“She(he)’s got a nervous breakdown, poor thing!..”This is something we can hear from time to time about someone. It is usually referred to a person with a strange and inadequate behavior. This is how people used to think. But is it really so? What does it really mean – a nervous breakdown?
Earlier all the abnormalities in behavior were explained by vapors, melancholia or nervous prostration. But nowadays all the emotional and mental aspects has got their names. Therefore we differentiate schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress, an anxiety or panic attack, bipolar disorder, or depression, and etc. These are all subcategories of one broad condition called nervous breakdown.
As a term a nervous breakdown has no medical evaluation but it has become very popular. Generally the condition show no or little sighs until something triggers it – the last straw – and then serious things like unprecedented behavior or suicide happens. A nervous breakdown is not something that comes out of nowhere; it has always some underlying reasons that are hidden deep and sometimes people are even unaware of them. It is also not a temporary condition. Unfortunately, nowadays is becomes a more and more wide-spread situation. We live in the world that moves at times too fast, there is too much pressure around. There is sometimes too little time left to understand ourselves; it is sometimes too difficult not to develop any inner conflict that will end up with a nervous breakdown. And this is not good and this is not useful as a person suffers and cannot be happy any more. Some people who have been through it compare it with loosing the sense of life.
Though the following symptoms cannot be referred to this very condition only make sure you read them carefully. Their appearance may signify the possibility of coming nervous breakdown. Among them are: loss of interest in any communication, work, or any interaction or activity; a desire of detachment and isolation; insomnia; anxiety and panic attacks; fits of irritation and anger; changes in appetite pattern; tendency to having hallucinations; suicidal thoughts; attraction to alcohol or drugs as the means of escape, etc.
Though the condition may happen to everyone some people are in a more high-risk group than the others. They are people with an experience of severe stress (i.e. trauma, war, even birth of a child – it is sometimes called post-partum depression) and who have constant very stressful surroundings. People with a history of mental disorders like schizophrenia or bi-polar depression are also prone to a nervous breakdown if the situation involves stress as well.
What to do if a nervous breakdown actually happens? The most important thing is to find out what king of disorder is actually involved and only after that to move forward. Then the treatment is carried out. It can include medications, therapy, consulting, and what else, or the combination of methods. Rest is essential for such patients.
The best way to prevent the condition from happening is to take care of yourself and be careful with your emotional and mental state. Recognize the signs and they will be easier to handle. Just do not test your nervous system until it will give a crack and you will have a hell of life. Ask for help if you feel that you need it. Be attentive to other people as well. They are also very fragile even if they seem so tough.