My heart breaks for all of your posts. I reached out about my sister, and now I'm going to say a prayer for all of you 12 year-olds to 50 plus.

Hang in there, everyone. You are all important, unique people who are so important to God you don't even know. Please hang in there and keep asking for help. I don't know you, but I love you all.

anon6334: I couldn't find my post, but it sounds like we're experiencing the same.

I am begging for anyone's help. My sister is 51. She is a type A personality. She moved away and life isn't what she expected; not the dream house/life she expected.

She has normally been very high strung, energetic, problem-solving, assertive, go-go-go. Now, she is pale, quieter, can't finish a sentence, exhibits "paranoid" like behavior, gets angry quickly, couldn't make it to the bathroom in time because she "forgot." She's only 51. Her husband says it's all menopause.

Everyone is saying what's wrong with your sister? Some days are okay, then she starts to unravel, literally, not being able to answer a question. She gets extremely and easily agitated, and most recently, talked about something that just wasn't occurring like she said. What do we do?

It's got to be more than menopause. One minute she's connected, the next, she's way out there; counting the tiles on the wall. Brain tumor? Bipolar plus menopause?

Someone, please help. I don't want to get a call from my brother in law saying she's in the hospital or worse. What do I do?

When a good friend confronted her about "what is going on with you", she completely cut her out of her life. I have to stay connected to her as I'm out of state.

She has a 12-year-old daughter. I tried to talk to her husband, and he's chalking it all up to the change of life. Numerous other women, who've been through menopause, think there is something seriously amiss.

Please, please, please. Someone help and suggest a course of action that won't make her cut us all out of her life. All we want is for her to be well. Thank you and God bless you for answering.

Angela, please, for your sake, tell your parents or another trusted adult. If they don't believe you, find someone who does who can talk to your folks.

If you are in the U.S., you can also call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255. It is free and open 24 hours. I promise these people will listen to you, will take you seriously, and can give you help in telling your parents. It's confidential and anonymous.

I don't know you, but I care about you and I'm glad you're reaching out.

Please, please, please, call this number or talk to your parents right away.

anon52211: everything's going to be alright, this is a newly found development in your system. you've discovered stress, what once was a confusion will become a relief. you will learn that there is nothing wrong with you.

it's me again, angela. i just posted a comment last night. i had committed another suicide attempt again. i can't help myself, but i had always thought of dying. good thing the wound wasn't that deep. if it was, i should've been dead.

i really think i need serious medication from a psychiatrist or someone, but the problem is who or how and when? i don't want to tell my parents or anyone for they might not believe me.

hi, I'm Angela, 13 years old, but i think something's wrong with me. i feel really stressed out because of too much studying in school, my grandparents blaming me for something i didn't even do, and my parents getting mad at me for no reason at all.

I am exhibiting violent anger, and had committed a suicide attempt once. I am also experiencing some paranoid thoughts like someone hurting me or something like that. I am posting this because I need some help from you guys. I would really appreciate it if you could help me out. Thank you.

Dear 51907, I am sorry to hear about your losses. I am sure your loved ones who have passed on are in a better place now though, a place of absolute peace. I know that sounds like your stereotypical generic condolence sort of message, (apologies), but i assure you it was meant sincerely, and it is what i believe. (I do have some questionable beliefs though i suppose.)

I believe God loves every one of his creations, and so in my views (*somewhat warped optional) the way that everyone can be happy would be to re-do things over and over again, until every last living creature is saved. Crazy logic i know, it's just what i think i guess. *shrugs.

Perhaps when that happens all beings throughout the universe will know true peace, or perhaps i just need to tone down on the sci-fi film viewing. Either way, good times.

This world sometimes seems to want nothing more than to bring us to our knees, and to stand despite your heavy burden, takes tremendous resilience and courage. you have my greatest admiration and respect and you are stronger than you think. As do all those who continue to fight and struggle on through these tough times.

