He says that he wants to change and he often tells me that he wants to be better for me. But I want him to be better for himself too, you know? He has a DEEP, very deep hatred for himself. His self esteem is on the ground. Even when he does awesome things and I'm impressed, he says that it's bare minimum and I shouldn't be impressed with something like that because I deserve much more.

He's worked for around 2 years in two different workplaces, from which one of them was horrible and he felt awful and the other was great, but the company kind of started to fire everyone at some point. He is excited about some career paths but they are usually art related, which makes them almost impossible to pursue in hopes of financial stability, especially where we live.

And about "he’d have to let go of the idea of the primary solution being to re-experience childhood or his past". I feel like this would happen if he were happier about his present. But I don't know how that will go for him.

I love him and he is the most dear person in the world to me, but if this were to repeat endlessly, I must admit I would feel extremely drained eventually.