Do people still have nervous breakdowns?

We just call them panic attacks now.

The term "nervous breakdown" is sometimes used by people to describe a stressful situation in which they're temporarily unable to function normally in day-to-day life. It's commonly understood to occur when life's demands become physically and emotionally overwhelming. The term was frequently used in the past to cover a variety of mental disorders, but it's no longer used by mental health professionals today.

Nervous breakdown isn't a medical term, nor does it indicate a specific mental illness. But that doesn't mean it's a normal or a healthy response to stress. What some people call a nervous breakdown may indicate an underlying mental health problem that needs attention, such as depression or anxiety.

Signs of a so-called nervous breakdown vary from person to person and depend on the underlying cause. Exactly what constitutes a nervous breakdown also varies from one culture to another. Generally, it's understood to mean that a person is no longer able to function normally. For example, he or she may:

-Call in sick to work for days or longer -Avoid social engagements and miss appointments -Have trouble following healthy patterns of eating, sleeping and hygiene

I think the girl in "Repulsion" had deeper issues than "the blues". Probably undiagnosed schizophrenia. As long as she lived alone with her sister, had a regular routine and a mundane job to go every day, she could hold it together.

Not it they’re in the sanitarium, OP.

Yes people still have them.

I had one when I was younger after a particularly bad break-up and when I had a job I hated. I quit the job, was on medication and in therapy for about a year (which did zero good), and was just a mess. Thankfully I was able to pull myself out of it. I met a wonderful guy a few years later, very patient and understanding, and fell in love again. Started working again at a job I liked, and built a decent life. Still with him and recently retired.

Yes, people have "nervous breakdowns" but it is called "adjustment disorder", "brief psychotic disorder", 'Mood disorder unspecified", etc.

My mother was said to have had one in the early 80s, but I have noticed it’s not an expression used anymore and always wondered if it was a clinical expression to begin with. Even it if was, I’m sure by now it has a more technical name.

Women are on the verge of them.

My ex's mother was a well-spoken perfectionist-type with a job, etc. One day she just laid down on the couch and could no longer function. She spent 7 years in a mental institution.

When she came home she behaved like a person who's had a lobotomy: no short-term memory, vague. She basically spent the last decades of her life in her bedroom reading the newspaper. I think it may have been that day's local city paper, which she read over and over.

I saw her medication once in the bathroom and one was for 'anxiety'.

my ex had 'one" and it contributed to the end of our marriage and it came on quick. We had kept the "crazy" somewhat in check for the most of 20 yrs but then, Whack!, its out of control.

In my family, we used to call it a "chemical imbalance" which could lead to nervous exhaustion. On my father's side there were hospitalizations, breakdowns, suicides, institutionalization. I definitely know my way around a panic attack.

From the Mayo Clinic:

Nervous breakdown isn't a medical term, nor does it indicate a specific mental illness. But that doesn't mean it's a normal or a healthy response to stress. What some people call a nervous breakdown may indicate an underlying mental health problem that needs attention, such as depression or anxiety.

I had one a few years ago after an accident and then a second separate incident that made my injury worse. Panic attacks I believe are far more brief than "nervous breakdowns," meaning you can have a panic attack as part of a nervous breakdown, but it's not the entire breakdown.

Now I don't remember what my diagnosis was, "transient acute" something, if I recall.

r12, meet r2.

My brother had one. He never really removed.

^^^recovered

I think "nervous breakdown" is when you end up in a mental hospital. That's my association. Back in the day, there were lobotomies & electroshock treatments. I know E shock treatments are coming back into use. Seems like mental health care, as bad (stigmatized) as it is, is better now than it was before.

My father was hospitalized for two of them before I was born, but they were related to depression and anxiety.

My niece is going through one. I think she was depressed and COVID plus QAnon broke her. It’s going to cost her marriage and children and basically her entire future.

I'm sorry r15. Does he have a diagnosed mental illness?

I used to want one so I could go to one of those hospitals with rolling green lawns, Adirondack chairs, nurses with starched caps...but at least in my state no such places exist. The hospital I ended up in for five hours during my “episode” was like an ugly middle school cafeteria. I think Connecticut has nice mental facilities.

I've had one, it was brief & I was off work for a few weeks. Had a literal physical & mental breakdown. Got taken to the hospital. I consider it like a short-circuit from mental & emotional overload. I was in a high-stress job, and also became a whistleblower on a local government to the federal government.

