What is a Nervous breakdown?
Mental or nervous breakdown is a term that is used for describing stress that can be mental, emotional, or physical. It can make a person unable to work or function in his/her day to day life. There can be any unrecognized underlying mental illness that can a sign of a nervous breakdown.
Some of them are – depression, anxiety, or PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).
Furthermore, there can be any such condition that can cause a person to suffer from a mental breakdown. It also varies from person to person as to what underlying medical condition do they have to post the breakdown. Also, in medical terms, there is no such thing as a nervous breakdown. The treatment of nervous breakdown depends upon the cause and the other factors.
What does a nervous or mental breakdown feel like?
When a person goes through a nervous breakdown, there can be different reasons that can trigger the cause. Such a situation may arise due to any emotional or physical stress that the body cannot handle. But there are certain situations and experiences that are more likely to get associated with a nervous breakdown. In some of the cases, genetic factors may also play a role in the developing signs of a nervous or mental breakdown.
As you go through a mental breakdown, you may face extreme grief over a certain incident that has happened to take place. The traumatizing experience of an abusive relationship can also make you more fragile. Often when a person experiences the condition of mental breakdown, he/she tends to get more saddened. They feel hopeless, and anxiety fills them over from time to time. It especially occurs when you have encountered stressful events in recent times.
What are the signs of a mental breakdown?
As we said above, a mental breakdown is not associated with any specific medical condition, and there can be various responsible factors. The signs of a mental breakdown are not defined except for the inability of the person to function normally.
Here are some of the commonly occurring signs of mental breakdown that can be seen in a person –
- The person may feel anxious, depressed, and continuously feeling irritable.
- They will often take sick leaves from work and other appointments.
- The person may go through low self-esteem and feel extremely hopeless.
- The person will start avoiding social situations and withdraw from meeting other people.
- It is commonly seen that they will have an unscheduled time for sleep. Either a person will sleep for too long, or it is hard to fall asleep.
- The person will seem to adapt an unhygienic routine as he/she feels less motivated.
- The eating habits will also become unhealthy as they feel less for themselves.
- It will get difficult to focus on or remember events that are about to happen.
- It is generally seen that the person will lack motivation and interest in any aspect of life.
- The person will feel exhausted, emotionally drained, and often without cause.
- There will be unexplained aches and pain in the body.
- It will get difficult to get along with people, or at times you will often feel that you are tolerating them.
- The person will not be able to find enjoyment and happiness in things that use to bring joy and satisfaction.
What are the related conditions that can result in nervous breakdown?
Other than the signs that can be seen when a person suffering from a nervous breakdown, some other factors are reasonable enough. The following medical conditions can cause the symptoms to incur nervous breakdown –
- PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) or ASD(acute stress disorder)
- Adjustment disorders
- Bipolar disorder
- Clinical depression
- Anxiety-related illness
- DID (dissociative identity disorder)
- Complex grief
- Schizophrenia
- Chronic Pain
- Inflammatory conditions
These conditions can be equally responsible for the signs to develop over time for other mental conditions. When these conditions get extreme, they include symptoms like hallucinations, delusion, lack of insight, and paranoia. However, it is important to treat any such mental condition that can cause a problem in the functioning of a human mind.