Question: what causes a nervous breakdown?

Jen Todd Jones answered on 19 Mar 2013:

Hi toothy

A nervous breakdown is normally thought of as a psychiatric or psychological problem and seems to have little to do with the brain itself. This is an issue related to anxiety but not necessarily any physical problems. People who are overly anxious for very long periods of time for unknown reasons sometimes, or suffer from losses or problems in their lives, it can reach a critical point where the stress, and worry and anxiety becomes too much and this results in a nervous breakdown. This can look very different for different people, it can result in a ‘catatonic’ state where people move very slowly or not at all for long periods of time, or result in hysteria or fits of crying and anger.

There are no known specific causes, it’s normally a problem that develops over time. People also get better after nervous breakdowns, they are a normal response to bad feelings or bad events in your life, and eventually people recover.

Jen