Nervous Breakdown

This is a term that has been used lightly time and again. In fact whenever we see a person exhibiting strange and incomprehensible behavior, we say maybe that person is having a nervous breakdown. But have we once paused to think what a person going through a nervous breakdown must be going through?

Step back in time and anyone exhibiting weirdness back then was said to be having vapors, melancholia or nervous prostration. But with the advancement of medicine and technology a name has been given to different mental health issues. One could be suffering from schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, a panic attack or a major depressive incident. But all these come under the umbrella of being loosely called nervous breakdown.

What is a nervous breakdown?

This is a term that originated from a time where women were so stressed out that they suddenly couldn’t even function normally. This term though not a clinical term seems to have stuck on and caught on. There are times where there were no apparent signs of a nervous breakdown, till one day it all exploded causing serious incidents like suicide or behavior that warranted hospital visits. To get technical, a nervous breakdown isn’t a condition as much as it is a symptom at an underlying psychiatric condition and more often than not is a temporary condition. If you hear people talk about people ‘snapping under pressure’ or ‘their circuits being overloaded’ in all probability they are talking about nervous breakdowns! Interestingly, a third of the entire American population has felt a nervous breakdown coming on at some point of their lives. A nervous breakdown hampers with normal functioning and even undertaking of the most basic tasks like eating and sleeping. Some people who have had nervous breakdowns say it is like losing the zest of life.

What are the symptoms of nervous breakdown?

Though no one has any particular symptoms of a nervous breakdown and it is even more difficult to recognize the onset of a nervous breakdown, but there are some common symptoms.

• Lack of interest in family life or professional life.
• Lack of interest in social life.
• Separating from friends and family.
• Inability to sleep or insomnia.
• Change in appetite – either eating too less or too much.
• Being engulfed by paranoia.
• Belief of invincibility.
• Anxiety or panic attacks.
• Hallucinatory behavior – hearing voices, seeing things.
• Suicidal tendencies.
• Violence and extreme anger.
• Becoming dependent on alcohol or drugs – to escape reality.

Who is susceptible to Nervous breakdown?

People who have experienced extreme stress are prone to developing nervous breakdown and these are people who have exhibited normal behavior before. A perfect example of this could be a person having had experienced war and returns with a nervous breakdown, or a post-traumatic stress disorder. Or it could be a woman giving birth and gets a nervous breakdown or post-partum depression. Then there are those people who are just nervous breakdowns in the making. These are people who have a history of mental disorders like schizophrenia or bi-polar depression and which when combined with stress, is just an episode waiting to explode!

How are nervous breakdowns treated?

There are several ways to treat a nervous breakdown; the first is to identify the kind of nervous disorder the person is suffering from and then moving forward. A combination or psychotropic drugs, inventions, therapy and rest is what is needed to treat a breakdown.

How to prevent nervous breakdowns?

One of the best ways to prevent a nervous breakdown is to be aware of your mental and emotional state. Educate yourself on nervous breakdowns and recognize symptoms and signs. Get help as soon as you notice a drastic change in your moods, emotions and mental condition. Do not wait for the last moment when help is too late.

At the end of it all, be supportive and get support from people who love you and want to see you happy and healthy.