Emotional breakdown: causes, symptoms, how to get rid of, consequences and prevention

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

The crazy rhythm of life that prevails today in large, densely populated cities has a negative quality - it is bad for the he alth of the working society. Wake up in the morning, have time to get ready, feed the household, put yourself in order and rush headlong to the metro station so as not to be late for work. Serve a bunch of clients in the office or, after working a shift at the machine, rush home in an exhausted state in order, again, to have time to do all the household chores, prepare the children for tomorrow in the garden or school, tidy up, wash and cook dinner. And so day after day, five, and sometimes six days a week. After that, Sunday remains, for which you need to have time to prepare a spring application for your daughter in the garden, help your son with a wall newspaper to school, take the carpet to the dry cleaner and go to the market for new wallpaper. And then reinstall the software on the computer to be able todraw from there information about the features of the repair in the bedroom, which began and still does not end …

Today, any average resident of a big city can be subject to quite serious physical and psychological overstrain, which ultimately often ends in an emotional breakdown.

Concept

In itself, the concept of an emotional breakdown involves the manifestation in a person of such a psychological state, which is the result of being in tension for a long time. Often it is aggravated by serious complications associated with disorders of the psyche and nervous system. To put it simply, it is a surge of emotions, the fruit of a long and collective process of accumulation of negative feelings, stress manifestations and negative energy. It's like the climax in a story about being constantly in an exciting and emotionally oversaturated state. And it is important to note that such a pathological process is quite dangerous for human he alth. That is why it is important to prevent such a plan of situations that provoke the accumulation of negative emotions and the manifestation in the future of what in psychology is called an emotional shock and a nervous breakdown.

Etymology

In order to understand the etiology of this pathological state of he alth, it is worth paying attention to the primary source of the accumulation of negative emotions. And if we consider this mechanism as a whole, then it looks like this: every day a person succumbs to somepsychological pressure or stress, for example, when meeting a specific person at work, or subjected to regular repression at home - at least morally, at least physically.

The occurrence of a single provocative situation does not entail a cumulative system of emotional overexcitation as such. That is, if you are afraid of dogs, for example, and you are worried about meeting a gang of mongrels in one of the alleys on the way to your house, this is a separate situation that happens and is eventually forgotten. But if every day you rush to work and meet this barking pack in the morning and evening (considering that you have been terrified of dogs since childhood), here the degree of your emotional state is at risk of reaching a critical point. As a result, you end up with an emotional breakdown.

Reasons

There are a lot of prerequisites for such manifestations. And it may not even be the only source of irritation. Add to the same dogs, for example, regular skirmishes with a work boss who demands a project from you in an impossible short time. Or this can include family problems that relate to the violent alcoholism of the spouse, problems with the he alth of the child, a systematic lack of funds. Life in such conditions not only cannot be pleasant, it destroys the psycho-emotional background of a person and systematically loosens his nerves, which further affects his psyche, motor skills, and many other factors in his life.

So, experts distinguish several main varietiespossible prerequisites for the emergence of emotional tension, looking for its outburst in the future:

• Troubles at work are one of the common phenomena that, due to certain subtleties or specifics of the position, can affect a person’s condition in different ways and cause a lot of negative emotions that seek a way out and often manifest themselves in a breakdown.
• Problems in family life - at home a person can be subjected to no less, if not more criticism than from superiors at work. And here it is no longer possible to complain to even higher management. Here you have to either endure to save the family, or break off the marriage, if it comes to marital long-term alcohol addiction, rampage or assault. But in this case, an interchangeable precondition for nervous self-torture may arise - divorce.



• Divorce process - people get divorced not only because of domestic violence. There are actually many reasons for this. But the point is that a fairly large percentage of people who are at the stage of divorce end up subject to the accumulation of negative emotions, self-flagellation, worries and suffering arising from what is happening. In such an apathetic state, people are often on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
• The betrayal of a loved one - does not apply to the divorce process due to the fact that loving people in modern life can live together without being formally married orthreat of termination. Moreover, it is not at all necessary to be at the stage of divorce proceedings in order to be subject to eternal suspicion, outbursts of violent jealousy, aggressive manifestations, or, conversely, depressive. It is worth noting that women often suffer from such manifestations. The reason for this is the increased emotionality and sensitivity, which is the basis of the psychology of the female body by nature.
• Financial instability is another broad category of causes that ultimately serve as an excuse for nervous mental breakdown. The constant lack of money in the family is one of the most frequent prerequisites for the emergence of family scandals, mutual reproaches, and complaints on this basis. Hence there is a violation of the stability of the emotional background, the accumulation of daily negative emotions in the process of skirmishes between the spouses and, as a result, the release of these negative feelings in the form of a breakdown.
• Illness of one of the family members - the most common cause of emotional stress, or it would be more correct to call it overstrain, is considered a long process of therapy for a child (children) in the fight against a serious illness. Sometimes even a strong character parent at some point becomes very difficult and bitter to watch the course of his own baby's illness. The constant struggle for the life of a loved one - the most precious person in life - all the same searches for funds for treatment, searches and change of the best doctors one after another, sleepless nights spent in tears and pleas for a speedy recovery -all this is looking for an emotional outlet and eventually manifests itself in a psycho-emotional nervous breakdown.
• Pregnancy is a physiologically special condition that sometimes serves as a reason for a separate type of breakdown. Too amplitude jumps in the mood of a pregnant woman are explained by an unstable hormonal background, closely related to the emotional one.
• Harassment and extortion - this category of external factors that serve as the causes of the appearance of an emotionally unstable state and the accumulation of negative energy are most often exposed to adolescents. Young girls may encounter unhe althy displays of sexual interest from educators, employers, or even a parent. While young people often have to deal with bullying and cruelty from their peers in adolescence, which is also a common cause of serious psychological complications. This is not surprising, because this age is considered the most vulnerable, and the psyche is still being formed.

This is not an exhaustive list of possible causes for emotional imbalance, but here are the most common ones. And in order to prevent such a dangerous phenomenon in time, looking for a way out, it is advisable to pass a test for psychological disorders in a timely manner.

Symptomatics

Like any other human ailment, this pathological condition manifests itself in certain symptoms. Emotional breakdown seen in:

• mental symptoms - these include manifestations of various phobias, generalized fear, stress disorders, panic attacks, obsessive-compulsive disorders, as well as depression and even schizophrenia (patients often try to cope with such symptoms through alcohol or drugs);
• physical symptoms - these include weakened volitional activity or its complete absence, when certain instincts (sexual, defensive, food) are suppressed, often accompanied by jumps in temperature and blood pressure, fatigue, tachycardia;
• behavioral symptoms - here it should be noted the failure of a person to perform a certain activity, the inability to restrain anger when communicating, raising his voice, allowing insults, choleric and hysterical manifestations.

Risk group

As mentioned earlier, there are certain categories of people who experience emotional breakdowns more often than others. This may be due not only to age or physical condition, but also to professional activities. For example, the same employees of clinical he althcare institutions and hospitals may be prone to burnout syndrome. This situation is not uncommon for medical professionals. The reasons can be total emotional exhaustion, empathy for one's work and oneself, absolute indifference to the fate and experiences of patients. As with he althcare workers, emotional distress syndromeburnout is noted among law enforcement officers. This is not surprising: due to their professional activities, these people often become participants in or witnesses of special critical situations in which the psyche is tested for strength.

So, at risk are:

• teenagers;
• parents;
• pregnant;
• medical workers;
• law enforcement officers;
• firefighters and rescuers (a category of specialists who stay in extreme conditions on duty and are responsible for the lives of others).

Methods of repaying a breakdown

In order to prevent the aggravation of the situation, it is worth making sure that it is critical. A test for psychological disorders will help determine the approach of the critical point of emotional overstrain. There are actually not so many ways to localize a pathological condition. This is:

• self-repayment breakdown;
• appeal to a specialist psychologist.

In turn, the doctor either prescribes therapeutic procedures or offers to fight the disease through pharmacological preparations.

Taking action at home

If you feel that you are already on the verge, you need to give vent to your feelings and throw out negative emotions. How to do it? First of all, you need to eliminate the source of irritation. If it's work, take a day off, or rather a vacation. If these are family troubles - go on a trip (for lack of financial abilitychange the situation, stay for a few days with a friend in another city). If this is financial insolvency - find something interesting, ways to earn extra money today are reflected in banal freelancing. Start earning without leaving your home. In any case, whatever it is, eliminate the source of your frustration. You will see how the accumulated negativity is slowly fading away.

Medical help

If you do not find a way out of the situation on your own and feel that your nerves are on edge, seek emergency psychological help from a specialist. In critical cases, it is not necessary to think about constraint. The psychologist will listen to you, give his recommendations, prescribe a list of therapeutic exercises in the form of gymnastics and breathing exercises to calm the nervous system. If needed, he will prescribe special medications for you.

Consequences

Why is it important to localize this kind of pathological manifestations in a timely manner? Because a nervous breakdown can lead to the following unpleasant consequences:

• mental - a persistent emotional disorder that develops into severe forms, as well as the threat of schizophrenia;
• physical - digestive problems, manifestations of gastritis, provoking diabetes;
• behavioral - causing harm to others, suicidal impulses.

Prevention

How to prevent an emotional breakdown?Experts give the following recommendations:

• Give vent to negativity and boiling feelings - go to the gym, swimming pool or sign up for a wrestling section. Physical activity is considered an excellent prevention of not only bodily diseases, but also mental ones.
• Replace the annoying factor - if your husband brings you to a state of suicidal impulses, find another man. If your bosses harass you at work, this is a reason to change jobs.
• Find yourself a hobby - a new hobby can occupy your mind and fill all the gaps in your free schedule, you just won't have time to think about the bad.
• Liquidate dangerous elements - we are talking about the use of alcohol, drugs, psychotropic substances, which not only are not able to drown out and reduce the level of emotions, but also ultimately exacerbate the problem.