WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DEPRESSION AND WHAT WE COMMONLY CALL A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN?
This is a complex relationship made even more confusing by fuzzy definitions of the term nervous breakdown. The name is really a lay person’s term used to describe many problems. It can be either a physical or a psychological problem. It’s often used to describe extreme exhaustion when, due to failure of one of the body’s systems, an individual is unable to continue coping with the ordinary demands of life. But the relationship between depression and a nervous breakdown is even more complex. Sometimes depression accompanies a nervous breakdown. At other times it’s the cause of a nervous breakdown. In other words, a nervous breakdown is simply a severe case of depression. A person reacts to some loss with a depression, which in turn puts him in a downward spiral until his body can no longer sustain him. This can lead to a collapse from extreme fatigue and exhaustion. Sometimes nervous breakdown is a psychotic disorder, like schizophrenia, which is a severe biological illness that can be
