A nervous breakdown refers to a mainstream and often-used term to generically describe someone who experiences a bout of mental illness that is so severe, it directly impacts their ability to function in everyday life. The specific mental illness can be anything — depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or something else. But the reference to a “nervous breakdown” usually refers to the fact that the person has basically stopped their daily routines — going to work, interacting with loved ones or friends, even just getting out of bed to eat or shower.
A nervous breakdown can be seen as a sign that one’s ability to cope with life or a mental illness has been overwhelmed by stress, life events, work or relationship issues. By disconnecting from their regular responsibilities and routines, an individual’s nervous breakdown may allow them to try and regroup their coping skills and temporarily relieve the stress in their life.
Someone with a nervous breakdown may be seen as having “checked out” from society temporarily. They no longer maintain their social relationships with others, and find it difficult or impossible to go to work and may call in sick multiple days in a row. People with a nervous breakdown often don’t even have the coping resources available to take care of themselves, or do much more than rudimentary self-care and maintaining. They may over-eat (if it provides them comfort) or simply fail to eat altogether, not feeling the need or energy to do so.
Since a nervous breakdown is not a clinical or scientific term, it’s meaning can also vary in terms of its length and severity, as well as outcomes. Many people who suffer from a nervous breakdown usually seek out treatment (or have treatment sought out on their behalf by a loved one), and treatment is usually on the serious end of the spectrum of all the interventions available. Inpatient hospitalization for a serious nervous breakdown would not be unusual, to help a person become stabilized and find an effective treatment strategy for the mental disorder they’re affected by.
People who suffer from a nervous breakdown and seek out treatment for it will usually recover from the most extreme depths of the “breakdown” within a few weeks’ time (which may be quickened with inpatient psychiatric treatment). Longer-term recovery usually takes months of ongoing outpatient treatment with mental health specialists, such as a psychiatrist or psychologist.
A nervous breakdown is not a condition to be afraid of, as it is simply an indication of overhwelming stress and mental illness in a person’s life. Loved ones and friends of someone who is suffering from a nervous breakdown should be supportive of the individual’s efforts in seeking help for it.
How Can You Cope with a Nervous Breakdown?
A nervous breakdown, also known as a mental or emotional breakdown, is a serious and overwhelming reaction to stress that can leave a person feeling out of control and unable to function normally. Coping with a nervous breakdown requires careful and thoughtful attention to one’s physical, emotional, and mental health. Here are five different ways a person can cope with a nervous breakdown:
- Seek professional help: The first and most important step in coping with a nervous breakdown is to seek professional help. A mental health professional such as a therapist, psychiatrist, or counselor can provide a safe and supportive environment where the person can explore their feelings and develop coping strategies. They can also recommend appropriate medication if necessary.
- Practice self-care: Practicing self-care is essential for coping with a nervous breakdown. This can include getting enough sleep, eating a healthy diet, and engaging in regular exercise or physical activity. Other self-care practices may include taking time for hobbies or activities that bring joy, meditating, or journaling.
- Connect with loved ones: Support from loved ones can help a person cope with a nervous breakdown. This may involve talking to a close friend or family member, joining a support group, or seeking out community resources. It is important to surround oneself with positive and supportive people who can offer encouragement and understanding.
- Reduce stress: Nervous breakdowns are often triggered by high levels of stress. To cope, it is important to identify and reduce sources of stress in one’s life. This may involve adjusting work responsibilities, setting boundaries with others, or taking time off to focus on healing.
- Focus on the present: Nervous breakdowns can be overwhelming and cause a person to feel out of control. To cope, it can be helpful to focus on the present moment and take things one step at a time. This may involve mindfulness practices, such as deep breathing, yoga, or guided imagery. By focusing on the present moment, a person can reduce feelings of anxiety and overwhelm, and gradually work towards feeling more in control of their life.
25 comments
Let’s say I have a breakdown.
The Sanity Score from this site could be a very valuable tool for detecting if I need outside help.
