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'Nervous breakdown' signs and symptoms

Symptoms of a nervous or mental breakdown

Nervous breakdown - scream The symptoms of your 'nervous breakdown' are a sign that you have reached your limit! No ... you are not 'mental'. You (or your spouse/partner/colleague/manager/friend) are at the 'end of your tether'.

There is a limit to us all and there is a limit to how much you can cope with too.

I hope to be able to help you make sense of what is happening to you or someone you care for and, above all, reassure you. By the end of this page you will know what a 'nervous breakdown' is. You may feel you are 'going crazy' right now, but you will recover - the signs of a nervous breakdown will disappear. It just won't happen overnight.

Related pages listed further down on: depression, sleep stress and relationship problems.

Signs and symptoms of a nervous breakdown

Maybe you have heard about someone "having a nervous breakdown" and you have asked yourself: what is a nervous breakdown? So, I am going to explain it all to you, here goes ...

First of all - the terms 'having a nervous breakdown' or 'mental breakdown' would not normally be used by a professional. I have used them here, because I know that thousands of people a month search for those terms as they are wondering: "what is a nervous breakdown?". I just want to be sure that I reach those individuals and/or their loved ones, who are worried that something is really wrong with them and desperate to know what it is - suspecting that they are having the symptoms of a nervous breakdown.

A 'mental' or 'nervous breakdown' may have started with the following nervous breakdown symptoms over time or they may have caught you out completely:

Physical signs

irregular heart beat - you can feel your heart pounding
tensed/painful muscles
clammy hands, sweating
dizziness/light-headedness
trembling/shaking - you may feel these are the most embarrassing symptoms of a nervous breakdown as it draws attention and people may comment on it
upset stomach and bowel problems - your body/mind reacts as if your life is in danger and digestion is secondary to survival
exhaustion - all your energy is being used up trying to manage/cope with this crisis

Mental symptoms

panic, fears and phobias (see: what causes fear and top 10 phobias)
feeling unable to cope with tasks you would not have thought about twice before
sexual problems - loss of libido - sex drive - female/male, impotence
sleep problems - not being able to fall asleep, frequently waking up and not being able to go back to sleep with racing thoughts
withdrawal from loved ones - my clients describe it sometimes as 'living in a bubble'
irritability and angry outbursts - you have no spare capacity
difficulty concentrating - you probably can't even read a page in a book, or even keep your mind on the headlines in a newspaper
depression - this is almost a 'given', when your life seems to be 'unraveling'

Emotional problems

crying easily, and seemingly endlessly, at the drop of a hat - male or female! No need to be embarrassed
you are feeling guilty for all kinds of reasons: 'not pulling your weight', not being there for someone else, not being your 'normal' self, etc
not wanting to bother with anyone
loss of pleasure and increasingly withdrawing from all the things you would normally enjoy - no wonder with all those symptoms!
feeling that people are out to get you, being 'singled out' - feeling 'paranoid'

It is not surprising then that often a nervous or mental breakdown goes hand-in-hand with depression (see links at the bottom of the page). So - I am sure that it is clear that you need to actively treat your breakdown, because you are not going to get better by staying in bed and worrying! I know what can help though - just keep on reading ...

What are the signs of a nervous breakdown?

What would you notice about someone on the verge of a nervous breakdown or 'burnout'?

difficulties focusing
agitation or very 'flat'
worrying about all kinds - if unusual for the person - a sure sign of burnout
difficulties concentrating
doesn't seem their 'normal' self
crying unexpectedly and/or uncontrollably
complaining about tiredness (lack of sleep being just one reason)
irritability, anger
talking less
seeming generally less resilient

If you are the boss, manager, partner, husband/wife of someone showing these signs of a nervous breakdown, it might help to have a conversation about it. State very gently that you have noticed that they appear to be struggling a bit and reassure that you will do all you can to help them get over their emotional breakdown. (See box below.)

How to get over a nervous breakdown fast

I have listed the very best resources to help you deal with your breakdown on my page: How to get over a nervous breakdown.

They include:

The best natural remedies for immediate effect
Meditation - an 8 minute a day life-saver and life-changing
Hypnosis to calm down and build resilience
Effective self help to get over a nervous breakdown
Hypnosis to deal with the underlying problem(s)
Stress management for managers and business owners
Save Your Marriage Today and on a different page ...
The Magic of Making up (to get your ex back)

What may have led up to your mental breakdown

Shadow of normal self These signs and symptoms of a nervous breakdown may have slipped in by stealth or had a sudden onset. Read on ...

Symptoms of stress may have slowly become worse. You might have felt deep down that you were showing all the signs of a nervous breakdown. You may have felt that you were having all the symptoms of a nervous breakdown - increasingly feeling 'a shadow of your former self'.

You may have known that you were pushing the limits. Perhaps you felt that you had no choice, but to continue with whatever caused you so much stress.

It could be that one - such as a sudden relationship breakdown (see my Relationship test) - or several, traumatic events happened in a relatively short period of time. The drip-drip effect finally took its toll and now you are suffering from a nervous breakdown.

Sometimes people are completely caught off guard - never having suspected that life could have come crashing down. They would have never identified themselves as not being able to cope or prone to a 'mental breakdown'.

Your anxiety symptoms could be due to a medical condition or to substance abuse, hence a trip to your doc to check it out is helpful. See further down.

To learn more about what are the most likely sources of stress, visit my pages on the biggest causes of stress.

A 'complete nervous breakdown’?

Now everything feels too much - the telephone ringing, post dropping through the letterbox, excited children, crowds, all appear to increase your symptoms, and you just want to run away, hide or explode with anger.

