I think this guy knows exactly what he's doing when he sends the "I really want you back" texts and emails peppered in with abusive ones. It's all manipulation, just different flavors. The end game is to get your emotions all confused like a ball of string. If he was all mean and abusive sending a single message all the time, you'd at least have emotional clarity in one direction, but it's the contradictions that a manipulator uses to really get you doubting yourself and your feelings and your opinion of him. It's crazy making, literally.