Mental breakdown  

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Mental breakdown (also known as a nervous breakdown) is a general term for an acute, time-limited psychiatric disorder that manifests primarily as severe stress-induced depression, anxiety, and/or dissociation in a previously functional individual, to the extent that they are no longer able to function on a day-to-day basis until the disorder is resolved. A nervous breakdown is defined by its temporary nature, and often closely tied to psychological burnout, severe overwork, sleep deprivation, and similar stressors, which may combine to temporarily overwhelm an individual with otherwise sound mental functions.

Causes

Causes of breakdown might include:

• chronic and unresolved grief
• unemployment
• academic problems
• career burnout
• social stress
• post-war trauma
• chronic insomnia and other sleep disorders
• serious or chronic illness of a family member
• divorce
• death of a family member
• pregnancy
• deception by a loved one.

The sudden, acute onset of the following mental illnesses might be classified as breakdowns:

• clinical depression
• bipolar disorder
• psychosis
• dissociation
• post-traumatic stress disorder
• severe stress
• anxiety.

See also

• Adjustment disorder
• Causes of psychiatric disorder
• Causes of mental disorders
• Grieving
• Mental health
• Metanoia
• Neurasthenia
• Panic attack
• Psychosis
• Psychotic break
• Self-medication

In fiction

• Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown