A couple semesters ago I lost the greatest friend I ever had, who also happened to be my animation professor and advisor. I was "the best student he ever had" (his words) and he consistently praised my work. He chose me to join him in supporting our school's animation program at the state capital. For once I could overcome my depression. That is, until it got increasingly worse. I had no friends other than this professor and I was at a loss for what to do. Suddenly I made the rash decision to confide in him and tell him everything that was going wrong in my life, including my depression. Initially, he did everything to support me. He invited me out to eat with him and even meet his family. I asked if we could do it again sometime, to which he hesitantly replied, "sure." Everything seemed to be going right for once.

Suddenly, he broke all contact with me. He never replied to any of my emails, no matter how small. I confronted him about it personally and he said, "he didn't want to be friends, but we could still maintain a professional relationship." I was certainly bummed (understatement), but I knew it was ultimately his choice in what he wanted to do. So I sent him emails about animation I was working on, and left it at that. In time, he stopped responding to those too. After a while, I couldn't take it and sent him messages demanding why he didn't want to acknowledge me at all. I even asked another teacher who said he probably didn't feel comfortable talking to someone with depression (even though he seemed fine with inviting me to his house a few months before). I took this fall semester off because I was too depressed to reenter school after everything that happened. The last email I sent him asked if he would be willing to meet with me as an advisor to set up classes for the next semester. Again, no response. It was only through another person that he said he no longer wanted to be my advisor either. He officially severed the last connection we had with each other.

Before anyone asks, there was never any inclination that this was a romantic relationship because there were no "romantic" feelings involved. We were friends, plain and simple. My therapist suggests I refrain from contacting or even seeing him on campus. I know I have to respect his wishes to never talk again.

But where do I go from here? I have no friends in college now. I'm completely alone. I feel simultaneously angry and hurt that someone would mislead me into a friendship like that. My suicidal feelings only get worse now. How will I survive school after all this?