Be well dudes/dudettes. - Dan

after losing both my parents two months apart them my favorite uncle few months after that, with my daughter going for an operation which they thought was cancer, losing my relationship and then my other uncle dying, i am surprised it has taken me a year to lose it. i have no family and no one to talk to which makes it harder.

i really thought i could deal with this, that i was doing ok till day after day got worse. I started drinking more, sleeping and not eating and just hating life, and the only reason i haven't hurt myself is because i have a beautiful daughter. i was embarrassed when the doctor said i have suffered a nervous breakdown. i thought, "what the hell," but in reading other people's comments, i am glad to know that i am not alone.

Dan anon51028 that was a sweet comment you put. actually brought smile to my face and i haven't had one of those for a while. it's hard trying to hide everything, pretending you're not drinking when you are, eating then secretly throwing it up. i did want to die. i thought it would be better off but my daughter is my rock and i am going to fight this.

I am having anxiety like never before. I used to be such a focused person and had a thriving business, around march, i lost what i thought was a stable job and i loved it and the people there. after two years of having three different jobs one of which i was fired from, but kept going at the subject to show i could do it regardless, the second the recession started, i got made redundant as i didn't care about the job. the third (the best job i had) i worked in a college and that helped my Asperger Syndrome as i saw people grow up around me. it was a contract so was bound to end, although I feel they got my hopes up as they said they would take me permanently but then the recession hit the sector and i was out. i then made it worse by contacting them too much. now the friend i had there doesn't reply to my e-mails so i e-mailed the manager and they have said i am near a nervous breakdown as i recently lost my closest relative. i had to give up my business as i lost faith and now am in a job i hate. yes it's a job but again i find I can't be bothering or not being able to learn new skills. as i have AS i hate change as much and need to be forced into it. when i lost my closest relative i just wanted to give up. i have to keep going as my financial situation is really bad. i feel there is no way out. the college is kind enough to offer me a week's volunteerin with them as i asked them if i could do volunteer work with them. do i quit my job to go back and get my therapy with their guidance team or keep going with my job in the hope my depression goes away? i used to love life but this year i feel like i let go and now lost everything and let my parents down. i wanted to go home to be with my parents. they said i couldn't as my dad has parkinsons. i am a nice, friendly person and a straight talker and feel i have let my parents down by letting go. my brother tells me i can't do anything, as my skills are somewhat small down to my AS. i haven't fallen back on my degree and went my own way, following something i believed in, which isn't working anymore. if i don't try, i'll end up with dead end jobs so i feel stuck and need some major guidance. My parents said they can't help me, i have lost my passion for my job and need some major help. my jobs are limited by my epilepsy, I'm approaching 27 and want to do something brilliant before my dad gets worse. I feel like I'm losing my marbles. i couldn't afford to even eat when i was out of a job and don't want to work as i got tired of being pushed around by everyone.

According to the letter of the industry, any form of religious belief is a psychosis. This means that any religious experience is officially a psychotic episode. Nevertheless, there are obviously many people in the fields of psychiatry and psychology who subscribe to some sort of religious belief, mostly monotheistic. This is a double-standard that's widely accepted, because if it wasn't, then lots of people in the industry would be diagnosed as mentally unsound, and, you know, that's probably not good for business.

I'm not dissing the industry, or religious beliefs in this statement, I'm shoving you toward a different mode of thought.

Your problems aren't unique. Everyone in every culture around the world, from the dawn of civilization has had them at some time or another. They, and we, will continue to have the same problems well into the distant future. I don't mean that in an isolated event context, I mean your neighbors are just as crazy (and consequently just as boring) as you are.

Miraculously, (there's that psychosis) since everyone has the same problems with the same problems, anyone can find the solutions for those problems with roughly the same ease as the next person.

Pro Tip: It starts with a shift in your perceptions, self and otherwise. It's not as hard as you think. No way is it that hard.

Don't say, I've been suffering/struggling/battling with depression/anxiety/stress. Instead be more original. Go for the gusto, and try asking yourself why you'd be depressed.