Could you do an assessment online? I do not understand or agree with all the questions that conclude the sanity score. I would like to clarify the question before answering and get an assessment from someone that I trust. Of course that could not replace a real assessment done by someone in person. But at least I have a starting point. For example I might feel guilty but I do not see any reason to be punished.(I could explain why, if necessary, but not in public) If a question asks both(see Depression Test)how could I answer? I trust very few to understand correctly what I mean. Maybe it’s more my culture than my English but I suppose you don’t want this to be an impediment when this site is internationally used by people.
Well I have a nervous crisis due to an abusive emotional situation a few months ago, My husbands comments sent me through the edge….”that I wasn’t important that his family was important(bil/Mil/son)” I called an ambulance I felt so sick and tired. He in an narsicistic turn said I can’t miss work I got pissed off and told to stay at work!…I stayed in the hospital overnight with turned into an extended weekend..my medical records disapeared due to fact that they didn’t provided me an AD that I was using and that started my menses…I was literary begging for a tampon and had to make due and to calm my depression I was surviving on black tea….
Dr. Grohol I must disagree with your article. When I took basic psychology the Nervous Breakdown was explained in terms of a dissociative mental break. It had a definite onset and was of short duration even though some effects might be permanent.
The term “nervous breakdown” was changed in the DSM. It was not dignified and had no specific relation to the new naming system.
I would ask you to look at a simple problem explained in first semester psychology under the physiology of sight. You can also verify it in Engineering and Design.
Subliminal Distraction was discovered to cause a believed-to-be harmless temporary episode forty years ago. The Cubicle was designed to deal with it after 1968.
But it is so simple it can happen almost anywhere the “special circumstances” are created long enough.
In seven years of searching I cannot find anyone in medicine or psychology aware of it. No one has researched the problem. No one investigates it when there is a mass school shooting, unexplained student suicide, or mass shooting.
The hint that it is at the bottom of unexplained student events is that a very small number of the missing students recover or are found in altered mental states, Ahmad Arain, UCLA – Matthew Wilson, Rice
The list of student involvement should be suicides, disappearances, and mass shootings.
that would like the typical ataque de nervios in spanish….mines was short duration…
I would love to understand all the comments above, but given the poor writing ability of these “posters” I cannot understand what they are talking about. People whom tend to use Acronyms in a general public forum are wasting everyone’s time. Do I know what DSM means? NO, what about AD? NO, so reading your comments means absolutely nothing. Sorry that you’ve wasted your time and mine. Thanks
Tony, I agree! DSM stands for ‘Diagnostic Statistical Manual’ of Mental Illness.
AD, I have no clue either. Kat
“A nervous breakdown is not a condition to be afraid of…”
You mean not to be afraid of if it is in a friend or relative, or if it is in yourself? I am here to tell you that if it is in yourself, it can be something to be very afraid of…
Hi. My husband’s dad suffered a nervous breakdown when my husband was 11/12. My husband is 56 and has only recently started talking with me a bit more about it other than stating that it happened. His mom completely ignored the situation at the time and did not help the children (3 others) cope. It has effected the family deeply. All the siblings live in terrible fear that the illness will come to call on them (their dad’s dad was institutionalized).As midwesterners, no one talks about their feelings but my husband and I are now NYers.I’d like to read an autobio by an adult who lived through this to get some perspective. My husband will not, WILL NOT, 100% go for therapy, and he hates his family.I’d like to just understand a bit more as I am compassionate having come from a childhood of welfare, abuse and then orphaned at 14. I’m not looking for a textbook or clincal look but a first hand account. Thx for listening.
AD means adjustment disorder
I think AD in the context of the post means “admitting diagnosis”.
My partner of 9 yrs had a major episode 2 years ago. I won’t go into detail but he threw my daughter and I out of the house. He was very aggressive. . It took a while and medication for him but we worked things out and I now live with him again.
It is happening with him again and I don’t know what to do. I suggested a visit to his doctor and he never spoke to me for four days. He is so depressed angry and I am his sole focus of anger. I am at whits end.
I’m having one now….and have been since I found my out my father is dying of cancer. My husband’s a narcissitic control freak and if I try to get help for my NB he will take my daughter away. Forever. As stated earlier, this article is helpful for people dealing with other people with this condition. Those of us going through it are still lost. And will not ask for help because the cost is too high.