In my family it referred to being 'taken in' meaning into a mental hospital. A less severe form was someone who was 'on the bed' or had 'taken to bed'

I had some kind of mental break in my teens. My parents had a horrible marriage and despite living in a small 2 bedroom house they never spoke a word to each other for 4 years and 3 months - throughout my teens. I was the only kid at home and the stress, isolation, heartache and general horrid icy atmosphere that prevailed through the deaths of grandparents and my older sister's successful battle with lymphoma was just awful. I was in a fog really. I went numb and could feel nothing, felt out of body much of the time and didn't give a crap about anything. I spent most of my time when I wasn't being used a go between in my room watching old TV shows. That feeling of not being able to function is horrible and scary. I really feel for people that totally break and just can no longer move or get out of bed.

My mom definitely had one back in the 70s and was hospitalized. I was about eight I guess. Before she died, I asked about it but she wouldn’t really talk about it and got very vague, though she once said that my dad and her psychiatrist committed her against her will. My dad - also a psychiatrist, ironically - told me that she had become catatonic and was unable to care for me, my brother and sister. (He had moved out by then.)

[quote]Do people still have nervous breakdowns?

Dunno, but I still get sick headaches.

I'm having a nervous fit right now anticipating the "oh, dears" from the uptight grammar nazis.

[quote] I had some kind of mental break in my teens. My parents had a horrible marriage and despite living in a small 2 bedroom house they never spoke a word to each other for 4 years and 3 months - throughout my teens.

That's horrible, R23. I grew up in a passive-aggressive environment and I would consider never speaking to each other "aggressive." My God.

My girl cousin had it worse than I did. Mom (aunt) moved out of parents' bedroom and into my cousin's bedroom. Dad (uncle) stayed in the parents' bedroom. Awful to do that to your child.

I have them all the time

I went over the edge one time, but I would call it a breakdown.

R24, were you able to live with your mom after she got out of the hospital? I ask because that is one of the reasons my niece is refusing. Her husband already took the kids to his parents and was meeting a lawyer this week. I give him credit for hanging on as long as he could. She called the police on him because she wanted him out of the house and he wouldn’t leave. The police made her leave without the kids and said they could take her in on a psych hold if he thought she was a danger. He declined but I kind of wish he went for it because I don’t know how to get her help. She is at her mom’s now (my sister), hope she can get through to her. It is terribly upsetting to see someone go off the deep end like this, and I am glad the kids are out of the house but they have already seen too much.

I used to be under the impression that a nervous breakdown was something like what Blanche had in A Streetcar Named Desire. Delusional, screaming, clawing, and practically foaming at the mouth. After my father passed away, I was really proud of myself for only crying a little bit and keeping it together for the rest of my family. I went back to school a week or two later and found myself checking out from everything. I wouldn't want to leave my dorm or go to class. I gained a ton of weight, because all I'd ever do was grab some food, come back to my dorm, and eat it while I watched TV. It got to be a big problem and if it wasn't for my friends getting me out of it, I don't know where I'd be today.

I was looking up the signs of a nervous breakdown a few years later and realized that I'd checked off almost every sign on the list during that time in my life and never even knew it. They're a lot more subtle and insidious than I'd originally believed.

I had one in the 70s. I had my badly impacted wisdom teeth out during Spring break in college. Then went back to work and school. I had just realized I was gay as well and it was a mind bender. I just ran my body and mind into the ground.

I moved back home and tried to get my Mom to take me to a counselor but they weren't socially acceptable back then. The only free one I could find was through the county and it turned out that he dealt with juvenile delinquents so I only went once.

I stayed with my parents that summer then transferred universities. I enrolled in classes during drop and add and that's when I crossed path with a professor who turned out to be a sadistic sexual predator and a budding serial killer. She swapped out my enrollment card to make sure I ended up in her section,.

I'm quite sure she picked up on my emotional vulnerability and that's what drew her to me.

Life turned out well in spite of all that. I'm glad I hung in there.

R3 Carol in Repulsion was most likely sexually abused as a young girl. Witness her repulsion toward men and their touch or attention; hallucinations of hands protruding from the walls grabbing her; her rape nightmares with a man breaking into her bedroom and the film's last image a photograph with her looking away with an angry expression on her face.

Women had nervous breakdowns and men had a midlife crisis.

Nowadays men and women suffer from burn-out syndrome.

My dad had one in the late 70s when he lost the job he'd had for decades. I was pretty small then so I only have dim memories of people saying "nervous breakdown" in hushed tones and my father lying in bed crying.