Try it. Right now.

There's a lot to be depressed about, honestly. The state of the world, as we know it now, is darn-near irreparable.

What's the cause of all this fighting and violence worldwide? Who started it? Is anyone qualified to finish it?

How about that energy/financial/technology crisis we're all itching about? Is this heading anywhere good? Can you do anything about it? Should you? Who told you that?

Besides anything grown locally and passed to you by hand, is there any such thing as guilt-free food anymore? Ever looked into dairy products? The meat industry? Chocolate? Doesn't this proved how very screwed we are? Does it, really?

No, you can't reach around and pull your boss's mighty head from their mighty rump, and alas, you cannot teach within a single gesture the virtues of neighborly conduct on the road. But the saving grace (That's two! I'll be committed soon) of their abuse of free will is that it's only stronger proof of your ability to follow your own goals and dreams. Don't let their mistakes become yours. If they already are, then stop it. Now.

The fact that you can perceive that there's something wrong with your life means that you'll always have hope. (This actually makes sense if you think about it.)

Emotions can't be bottled up -- that's a physical impossibility. If it feels like they're clogging your synapses, it's because you're dwelling on the effects of your emotions, not the cause.

It's your life, so who's better qualified to make the decisions in it? You, or someone else? Professional administration of guidance and medications are important, make no mistake, but the fields of psychology and psychiatry weren't invented to protect you from emotional suffering. They were invented to help you get used to it.

If you're suffering, then (obviously) you're doing something wrong. You always have a choice. It's your existence.

People change, people turn, people drop. I promise you we've seen it before. What you do under those circumstances determines who you've decided to be. You can decide to be anyone. It's your existence.

Breathe deep! There's a whole forest beyond those trees. Some day, your eyes will focus, and on that day, you won't need silly metaphors to explain your life to you.

Now, let me get some sleep. --cg

i'm 31 and a mother of four and i think im cracking up. i've suffered depression on and off for years but i've just had my youngest daughter. she's almost six months old. at first i thought I had post-partum depresssion, but now i'm sure it's a break down. i've no one i can talk to although i've been with my hubby since i was 18.

he can just sit there watching me cry and rolling his eyes. when i try to talk to him he just says he don't care. the house is a mess because i cannot keep on top of it. nobody lifts a finger. we just live like pigs to be honest. i've had bad thoughts but love my kids far too much to leave them in any way. i feel very unloved by everyone. my parents have not been to my house once to see my daughter. they expect me to go there and i don't drive and they have a car i just wanna say screw the lot of you and run far, far away.

my fiance left me after 5/12 years. At the same time my youngest graduated high school. after almost 30 years of always having someone with me and now i'm all alone. i had a breakdown. i miss my fiance every day but he won't even talk to me. my doctor has me on meds but they don't seem to help.

"There is always light at the end of the tunnel, just sometimes it happens to be quite a long way to get there." To those that carry on and fight despite the pain, "The hotter the fire, the more refined and stronger the metal." To those that have laid down and given up, "get back on your feet soldiers, we are at war and this is definitely not time to be resting." Life might deal you some crappy hands, some low blows that knock the crap out of you, but does a climber get stronger by walking along a straight bit of land or walking down easy descents? No he gets stronger by climbing the biggest climbs known to man, getting to the top and saying, i did this, against all odds. Defy this world, no matter -- what don't give up. Instead, let the pain fuel you and push you on, you'll get to where you need to be. I hope and pray that God will give you all peace.

my heart is saddened to see so much pain in this world, but it doesn't make me think "oh what a crappy world." It makes me think "this world is crap, but what can we do to make it better? it is our right and our duty to reduce the pain of our children and our children's children is it not? Stop dwelling in your pain, and instead focus on what you can do to put your life back on track and make things cool once again.

No matter what you might currently think, hope springs eternal, and whether you give up on God is up to you, but if you've been dealt a crappy hand in life i promise you this, God will not and has not given up on you. Stay strong and do not falter. things will be made cool again, that is my hope and my faith.

