Save a dying friendship

[Ineedyou]

Im best friends with this guy and I don't use "best friends" lightly, we are close and we get along really well... at least we did. Recently, (like the past 4 weeks) Ive noticed a drastic change in my friend. He's become more irritable, but only towards me. I say this because this friend and I hang out in a group of friends and were all cool, but suddenly he will get mad at me for literally no reason. I've confirmed it with the other friend in the group, they all say that he had no reason to get upset at me and they try to get him to chill. I've confronted my friend many times when we were alone. I would ask him "why are you acting so different?" or "why are you getting mad at me so easily?" and he would always either ignore/deflect the subject or say "I haven't changed at all.". Im the type of guy who's not afraid to show my emotions, but my friend is not like that. It's hard to know what he's thinking a lot of times. Like I said, this has been going on for weeks now and honestly it's taking a toll on me. This guy is a extremely good friend, but he has become irritable. It's getting to a point where I dont enjoy being around him anymore and i hate to say that. I want us to stay friends, but I dont know how to fix what is wrong. He wont tell me whats happening and it seems like I cant doing anything to help it. I know he still wants to be friends though because he makes efforts to communicate with me. I was debating rather to stop all communication with him for a week or so and let us have some time apart since we've literally talked everyday for over a year now, but I wanted to get some opinions on what I could do. Bottom line is I want to save the friendship, not move on.

[Uniquemind]

Im best friends with this guy and I don't use "best friends" lightly, we are close and we get along really well... at least we did. Recently, (like the past 4 weeks) Ive noticed a drastic change in my friend. He's become more irritable, but only towards me. I say this because this friend and I hang out in a group of friends and were all cool, but suddenly he will get mad at me for literally no reason. I've confirmed it with the other friend in the group, they all say that he had no reason to get upset at me and they try to get him to chill. I've confronted my friend many times when we were alone. I would ask him "why are you acting so different?" or "why are you getting mad at me so easily?" and he would always either ignore/deflect the subject or say "I haven't changed at all.". Im the type of guy who's not afraid to show my emotions, but my friend is not like that. It's hard to know what he's thinking a lot of times. Like I said, this has been going on for weeks now and honestly it's taking a toll on me. This guy is a extremely good friend, but he has become irritable. It's getting to a point where I dont enjoy being around him anymore and i hate to say that. I want us to stay friends, but I dont know how to fix what is wrong. He wont tell me whats happening and it seems like I cant doing anything to help it. I know he still wants to be friends though because he makes efforts to communicate with me. I was debating rather to stop all communication with him for a week or so and let us have some time apart since we've literally talked everyday for over a year now, but I wanted to get some opinions on what I could do. Bottom line is I want to save the friendship, not move on.

Ugh I've dealt with this but with the other gender being catty and backstabby.

I'd recommend doing a passive aggressive thing and defensive thing and put distance between you and him.

Consider the possibility his mood is hormone related, is the result of a developing mood disorder, meaning he himself might not have logical rationale explaining why he feels the way he does, therefore explaining it becomes hard because he doesn't know himself.

Also point out that you'd like to remain friends too, but communication is a two-way street like any relationship is.

[jamie_n5]

Well you could leave him be for a few days or a week. See if he contacts you in that time and see if he will take that first step. You need to probably keep asking him if there is anything that you can do to help him. Tell him you know something has to be wrong and ask him to please share what's going on with him to you. Just try be there for him I guess.