I agree, if you had a nervous/mental breakdown you better be scared, and it is not time limited, either. So I do not really know where some doctors get their information on it or if they have worked with a lot of people that had one.
I have been searching for an adequate term to describe what I have experienced over the past several years and even this term falls miserably short. What’s worse is that it’s not even a medical term! Something real and devastating happened and I’ve yet to find out what. It goes far beyond a mental overload. I got so sick for so long that even my physical body began failing. I would be walking and my muscles would literally fail, and I would drop right where I stood. My memory and thinking skills in general shut down. Even my IQ went from 134 to 104. The term “nervous breakdown” seems just so inadequate a term. More like a complete system breakdown (except autonomic, of course). Recovery with little to no help (can’t go to a doctor if you can’t work to pay for it) has taken over a year JUST to see minimal signs of recovery. Elimination of ALL stressors, eating nothing but nutritional foods and consistent physical activity (walking, working a no-brainer job, etc.) are the only things that have been helpful. I’m guessing that family or friend support would be hugely helpful as a source of energy while you can’t create your own.
I can relate Apada. I still cant explain what happened to me and it was a horrible experience. I didn’t feel like myself and did things that weren’t the norm for me. It’s late so that’s all I’m going to say. Jill. [email protected]
I suffered an emotional/nervous breakdown in 1994. I was 39 yes old at the time. I was going through unrelenting stress. The night that I reached the end of my rope I was standing in the upstairs hall of my house & all of a sudden I couldn’t make any decisions. I did not know what I should do. Should I walk…if so, to where? Should I sit or go to bed? I literally was lost. I did 2 weeks of inpatient treatment followed 14 days later by 3 weeks of inpatient. It was definitely NOT short term. I suffer now from many autoimmune diseades that I attribute to the breakdown.
Hi i suffered a severe nervous breakdown two years ago i was totaly helpless for a whole year i saw physcologist twice a week for six weeks and almost every week saw a physiciatrist. I was on so much medication i was like a zombie.I rarely got out of bed for a year apart from literally dragging myself up for appointments it was horrendous i even contemplated suicide i just wanted it all to go away. Two years on and i am still not how i used to be i dont know if i ever will be but at least i can tell you that when people tell you that you will improve{i know its hard to believe them] but you will.
Hello,
Whether or not I had a nervous breakdown is somewhat unimportant at this point. It is important that I can get back to some normalcy in my life.
My daddy died when I was nine. When I was five or six, my brother molested me one time. I never forgot it, and I dismissed it as child’s play. When I was about 13, my mother begin dating this man. He would come to see her and would stay overnight at times (they slept in separate beds). But once he got in bed, he would want to kill me a hug and a kiss. It was not a peck on my lips; he attempted to really kiss. When he would hug me, I kept my arms crossed over my chest. When I was seventeen, I married my childhood sweetheart. He and I were both educators, and he was also a Marine Corps officer for four years. I desperately needed emotional security, but I did not realize it at the time. He as emotionally, verbally, later became physically abusive. Threats that he would leave were constant, and he would only stay if I did something sexually for him. (nothing deviant) I say all this because I feel it is tied in with what has happened more recently.
My mother died in 2001, and my world completely shattered. I still grieve for her even though I have been doing better.
She and I were exceptionally close, and she had loved me unconditionally as no one had ever done. It is also when everything in my past began to surface, and I tried dealing with it.
After she died, I began having high blood pressure problems and averaging two to three hours each night. I was teaching this entire time. The problems worsened each year so I went to the doctor for help in sleeping. We tried about every med, but I couldn’t take any of them. Then I was given 10mg Ambien. Instead of taking the 10mg, I would take a half or a fourth. One day having not slept for three days, I took the 10mg. I do not remember the majority of eighteen hours. During that time, I was told I shoplifted, a misdemeanor. I lost my job as well as as any respect that I students and parents had for me. My self-esteem plummeted. I did not leave my house for almost a year. I didn’t want anyone around me; I wanted to be left alone.