So i say to you let the pain not extinguish the light in your eyes, but instead let it fuel you to do what is right and just, to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves and to persist no matter how tough the going gets. Sure the odds are stacked against us in life. the whole system this world is based on rewards negativity and selfishness, but if the odds are stacked against us, i say.."stack the chips high, i like a challenge" and to those who say "you can't succeed" i reply in the words of Barack Obama "yes we can!"

Anyway, i'm rambling and joking aside, i sincerely hope everyone feels better, because being in a funk is not a cool place to be. apologies to those who see this light hearted message as salt on their wounds. i assure you it was not intended as such. Be well - Dan x

at 41 i finally think it's going to happen -- a nervous breakdown. i have four children. the last had colic and that lasted eight long months. I started taking zoloft I am up to 150-200mg per day. She's 3 now and she's cries a lot more than talks. My husband works a 24 hour shift leaving me here all day and night. I keep telling him that I cannot do all this anymore by myself and him being gone. My oldest son quit school but only needs 2.5 credits to graduate. He tried to get those but was kicked out when he fought someone in self-defense. Has broke his other wrist and has many medical bills that he can't pay nor I. My husband I found out in June 2008 was taking money out of his credit cards and putting them into the stocks to "make" more money which he didn't and still had to pay the credit card. I found this out by accident. I have lost all respect for him. He's a really nice guy but it was so deceitful to me. He's so sorry now. He filed for bankruptcy last month.

My oldest son is disrespectful to me. He has to be bipolar. He takes prozac when I ask him but thinks it's not helping him but it is! I have been through a divorce, being single for five years with my crazy son's behavior and never once did I feel like I wanted to hurt myself. The doctor tells me to take xanax but it makes me sleepy. How can I watch my little girls when i'm fighting to stay awake?

This zoloft is not working anymore. I am depressed and don't think I can handle switching meds without being hospitalized.

What the bleep happened to me? Nice house, nice hubby, four kids that are healthy. I think it's years of stress from when my son was 11. He's now 19 and I am so sad I just don't know what to do. Eight solid years of stress isn't easy to do. I am just waiting for the next crazy incident in my home. I want to run away -- far!

I am going to die alone. I have talked to God about this, for a long time, and I have tried a hundred different ways to give fate a chance to work its magic. He is not listening, or He does not have ears. Also I recently found out I may be dying of a prostate illness. I really don't have the money or insurance to even go find out more about this. I'm 26. So now I live in a state I hate (Alabama) possibly dying and I haven't even told anyone. Well I told one girl and she said something to the effect that we are all going to die, "so what?" I believe God exists, but I am really angry with him. I am not a bad person. It seems like whenever I get hopeful he rubs it in my face, if anything. I don't want to not feel, I don't want the drugs. I am a recovering addict, and I am still clean. But I cry all the time, alone, or sometimes in public when no one I know is around. I love my family too much to kill myself but I am exhausted mentally spiritually and emotionally and I just want to die.

im a 35 year old male and just got married to a wonderful woman. i have an 8 year old son and i am lost. i feel like whatever i do isn't good enough. i want to just sleep and not wake up. i don't have it in me to end my life but i don't want to live either. I've tried to kill myself and someone found me not breathing. all me and my wife do is fight. i want to just escape the pain i feel. i used to use drugs. i have eight months sober. if anyone has anything to say that might help, please i need feedback because I'm losing it.

Some really sad stories here, especially the lady who lost her 17 year old son. I have a son the same age and can't imagine losing him but I almost did three years ago and this is where my depression comes into it.

