Sunday, October 02, 2011

The way to Recognize Signs of Nervous Breakdown

By Harry J. Wolfe


A nervous breakdown happens when a person is unable to function normally because of a stressful situation or event. This usually happens when life's demand is too much to bear physically and emotionally. This phrase was regularly used in the old days to cover a lot of mental illnesses but this is no longer used in the field of medicine especially nowadays that the DSM has been established.

Nervous breakdown is not a term used in the medicine anymore but it is used by most people to characterize someone going through a mental breakdown. It is also not the proper term to use to describe a specific kind of mental disorder. But this type of coping method is pondered upon as not normal in managing stress. Thus, it leads doctors to wonder if the patient is at risk for developing mental disorders.

The symptoms of a nervous breakdown can be arranged into three distinct categories: physical, emotional and behavioral. Some of the physical symptoms would include memory loss, decreased libido, panic attacks, disturbed sleeping patterns and even digestive discomforts like diarrhea or constipation. Emotional symptoms would include depression, agitation, indecision, very low self-esteem and confidence, hallucinations and even paranoia. The behavioral symptoms are changes in mood, sudden outbursts of anger, weird behavior and to some extremes, psychosis.

There are many factors that incite symptoms of nervous breakdown but can be managed. This would include extreme cases of stress, depression, alcohol and/or drug abuse, hereditary, concomitant medical sickness, angst from the surroundings especially when there is bad news, being forced to make an important decision, having unrealistic demands, thinking too much about unwelcome events from the past and even extreme feelings of guilt can make a person undergo a nervous breakdown.

There is no standard cure for nervous breakdowns. It can be a single approach or a combination of treatment modalities. It is usually combination of drugs, behavioral therapy, counseling, emotional release, hypnosis and other modalities. The right treatment would then depend on how the doctors will diagnosis the patient. However, they say that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and that is true. Preventive measures are very important and some of them would include relaxation and meditation, supplementation, exercise and many more.

However, the best way to prevent a nervous breakdown is by knowing what it really is. As they would say, knowledge is power and indeed it is. Best of all, you are the perfect person to comfort others with this kind of condition since you can understand what they are going through.




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