I went to five different doctors to find out what caused me to commit this misdemeanor, and all five concluded it was the Ambien. Still not finding a sleeping medication to work, I went to the Neurologist who had told me it was the Ambien that had caused the episode. But, then he told me to start taking it again because it would not cause any side effects. For weeks, I cut the tablet in half or in a quarter. With that not helping, I took the 10mg. The same thing happened again. Another misdemeanor for shoplifting. That is when I totally fell apart.
I shut myself off from the world except for my two children and my grandchildren. I feel into a deep depression that lasted months at a time. I have had depression problems for some time, but this depression I felt was debilitating.
Even though I am better, I still am not where I need to be. I have noticed a change is my ability to process thoughts as well as my memory being affected. I just can’t get past what is happened.
Anything you might have to say, would be of great help.
Thank you.
I’m having a NB at the moment. A week ago, I had to call a family member because I was scared and didn’t know what was happening to me. I felt like a I was in a trance and was having constant negative thoughts running through my mind. I left an abusive relationship 4 months ago and I have been left in a huge amount of debt from it and I feel guilty on my son because of what he has been through too.
I have been taking anti-depressants and when I saw dr he told me that I hadn’t given the anti-depressants enough time to kick in and prescribed me some sedatives too. A week on, I think the anti-depressants are finally starting to work a bit.
I’ve lost so much weight, I’m almost constantly exhausted, I have a stress rash on my chest and my emotions are all over the place and my anxiety is still very high but not completely constant like a week ago. I’ve contemplated just ending it all so I’m out of my misery but I have my son to think about and he’s the only reason why I’m carrying on. I’m surprised that I’m still functioning on a day to day basis. The above posters are right, it is something to be scared of.
I feel that the phrase ‘nervous breakdown’ does not describe the intensity of the situation.
When your car breaks down, you have it towed, fix the flat, fill it with gas, get the battery charged. A great annoyance but relatively easy to fix.
That is why I call my bad times “nervous crashes”. The damage is much more severe and there is a lot of repair to do. Sometimes you cannot get back to the same level of functioning as you did before, just as a back injury modifies your physical status.
For me, it also explains some of the dissociation I feel after the fact. Amnesia is relatively common in accident victims.
Why is it called a “nervous” breakdown if the event is caused by mental problems? Did I have a “nervous” breakdown? Maybe. In which case, it was extreme – nerve pain, chronic fatigue, weight loss without a change in lifestyle, IBS, food allergies, and yes, anxiety. When will doctors get on board with the smart doctors and realize that the cause of the breakdown is a weakened immune system due to stress (ALL stress – including dietary stressors)? I was told by 2 medical professionals to seek mental health for my symptoms. I was in tears at night from the nerve pain, and they told me to see a THERAPIST. They could see my unhealthy BMI, my low body temperature, low blood pressure, etc. etc. and thought talking out my feelings would fix that? That’s medical neglect. I don’t have depression. And I refused to seek mental health without first listening to my own body. I asked myself, could these be psychosomatic symptoms? My symptoms are visible. One could clearly see my low body temperature, low blood pressure, high blood sugar, and red hot to white ice cold extremities (circulation issues). I tried one more doctor. He said I had autonomic dysfunction and sent me to a neurologist. One business day before the appointment, I cancelled. I had been taking a probiotic, vitamins, ashwagandha, and other natural remedies when at the last second, I noticed my nerve pain went away. A nervous breakdown is much more than emotion. Yet, the medical world loves to tell women it’s just emotional, even though depression, anxiety, etc. are SYMPTOMS. You are NOT doomed because of genes. Same with schizophrenia – weak immune system. If you’re reading this and having a nervous breakdown, take a good long hard look at your diet. Read Neuroimmunity by Michal Schwartz. Watch The C Word documentary on Netflix. Go to the library and educate yourself on the role the immune system plays on your mental health. There are numerous articles and studies online, in fact, written by doctors and scientists explaining the connection between mental health and a weakened immune system. Unfortunately, however, in corporate America, the health care system doesn’t make money if you live a healthy lifestyle, so they won’t tell you about its importance. Doctors are out to make a buck, too, don’t ever forget that. Diet and exercise. “Let food be thy medicine.” -Hippocrates
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