Negative thoughts, exhaustion, concentration problems … What is going on? These signs are typical of a nervous breakdown. Learn more about its symptoms and how to deal with them.
To be at the end of your rope. We are not coping with anything. The feeling that the whole weight of the world is falling on our shoulders. Even thinking, remembering, and making decisions seem to require superhuman efforts. We experience all of this when we suffer a nervous breakdown, a condition that originates from intense, prolonged stress.
Physical and emotional exhaustion is a constant these days. We feel more significant pressure not only at work. Our worries grow more and more; simultaneously, our state of mind becomes steadily weaker. We are, therefore, in a psychological condition that weakens us and will ultimately have an impact on our health.
Sometimes we are even “tired of being human.” And that may be true because humans are involved in increasingly complex and demanding scenarios and have to pay the price for them later.
While it’s common to feel blocked and paralyzed, we still need to know where that feeling is coming from. This is the only way we can learn to deal with this situation.
What Is A Nervous Breakdown, And What Are Its Symptoms?
A nervous breakdown is not a disorder in and of itself, nor is it a diagnosable clinical entity. It is a symptom that arises from an intense state of stress.
It is triggered in unfavorable situations, such as after receiving bad news, after traumatic events, emotional breakdowns, etc.
In other words, it is a psychological reality that occurs after a highly emotional experience. A study by the University found that “a nervous breakdown is associated with high stress, and its main consequence is a feeling of physical and psychological exhaustion.”
In such conditions, an excess of neurochemicals such as adrenaline or cortisol is released, leading to overload. This accumulation of emotions, sensations, and psychophysiological changes ultimately affects our cognitive performance (thoughts) and our physical resilience.
A nervous breakdown is caused by uncontrolled stress that consumes our psychological resources.
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Symptoms Related To A Nervous Breakdown
Some people refer to a nervous breakdown as a tense crisis, but it’s not the same. While in the second case, an externalization of symptoms and a manifestation of exhaustion, emotional intensity, and nervousness can usually be observed. In the first case, it is a blockage. Now let’s go into this in more detail.
Psychological Symptoms
- Difficulty concentrating
- Difficulty thinking clearly and drawing conclusions; the person’s thoughts are clouded.
- Memory problems
- As if what surrounds the person, feeling unreal is not entirely accurate.
- Occur mood swings, but it is common for the person concerned to feel irritable or apathetic.
- One is unable to carry out daily tasks usually. There is a lack of motivation, desire, and the ability to focus on what you are doing.
Physical Symptoms
The physical symptoms that accompany a nervous breakdown are many. However, the longer we are under stress, the higher its intensity. In general, the following manifestations are associated with it:
- Constant exhaustion and the feeling of not reacting to things even when trying to do so.
- Muscle pain, especially in the limbs
- Sleep disorders (we can suffer from insomnia, but we can also sleep too much)
- There may also be pressure on the chest or a racing heart.
- Dizziness
- a headache
- The feeling of moving more slowly than normal
How Do You Deal With Nervous Breakdowns?
Is There Any Treatment For Mental Breakdowns? There is no specific treatment method. This is because these psychological conditions require a multidimensional coping strategy. We have therefore analyzed some of these critical methods.
Stress Vaccination Training
This method consists of using a series of tools to gradually “inject” stress into the patient, confronting them progressively with stressful situations.
To do this, the patient must develop numerous skills, which are to create new healthy thought patterns and reduce anxiety-inducing emotions. The steps include the following:
- Cognitive restructuring: identifying negative and obsessive-compulsive thoughts and replacing them with healthier ones.
- Use relaxation strategies, such as deep breathing
- Bringing changes into our routines to cope with this stress. We can ask ourselves what changes we need to make to feel better. Sometimes well-being is achieved by moving away from certain situations and starting new projects.
Problem-Solving Techniques
This fact is interesting: a large part of a nervous breakdown originates from the excess of problems we don’t address. Almost without knowing how everything comes together, we don’t know how to go about one thing or another, and it all accumulates after a while.
Then there is exhaustion, overload, and blockage. In these all-too-common situations, learning a range of skills is appropriate. Here are a few tips:
- First, identify the problem and describe it.
- Then break it down into smaller steps. After all, every concern or challenge is made up of several units.
- Be clear about what you want to achieve.
- Take a piece of paper and a pen and write down the solutions. One is not enough. Ideally, it would help if you wrote down several strategies.
- Then put the keys into action.
- Finally, evaluate the project: did it achieve the expected result?
- Deal with your emotions that are involved in every step.
Coping With Nervous Breakdowns
We have to keep in mind that nervous breakdowns are widespread in times of crisis and uncertainty. It can help to take the time to attend to your own needs and include appropriate stress management techniques.
Of course, if we still cannot get the problem under control, the best thing to do is seek professional help. Talking to a professional psychologist is key to learning other strategies to deal with the situation.