the other's country, if he were back in Texas. And if he were to go into college while getting treatment, then it'd be very possible that he wouldn't have enough money to come visit me. And I don't have a credit card - I'd have to rely on my mom's, which might work.

I know... he should look into treatment, I know. It's the right thing to do. At this point, I just want to know if what he said - if what any of this is - is something that could very well be bipolar? Like, I want to make sure that what I've mentioned actually does sound like the right thing to do. I don't want to rush anything, but if he's getting worse, then... he should do something about it.

Yeah, this is pretty jumbled - sorry... But... please, I need help.

 

@Lex - I agree. Even though I'm scared of not being able to see him for Christmas, his well-being means much more to me.

@tryhtwfr - Honestly, I'm not sure if that can work? Considering he doesn't leave the base of which he's stationed at in Japan, it's likely that trying to get an opinion from an actual local place will raise some suspicions as to why he's there, and the Navy could very well be contacted about it. This is what he thinks, though... I don't really have too much of a clue. .w.;

@Ettina - Sleeping... I'll ask him about that the next time we talk. I have a feeling things like that could help him, too. Not gonna rely on those methods, admittedly, but every little bit can help.

Thanks, everyone. I'm hoping we can get this resolved and come up with some sort of solution(s) as to some of the issues he's facing and dealing with.