What are the symptoms/signs that someone is having a nervous breakdown?
A nervous breakdown is not a clinical term, but can apply to many different situations in which someone begins to exhibit symptoms of different mental illnesses, or heavy emotional stress. The term nervous breakdown dates from a much older diagnosis of particularly women who suddenly became unable to function in their lives. Usually first symptoms are or were ignored, prompting what is now known as a psychotic break from reality, or a psychotic episode. This may show up in the form of an attempted suicide, or extreme behavior that requires hospitalization. Since many different illnesses can cause what many term a “nervous breakdown,” it is difficult to describe symptoms. Perhaps the greatest predictor of nervous breakdown is familial history of mental instability. Those who have family members with major depression, bipolar, anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, or schizophrenia are more likely to be at risk for these mental illnesses. Undiagnosed illnesses in family members