Nervous breakdown covered a range of mental illnesses and now they are addressed more specifically.

My step-mom had one at work. She apparently became a sobbing mess and they couldn't get her off the floor. My dad to had to go to her office and pick her up and take her away. I didn't see her until a few weeks later at winter break and she still could not piece together a cohesive sentence. She was an incoherent mess. She was ultimately diagnosed with bi-polar disorder on top of her existing alcohol addiction issues.

She was eventually able to go back to work but she was never really the same. It's been a couple of decades and they still have to constantly modify her medications.

I think I had one about 4 years ago. I was a mess. One thing I'm glad about though is that I kept working part-time, it was the one thing I could do with any sort of success.

But mentally I just wasnt there, I ran red lights without meaning to, got about 4 speeding tickets. Lived on sandwiches because I could hardly cook. Destroyed several friendships/ family relationships. My brain just went ping and crapped out. Slept about 14 hours a day. Everything just looked off, like it wasnt real. My hands and feet felt numb all the time.

Took me 2 years to get back to normal. Of course I was seeing professionals and was offered hospital and stuff but I knew if I gave in to it I'd never come back. Truly frightening but I'm doing well and life's good now. My main relationships survived intact, as did my career.

Courage to everyone who's having a hard time themselves or with loved ones.

[quote] I used to be under the impression that a nervous breakdown was something like what Blanche had in A Streetcar Named Desire. Delusional, screaming, clawing, and practically foaming at the mouth.

It wouldn't be DL if someone didn't make comparisons to Blanche Dubois.

r25 = Mother Stevens

One diagnosis I've heard lately -- as a result of COVID and the grief and fear that can result from having one's familiar interactions and routines ripped away -- has been "situational anxiety" for which the treatment is anxiety meds and cognitive behavioral therapy.

They used to be posh affairs where you would stop everything you were doing and head off to some luxurious spa in the Alps to eat great food and drink fine wine with interesting people and hike to recuperate.

These days, they send you home with an Rx for Lexapro and Klonopin and you lie in your bedroom and watch Bob Ross shows until you can cope again.

And now they don’t even give you the Klonopin.

I'm pretty sure I had one 20 years ago. I went through an intense 15 months caring for my mom before she died of cancer, then 4 weeks later my dad had a massive heart attack and needed round the clock care for 10 months before he died. I had to quit my job because they lived in another state, and the long time away (and not really being present even when I was home) ended my relationship.

I had spent such a long time keeping it together that 2 months after they were both gone and I had finalized all of their things, I just lost it. I spent 2 weeks crying uncontrollably. I didn't go anywhere and wouldn't talk to anyone, I stayed in bed and barely ate anything.

My friends eventually pulled me out of it, and it took another two months before the depression fully lifted and I was back to my old self, but it was a very bizarre time.

Gloria you’re heading for a breakdown!!! 💃

I freaked out driving to work one day. For some reason I decided to turn left where there was no road, hit the curb which flattened both front tires, and bounced me back into the road. There was no reason behind it. Luckily I didn't hurt anyone. I remember getting out of the car, looking at the tires, and cursing the hot sun, but I don't remember anything else except waking up in bed with my BF looking very worried. There were no cell phones around and no phone booths where I was. Someone must have called home. I was stressed to the max and it took me a while to get back to normal. That whole morning is still lost to me.

My heart hurts for everyone who witnessed this or experienced it themselves. I’m glad you’re still here. I’m sorry to the poster with the Qanon niece. I suspect many, many families are going through similar drama, and the ripple effects are sad. People in Qanon should go after “Q” in civil court, just to deter someone in the future.

I've nearly had several. Towards the end of my last semester in college, I was working full-time, doing an internship, and taking three classes. I remember driving to work one night and all I could think about was how all the plates I was trying to spin were about to crash to the floor. I told myself I'd pull off the next exit and go to the ER to get some help. But I knew if I did that, they'd check me in somewhere and I wouldn't finish the semester. (I was also drinking heavily to self-medicate.) So I drove to work and barely got thru the next few weeks of school. (And miraculously made all As.) Not to say I'd do it all over again...I should've trusted myself enough to get some help back then. So now when I feel the stress and pressure come on, I seek out meds or therapy...or both. I've learned it doesn't make you weak to ask for help.

R21 -- My brother had one and went to a place like you describe. It was in the beautiful rolling hills of fox hunt country in Virginia, and looked like a very expensive resort. It cost a fortune (my brother's boss at the time paid for it) and it was so lovely. The patients all walked around in beautiful white garments and (those who weren't overly medicated) strolled into their pottery classes or their art classes and frankly, I wanted to stay. It seemed like the perfect, relaxing home. Kind of Magic Mountain-like, but nicer.

R49 and did it help? These celebrity rehab places never really seem to work. Getting sober shouldn’t be a spa getaway.

This thread reminded me of a Little Feat classic:

I can't afford to have a nervous breakdown.

[R5], your story is wonderful to hear. I'm so pleased to hear that things not only turned around for you, but stayed that way.

It's called a total meltdown now, not just nerve.

How sweet of you, R53. DL really does have a heart.

I do think it's good for people to know that yeah, shit happens in life, and you can fall to pieces. And you can also put it all back together again.

*smooch*

This place is listed in several celebrity bios.

I think I had one three years ago that lasted about a year and a half.

It was occasioned by 4 of my family and friends dying within about six weeks. It felt like I was in a warzone--I came home from the ICU of the hospital, and my best friend's aunt called me to tell me that my best friend (whom I had talked to eight hours before) had taken her life. That was the beginning--then two more people died, and then the one in the ICU.

I kept going on with my life, of course, but I was having social anxiety (around people I knew and people I didn't know) that was so horrible I could barely speak, and I have never had social anxiety before. I was at a fundraiser/gala at a hotel with people I knew, and had to hide in the bathroom the entire night because I thought I was having a heart attack. I kept envisioning everyone around me dropping dead, like, in a minute.

I thought it was a nervous breakdown, but it was also a chain of events I couldn't stop. I stopped sleeping for more than four hours a night and started crying all the time--in the car on the way to work, also on the way home, etc.

I literally thought I was loosing my mind--and that I would snap (likely, really snap). I have never in my life felt so fragile. And I was overreacting to everything.

I slapped people's faces suddenly and viciously. my doctor told me it was a nervous attack

I've had 2 nervous breakdowns. I had a very bad sunstroke and in the process - 2 weeks later - it created an imbalance in my nervous system - one moment I was fine and suddenly it seemed that everything inside of me just dropped and I was plunged into a deep depression and anxiety. I was terrified and didn't know what was happening to me and had to seek medical help which didn't do much good. At times I had panic attacks in which it felt like fear was exploding out of every pour in my body. Finally after 2 years it ran its course and I returned to normal again.

The second breakdown was far worse. About 10 years later I had a heatstroke and again it produced a dreadful imbalance in my nervous system. I was so filled with exaggerated fears and awful depression that I had to go live with my parents for awhile. The only thing I could manage to do was pull myself to work and put 1 foot in front of the other. After 5 long agonizing years I finally returned to normal - it was the worst period of my entire life. Again, I sought medical help but it seemed that it just had to run its course. I don't live in fear of it happening again but it is frightening even to think about it and all the pain I went through.

Sorry for those who have experienced it and glad for those who have made it through.

I've had three. 1989, 1996 & 2015.

I had one about 10 years ago. I had finished school and started a new job. I don’t tend to do well with change and it was a lot of change. I have bad anxiety but I had gone off my meds that year because I was doing better. I moved into an studio apartment - had never lived alone before - and discovered the first night in the apartment that it was completely roach-infested. I woke up at 2AM with about 10 roaches in my bed.

I lost my shit. Started crying, went to some hotel in midtown at like 3am to stay overnight. And then it was like a floodgate had opened. I just couldn’t stop crying. Finally got an exterminator to come to the apartment - I remember he sprayed this gas into the kitchen cabinets and so many roaches emerged - it was like something out of a horror movie. They were crawling up the walls, on the ceiling.

Ended up going to the psych ER. Told them I couldn’t stop crying. Saw a great psychiatric resident who put me back on anti depressants and give me a klonopin prescription and I had to start going to therapy weekly.

Not a full nervous breakdown but going to the psych ER is never a great situation....

Yes.

I had one recently, and it sucked.

I had one in my late 20's. It started with insane panic attacks and I was afraid I'd go crazy so I didn't want to be alone. I even called a woman I worked with (I was her manager) and asked if I could sleep on her couch one night. I had my one place but I was just terrified. I've pretty much been on psych meds since then but never really got all the way better. Now I have anxiety AND vertigo and it all blends together. I can't drive on interstates or over bridges. I am a mess. I can't believe this happened to me. I'm happy most of the time but I'll never be the together person I used to be.

vertigo is an inner ear imbalance?