What are the signs of a nervous breakdown?

Question

How dose it affect someone?
Do you have to go to hospital?

Answer 1

Melissa knows what she's talking about. The symptoms of a breakdown are different with each individual. My mother’s was more quiet. A collapse. Mine was much more passionate. I suffered mine after years of abuse. It was after a severely difficult separation involving the whole family. Please bear with me as I describe what happened.

I was isolated and the children were being used as weapons to hurt me. I was lead to believe the problems within the family were my fault. I lost my health and was unable to work, which destroyed my confidence and self-esteem. The VA sent me back to school to rehabilitate me, but in the process I was forced to face childhood molestations I had been suppressing for years. To top it off, the VA wrote asking about woman suffering from military abuses. When I put it in writing, I was shocked by the amount and severity of all I had suffered in the military… my whole life! I mean, how can so much happen to someone and they not realize the quantity and severity until it's on paper? I guess by shutting doors and closing our eyes, shutting out the pain!! The VA made me write it all out TWICE!!! For clarification, they said, but provided no adequate therapy for the wounds they ripped open and left gaping!!

When I asked for service connected disability due to night terrors constantly waking my children with my screams, an inability to leave my home, and an inability to function adequately due to extreme fear, I was refused. Despite my mother writing what she witnessed after a rape, letters from family describing my personality changes, years of therapy, multiple suicide attempts, and drug abuse, the VA says there’s no evidence of an abuse happening within the service!!

I lost my family, my home, and everything dear to me, except my children. But they were left dazed and confused. Their suffering was the must anguish for me. I was being punished and accused of things I hadn't done to take the focus off my abuser. Some of my family actually believed the lies. And during all this, I also suffered theft, arson, and multiple vandalisms, like my car windshield being kicked in. the state wouldn't help me, so I also went bankrupt. When I want to my aunt’s to try to get focus, my dog, my little love, was killed by her dogs in front of me. That was what put me over the edge. I lost two weeks of my life, remembering only about three days and surreal clips of time that I can only describe as absolute insanity…

But we CAN recover. It took me a very long time, because shortly after, we lost 10 family members. What I've learned is this; I must focus on what I have gained, NOT what was lost!! I have grown so MUCH stronger and I’ve gained a real depth of empathy for others that has enabled me to help those who have suffered or are suffering. I have a greater depth of love and emotions, for myself and others, that cannot be taken from me! I have learned to treasure life, myself, and my children in ways I never imagined! I've been given a whole new outlook on life in my search for truth. I was given the absolutely divine opportunity to help and witness my parents heal ancient wounds!! To be honest, all the healing I've witnessed emanate from my suffering has been well worth the pain!! And I'm no longer imprisoned, chained to behaviors that allow others opportunities to abuse me. Everything contains its opposite! Sometimes we just have to look extremely hard! Good luck and God bless. I’ll pray for you!

Answer 2

A nervous breakdown, also known as a mental breakdown; is a sudden, acute attack of mental illness such as depression or anxiety. Like sanity, the term is not recognized by the psychological community. In part, this is because the term has pejorative connotations, while this phenomenon is a normal and relatively common response to chronic stress. Often, the emerging illness is only described as a "breakdown" when the person becomes unable to function, at which point the disorder is advanced. Often, the supposed breakdown is a manifestation of career burnout.

The psychiatric community rejects the term "nervous breakdown", in part, because it is not descriptive enough of the actual disorder and symptoms. A common diagnosis that follows such an event is brief reactive psychosis.

Causes
Causes of breakdown include chronic and unresolved grief; unemployment; academic, occupational, and social stress; serious or chronic illness in a family member; divorce; death of a family member; pregnancy; and other sudden major life changes.

Whatever the cause, the message to the sufferer is that they now become aware of their limits of tolerance to stress, the usual outcome eventually is a more robust personality that interacts with stresses of life with more self care, although this may take time—sometimes years.

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Duration
During a nervous breakdown, a person will go through a series of complex emotions: usually ones that he/she can't comprehend, or will refuse to comprehend. While these and other emotional/physical feelings vary greatly, the following is usually expected:

Extreme anger/confusion: Usually a person starts these emotions shortly before "breaking down". But once they have shut off themselves from comprehending their feelings, they usually become confused to the point that they become angry: and may release this in manners of depression, destruction, self destruction, and many other passive/violent forms.

Crying: Because of the confusion and anger brought out by the breakdown, once the person begins to start to open up to interpreting their emotions: they will cry from the extreme emotional stress that they are now trying to relieve themselves of.

Loss of appetite: This may be brought about because of one of two reasons. The person experiencing the breakdown may be so upset with their situation that they starve themselves out of self-destruction; or they may do it because their mind is so confused in trying to reason through the high levels of stress that it does not feel the need to eat, almost as if eating is the last thing on the persons' mind.

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Effects
Most commonly, nervous breakdowns are short, not lasting more than a week (though they may last years, in which case the person usually dies or goes into a state of psychosis); but they can also have dangerous psychological effects.

Nervous breakdowns can limit a person's view on life, thus lowering their happiness and forcing them into clinical depression.

If the breakdown lasts too long, such as a week or two, the person may commit suicide, to alleviate themselves of their emotional pain and suffering.

Answer 3

severe depression, mania, attempts at suicide, inability to function, not eating or eating too much