We were out shopping on New Year's eve 2005 to spend my son's Christmas vouchers when he suffered a massive fit, stopped breathing for a few seconds and turned a greyish colour at which point I thought he was dead. I remember going into a blind panic and I felt like I wasn't in my own body, such an awful feeling and I hope I never feel that again. Since that day almost four years ago is when I changed and started to withdraw into myself. I walked out of my job of 10 years and have been unable to work since due to the anxiety of leaving the house. I rarely enjoy things I used to and I'm drinking far too much alcohol which I know is making me feel worse. Thankfully my son is ok and was diagnosed with Epilepsy which is controlled on medication. I don't know if it is true depression or PTSD but it sure is ruining my life and I can't see any light at the end of the tunnel.

I feel so screwed over. A job that never stops piling on more work, yet with no help to do it. A son that has utterly lied to me left and right, and stopped going to school (age 17, but this started when he was 15) all because of a girl he met online. I work in social services -- and you know what? Nothing works. Nothing.

Seven months ago I delivered a beautiful baby boy. He died an hour later from PPHN because I took antidepressants while pregnant. It took 4 months and I got off my meds. I got pregnant my last week of use. I was still going through withdrawal but was happy and longing to see this new baby. Although I was constantly filled with dread that this baby would not come home either. At my 18 weeks ultrasound, my fears were confirmed and my baby no longer had a heartbeat. I delivered him a week ago, but am at a complete loss. I only eat because I have 6 other children and they need to see me eat. But eating makes me sick. I sleep 12 hours a night, but don't feel rested. My husband is worried because I just stop functioning for long periods of time where he says I just stare at nothing. My insides feel like they are going through a meatgrinder and I am constantly crying. I can't function. I'm afraid to ask for help because I'm afraid they'll force antidepressants on me again. They didn't work for me before and I had no emotions for 8 years. I feel now. I want help, but want natural help. I can't go back to pills that killed one son and caused long term damage to my 3 living boys. Is there help without meds?

everyone needs to know that they have the power of prayer. I went through a breakdown and it felt like i was in one of those movies where you can see everybody talking but you can't hear them. i know the pain. i feel better now i've been on antidepressants for half a year and i don't feel the sadness and depression i felt so horribly before. i also prayed so much in those times knowing that God would bring me out though my faith and i was right. Get on an antidepressant if it doesn't work try another one till it does and pray continuously.

Well how do I put this? I lost a good job that I was at for 11 years. My best friend died on my birthday. I almost died of PE and now my family is being kicked out of our home. The real sad thing is, these are the last words I will ever write on this phone.