Other symptoms of a nervous breakdown are:

feeling ‘hyper-alert’ or 'jumpy' - you are very quickly startled by something
worrying about the smallest things, that stuff you were never concerned about before
suffering from the effects of lack of sleep - not being able to drift off, waking up in the middle of the night, waking up early
feeling exhausted and crying ‘at the drop of a hat’
worrying about the effect on people around you
feeling guilty because you are such lousy company, such a 'terrible' mother/father, such a 'miserable' colleague

Panic attack symptoms

Panic
attack A panic attack or 'anxiety attack', in addition to the above symptoms, causes further stress symptoms:

a pounding heart, chest pain - you may well worry about having an heart attack
difficulty with breathing, fearing you are going to choke
feelings of unreality
a sense of detachment from yourself
fear of losing control or going crazy
a dreadful, terrifying fear of dying

We really want to prevent you becoming fearful of the panic attacks. That would mean that you are adding yet another layer to your suffering. You can really do without that right now, as an emotional breakdown is more than enough to cope with! You may be worried that you are going to have a heart attack - the likelihood is: you won't.

Telling your doctor about your symptoms?

signs and symptoms of a
nervous breakdown It makes sense to have a check-up by your doctor if only to exclude a medical/physical condition.

Although nervous breakdown signs/symptoms can be very frightening indeed, it is unlikely that there is anything more serious going on than your just 'having had enough' - you are 'burned out' - you are having 'stress symptoms'.

You can see from all the above, that we know about the symptoms of a nervous breakdown - you are not alone, you are not 'off your rocker', you are not 'crazy'!

Panic attacks are very common, particularly as part of a nervous or mental breakdown, and can be treated, often very quickly.

I promise you - you can recover from panic attacks, nervous breakdown or mental breakdown. However, if your breakdown has come as a result of substance abuse, you need to be aware that your road to recovery is going to involve dealing with your addiction(s).

A note of warning

The US Food and Drug Administration has warned that certain behaviours are known to be associated with SSRI’s (certain antidepressants) including the following symptoms: anxiety, agitation, panic attacks, insomnia, irritability, hostility, impulsivity, severe restlessness. Any of these symptoms is likely to make your emotional breakdown feel even worse. So, be sure that you are well-informed before taking this kind of medication. Explore all the information on depression I have on this site, as it all points in the direction of recovering from a breakdown too.

When you need immediate (medical) care

If you have (suddenly) become completely 'hyper' - manic - you need immediate help. You sleep very little, have elevated mood, speak fast, maybe shop more, maybe spend more, lack judgement, have racing thoughts - you generally feel on a complete 'high'. You may also feel extremely anxious. This episode may have followed a period of depression.

If you have a history of severe mental health problems and you feel yourself slipping towards a mental breakdown - do reach out to a professional you feel you can trust.

If you are concerned for someone else, then you really want to facilitate their accessing professional help as soon as possible.

If you don't need medical care, then you can find out how to recover on my page: How to get over a nervous breakdown.

What causes a nervous breakdown?

Anxiety, depression and panic attacks, separately or as part of a burnout, start for a variety of reasons - most likely a combination of these:

triggered by a traumatic event
several stressful events close together
reduced ‘spare capacity’ - completely running out of resources, due to work-related stress, stress at home or illness over a long period of time - 'drip drip effect'
a stressful event in the context of high levels of existing stress
nutritional deficiencies (particularly B vitamins and certain minerals)
generally reduced tolerance of any kind of stress
symptoms may be linked with depression (see links for pages on depression)

There is more to life than increasing its speed"

Mahatma Gandhi

In my practice

As a counsellor I often see people who are very worried that they are going ’mad’. They are frightened that they will never feel ‘normal’ again. They worry that they can't concentrate and have awful problems with their memory - forgetting mid-sentence what they were talking about even in the session. Here is a very short video clip that explains how we know that you are not alone in being terribly forgetful, ineffective, disorganised and/or unable to focus.

Nervous breakdown symptoms and crying in fact are temporary. Often their body/mind’s reaction is entirely normal under for them abnormal circumstances.

I know that they and you will recover!

Are you worried you are going ‘mad’?

Thoughts maybe going round and round your mind, without your being able to get a grip on them. Perhaps too many things have come at you together. You have become too emotional to be able to really process what is going on.

When you are trying to figure one thing out, everything else comes flooding in. You may find it almost impossible to concentrate. You will recover! All my pages on how to deal with depression are relevant to your recovery from a nervous or mental breakdown.

Once you accept that the nervous breakdown signs and symptoms won’t disappear overnight and you stop fighting it, you can begin to look for solutions, including considering counselling. If you have been asking yourself: What is a nervous breakdown? - I hope that you now know exactly what it is.

Now you have everything you need to understand and recover from nervous breakdown signs/symptoms.

My very best wishes for a speedy recovery from you breakdown!

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You may also be interested in:	A healthy diet: faster recovery
Stress and your relationship Natural sleep remedies Depressed or sad? PTSD symptoms Adrenal fatigue syndrome Physical effects of sleep deprivation Stress management in the workplace Relationship problems Signs of clinical depression Adrenal fatigue treatment

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Well-known people who have suffered a nervous breakdown:

Joanna Lumley - actress and campaigner for the Gurkhas
Alistair Campbell - Tony Blair's press secretary
Mariah Carey (video) - singer (Really clear that she is just not her 'normal self'. Like her, you just need help and you will recover)
Justin Furstenfeld - Blue October's vocalist-guitarist
James Taylor - singer songwriter
Tracie Shaylor - artist
Stephen Fry - British actor
Stephen Graham - British actor
Suzanna Mubarak - wife of ousted president Hosni Mubarak