Nervous Breakdown, When Stress & Anxiety Transcends Its Limit

When a thread is stretched more than its limit, it breaks down after an extent. Similarly, when the level of stress in humans, rises above a certain level, possibilities are there that it will break down either.This perilous state of the human brain and body is commonly called ‘Nervous Breakdown.

‘Nervous Breakdown is the outcome of stress beyond the limit. It is the anxiety that leads to this ‘Bipolar Disorder’-manic depression, which can also be said to be one of the synonyms of Nervous Breakdown.

Nervous Breakdown not Clinically DefinedOther than Bipolar Disorder, there is a term called ‘Schizophrenia’-a state of social isolation, which is similar to that of Nervous Breakdown. Nervous Breakdown, however, is not a medically defined term. Generally, the word ‘Nervous’ puts many of us in doldrums. But to the fact, Nervous Breakdown has nothing to do with the ‘Nerves.’ Nevertheless, this doesn’t mean that such cases of ‘Mental Imbalance’ are not to be taken seriously or such cases has no symptoms to detect and cure it respectively. 

Symptoms of Nervous Breakdown: The symptoms are much similar to that of ‘Depression’ but its more grave and cumbersome. 

Hushed Voice: When someone speaks with a hushed tone, not because the case wants to be silent, but because an element of fear pervades the voice of the case, which dims his personality; it is a symptom of Nervous Breakdown. The case may limit himself or herself to half-whispering. They are not loud and clear when they talk. Moreover, they tend to contradict themselves in whatever they say.

Eloquence and Exuberance Fades: The case no more believes in what he or she used to believe in. He or she is no more lively. In a condition when someone have had a Nervous Breakdown, they are not focused in anything they do. They do not step forward to initiate, in fact, they are no more confident of themselves.

Restlessness: It is quite common for the case to become restless when someone goes through a Nervous Breakdown. A victim of Nervous Breakdown keeps on doing foolish things. Things which can be utmost embarrassing and the worst part is that they are least bothered about it.

Irregular Heart BeatsThe rate of Heart Beat may significantly be irregular. The case may find a fast heart beat at times making him or her feel uneasy or an opposite situation can also be troublesome, where the heart beat may be slow then the normal.

May Lose Interest in Every Activity: Chances are much higher that a case of Nervous Breakdown may lose interest in all those activities, he once loved to do. For instance, a get-together, games, movies, dating or anything for that matter may not interest him. He would love to be left isolated.

Historical Aspect on Nervous Breakdown

In the ancient days, Nervous Breakdown was known as ‘Melancholia’ and thereafter in the later years of early 20th century, it started to be called ‘Neurasthenia’. And finally, it was in the mid-twentieth century that ‘Nervous Breakdown’ got its present name.However, the term is almost no where used in the specific books of Psychiatry. In the current scenario, a case of ‘Nervous Breakdown’ is treated similarly as a major case of ‘Depression.’