I don't know if I've had a nervous breakdown, but it seems like I have. Three years ago, my marriage of 12 years ended. It wasn't a big messy divorce, we were not happy together and were better off apart. I had our four kids during the week and he would get them on the weekends and for the first time in my life, I was totally alone. I had no friends and didn't feel like burdening my family by going to see them all the time, so I spent my weekends alone. I started spending a lot of time online, meeting and making friends. Soon, I started meeting guys in person that I had talked to online. I started seeking company in any way I could get it. I met this one guy and thought that I had fallen in love with him and he moved in with me and my kids after we had only known each other for two months. Things seemed to be great and for a few months, I was so happy! Then things started going downhill fast! He started spending more and more time in the bedroom online talking to "friends". Then two years ago, I almost lost my kids because of lies that people told to Child Protective Services. I started cutting myself and memories that I had repressed started surfacing. I remembered being sexually molested when I was little. I couldn't fully recall the memory and when I would try to remember it all, I would talk in a little girls voice. My boyfriend laughed when I told him and told me I was making it all up, but I really don't believe I was. We started fighting a lot, he would threathen to leave and I would tell him if he did, I would kill myself. Once, I even started to take a bottle of pills and he stopped me. Another time, I had a knife and was going to slit my wrists right in front of him. We fought over the knife and he ended up getting cut really bad. Shortly after that, we had to move to a different state and I had to leave my family, which I hated having to do. After moving, I thought that maybe it was what we needed, a fresh start some place and that things would be different, but things got worse. He became mean and mentally and emotionally abusive to me. I stayed because I thought that I couldn't and didn't deserve any better. Things got bad and he ended up hitting me. After that, he broke up with me, leaving me hours away from my family. I took my kids and moved in with my parents for a few months, found us a place of our own and it seemed like things were going to work out for us. But I was lonely and started looking for love any place I could get it. I started dating a guy that lived 800 miles away but we had plans for him to move to be with me. Things seemed to being working out for me for the good for a change. I felt happy, something I hadn't felt in a long time, but our relationship started falling apart. I am now in another relationship with a guy I have known for over a year, but he is in prison and has a few months left before he gets out. I do still have bad days, days that I don't want to get out of bed, days where I feel like doing nothing but sitting in a dark room and crying, but I always find the strength to pull through. My kids have been my source of strength. I think of them and that they have been through so much and are still able to have a smile on their faces. There are times I still want to cut myself, days where I think I am worthless and not deserving of life, but those days come rarely now. I have been to the pits of hell and on top of the highest mountain and I know that I might end up in that pit again, but I keep on going. During my hard times, I turned away from God, I thought that He didn't care, that He wasn't listening to my pleas, but it was down in that pit that I heard His voice and knew He was there, even if I couldn't see Him, all I had to do was reach out and take His hand. I know my fight with these feeling and thoughts I have are not over. I want to be like I was before all this happened, happy and content with who I am and my life. I don't know if I will ever be that person again, but I hope to love the new person I have become someday. I have read many of the posts on here and all I can say is hang in there, there is someone there with you, even though you might not know it, someone to share your pain, your troubles and trials. In the bible, it says "Be still and know that I am God." All you have to do is listen and reach out to Him. He will take your hand and He won't let you fall. I am trying to find my way back to God and know that it won't be easy, I have done so many things and have to ask His forgiveness for a lot, but I know He will forgive me. He will never forsake you. So please, everyone, take care and you will be in my thoughts and prayers.

I'm a guy, 21 years old, and I get constantly paranoid about things, I find that if I drink it makes it better so I do drink , not too much and not in the daytime, but I always have a drink at night. I'm absolutely petrified of being ill, and am constantly checking myself for symptoms of horrible illnesses and making myself believe I have them, especially meningitis. It’s crazy I know, but I can’t help it. even if I have stiff neck or a little rash or slight headache , I convince myself I’m really ill. Its a horrible way to live. I am also so scared of this. I have a major fear of becoming ill from germs and uncooked food to the point now where I won’t eat chicken at all, and will hardly touch meat. I have to prepare food myself to my standards or I’ll worry its dirty in some way. And if I’m stuck in a situation where I have to eat food that I fear is uncooked or dirty, it has made me suffer from bulimia, not to mention I used to be going on 16 stone and I had an important relationship when I was younger in which my partner left very suddenly giving me a weeks notice. My father left when I was 2. I always feel insecure and find it hard to relax. I feel like I’m always on the edge. What’s more is I know how silly this all sounds. I used to be normal. when I was younger I didn’t care about dirt or anything -- it wasn’t an issue. Now all of a sudden why do I think about death and being ill all the time? I don’t understand. I wish so much that I could just get on with my life and be normal. Thanks for listening guys. Sorry if this post gets you down. And I’m not crazy – I just need to know that someone somewhere understands me. Best wishes -- Jay

The old terminology is interesting. I have been trained in couseling as a social worker. It's interesting to see all of the posters' stories. I guess I could be having one right now. A breakdown, that is. I have not succumbed to it just yet. I lost my husband and brother within one month of each other. After that loss I starting dating a man I feel deeply in love with --or so I thought. He is passive-agressive and has recently gone back to his "controlled" drinking he says. We lived together for some time. I had to move back home with my father as he had issues with dementia. I don't see the man much anymore. He is constantly busy working and never seems to get anything accomplished. He always blames others. I guess I seem addicted to this reltionship as I do not want to be alone. So I put up with some of his abusive behavior. I have been advised by many friends to just let go of him. But I have a hard time doing it. I go to see him and he is indifferent. When it suits him it's fine. He, like one of the other poster's husband, seeks friendship and porn online. He had gone out with others and lied consistently. I don't know what has happened to my self-esteem that I put up with this crap from him. He sucks me back in every time I try to let go. I don't think medication is the answer for me. I had two bipolar sibs. One is fine the other was killed as he was self-medicating with alcohol. I don't sleep well and have had insomina since the loss of my husband and brother. When I do sleep it's too long. I'm just making it through with good friends and a strong will not to let it get the best of me. I look up and try not to fall back -- and pray a lot.

