If you are struggling with your mental health, you are not alone. According to the National Institute on Mental Health (NIMH), “more than one in five U.S. adults live with a mental illness.”[1]
Sometimes, life becomes extremely stressful, causing you to have distressing mental health symptoms. When you feel like you are losing control of your moods, emotions, and behaviors, you might be experiencing a nervous or mental breakdown. During this time, you might be unable to function in your daily life due to intense mental distress.
Nervous breakdowns can be caused by experiencing chronic stress, dealing with ongoing physical symptoms of a chronic illness, witnessing something traumatic, or an underlying mental health condition. Symptoms vary, including side effects like overwhelming anxiety, panic attacks, feelings of depression, intense mood swings, chronic fatigue, insomnia, and more.
While mental breakdowns can be difficult to cope with, they are treatable. If your symptoms are severe, you might need inpatient care. However, it is possible to recover from a mental health crisis with a combination of outpatient therapy and medication.
In this article, you will learn:
- What is a nervous breakdown?
- What causes mental breakdowns?
- What are the symptoms of a mental health crisis?
- How is a mental crisis treated?
What is a Nervous Breakdown?
Emotional breakdowns are an unofficial or non-medical term for a mental or psychological crisis. It is used to describe a state of mind where you experience intense mental and emotional distress, causing you to be unable to function normally. In other words, these breakdowns cause severe symptoms that lead to an inability to use healthy coping mechanisms or regulate your emotions effectively.
There are a variety of underlying causes that can lead to mental crises, including experiencing overwhelming stress and anxiety, untreated mental illness, severe substance abuse, and more.
While emotional breakdowns are intense and often require professional treatment, they are temporary. By separating yourself from the stress or trauma that caused your breakdown, you can begin to heal. That said, you’ll likely need formal therapy from a mental health professional and maybe even medication to manage your symptoms long-term.
What Causes a Mental Breakdown?
Nervous breakdowns can be caused by a variety of physical, psychological, and environmental factors. First, many mental health conditions can lead to breakdowns when they are left untreated. Additionally, it is possible to experience a breakdown when your everyday life becomes so stressful that your usual coping tools become ineffective.
Some of the causes of nervous breakdowns include:
- Long-term exposure to stress and anxiety leads to burnout
- Experiencing a significant loss or sudden tragedy, whether a family member passes away or you lose your job in a career you love
- Dealing with a stressful or traumatic event, like a stressful divorce or some form of abuse
- Underlying mental health issues that are being left untreated (i.e., anxiety disorders, depression, bipolar disorder, PTSD, and more)
- Misusing drugs or alcohol frequently and on a long-term basis
If you believe you are suffering from a mental health crisis, it’s time to seek professional help. At New Jersey Behavioral Health Center, we can provide you with the support and tools you need to regain control over your emotions.
Signs of a Nervous Breakdown
Recognizing the signs of a nervous breakdown will allow you to seek the help you need before your symptoms become severe or life-threatening. Because you could experience symptoms like suicidal thoughts or self-harm, it’s important to seek professional care as soon as possible.
The signs and symptoms of a nervous breakdown include:
- Intense and persistent feelings of anxiety or fear
- Panic attacks, including symptoms like high blood pressure, trouble breathing, muscle tension, loss of control of body functions, and more
- Feelings of hopelessness, despair, or emptiness (depression)
- Being easily annoyed, agitated, or irritated
- Experiencing intense mood swings
- Bouts of anger and aggression
- Tiredness that does not improve with rest
- Being unable to fall or stay asleep (insomnia)
- Avoiding social interactions with friends and family
- Difficulty concentrating or focusing on tasks at home, school, or work
- Poor hygiene, unhealthy eating habits, and changes in weight
- Signs of psychosis, including delusions, hallucinations, paranoia, and a detachment from reality
- Symptoms that indicate you are a danger to yourself or others
Nervous breakdowns can be dangerous when they are left untreated. If your symptoms are stemming from an underlying mental illness like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, your nervous breakdown could lead to psychosis. It is also possible to begin experiencing suicidal ideations, which are life-threatening without professional intervention.
How to Recover from a Mental Breakdown
The symptoms of a nervous breakdown vary, depending on what caused you to experience it, whether you have underlying mental health conditions, the level of intense stress you are dealing with, and whether you are using substances. That said, the treatment for nervous breakdowns is similar for most individuals.
When you seek professional help for a nervous breakdown, you’ll receive an in-depth assessment from a mental health professional. They will evaluate your symptoms to determine whether you need inpatient or outpatient care. If you are experiencing self-harm, suicidal thoughts, or psychosis, you’ll need the 24/7 support that an inpatient center offers.
Whether you are receiving inpatient or outpatient care, you’ll engage in talk therapy, behavioral therapy, and group counseling. These services help you identify the root causes of your nervous breakdown, give you healthy coping mechanisms to combat overwhelming stress, and teach you important emotional regulation skills.
You will also learn important coping skills to manage your stress in the future. For example, you might use breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, various relaxation techniques, mindfulness meditation, and more. Because life’s stresses lead to nervous breakdowns and make it difficult to complete normal daily functions, learning these coping skills is one of the most important parts of recovery.
If you have an underlying psychological disorder that led to your nervous breakdown, you might need daily medication to correct chemical imbalances in your brain. For example, anxiety conditions and depression are treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), while bipolar disorder is managed with mood stabilizers or antipsychotics.
Get Connected to a Top-Rated Mental Health Treatment Center
If you have a mental health condition that led to a nervous breakdown, New Jersey Behavioral Health Center is here to help. Usually, extreme stress is what triggers these breakdowns to occur, so most of your therapy will teach you how to avoid stress and cope with it in healthy ways. Our healthcare providers will help you learn how to manage life’s demands while lessening prolonged stress and prioritizing your self-care.
Contact us today to learn more about the signs and symptoms of nervous breakdowns, how we can help you recover, develop healthy lifestyle changes, and how to handle stress differently.
References:
- The National Institute on Mental Health (NIMH): Mental Illness