When you first realize you were raped 40 years ago, you watch your mom die of cancer, you lose your dog, you gain a lot of weight, you don't care to see anyone, including your spouse, and you lose your career of 22 years, because of a car hitting you while in a crosswalk, and you have really powerful feelings of ending it all, then that's a nervous breakdown. Thank God for good pyscho-therapy and meds. I wouldn't be here today to enjoy my two year old grandson if it had not been for loving family and dear friends to see me through the darkest time of my life. I pray for all who suffer any type of mental illness or anguish. I'd rather be sick in bed with a bad case of flu. Good luck people. Stay strong and look upwards for grace and guidance.

My long time girl friend of about 10 years has just moved back in with me. I love the girl more than life itself. She cheated on me with some other guy, some trash ball that only plays girls. I try to live my life right for God so I did forgive and move on but it's not the same for her I guess. She doesn't want much to do with me and I'm not sure why she is even staying with me anymore. I felt like I was on deats door step without her and now that she is back I have to swallow all the pain that comes with her new found ways. I left my job of five years in car sales that she disliked because of the hours and for good reason, but I have left any pride that I had along with everything else. I don't sleep and I force myself to eat but I'm dropping in weight again and last time it was 20 lbs. My doctor put me on so much crap that I felt like I was a zombie and I don't think my answer comes from a drug. I throw up blood sometimes and sometimes I hurt so bad inside that I just want to die. If there is such a thing as loving a girl too much I guess I know what it's all about, but I've been through so much in my life with her, some things that most will never live through or understand. I just want to feel like me again. I want my pride back and my since of self worth back. I want to wake and be happy to start a new day and not to stress hardship that is soon to come my way. I just dont want to be me anymore I can't win this battle because I can't change the way I feel about her. I feel like life as I know it is over for me. I am without work and pressed hard for money and my love is in vain. When I look at myself now I dont even see a man anymore and I don't see a reason to live.

Wow, so many people, with so much sadness. I cried tonight after reading about a women losing her son in death, so painful, remember 'time heals the pain'. There is a part of scripture in the Bible, where Jesus' followers were asking him as to when will the end of this system come? He said there will be signs, 'Men will lovers of themselves, greedy, blasphemers, without self control, people will become 'faint out of fear; isn't that what we see a lot of today? Fear, it is almost in the air that we breathe, there is a reason behind all of this angst, and for those of you who feel that they are just not coping in this life and in this world, well you are probably the most normal, because it would be a sick twisted soul who could say that this system is normal. The reason we feel distressed is because nothing is the way it should be. Look in the Bible for answers. Look for the group of people who teach from the Bible, who talk about Paradise, who give a positive hope for the future, dead loved ones to be raised up back to life so that you can see them again, diseases cured, and a hope to live forever on a Paradise earth. We all yearn for that kind of peace.

112: I am trying to keep it together but i feel like i am losing it. My husband is very mean to my son (from my first marriage) and to me and it hurts so bad to see my son hurt. Anon37986, did you give your son the energy and attention that you should have given your husband? Some women tend to place especially boys up on a pedestal so high they enable them, while the husband rarely gets any attention. You may have unknowingly created the sitution and resentment your husband has towards your son. I am going through this right now with my nephew who just started staying with me. My wife really likes him and feels for his prior situation. She didn't realize that he became the main focus of her everyday life and pretty much kicked me to the curb. He loved the attention and even demanded it more. Therapy for both me and my wife helped to find the problem. She had no clue what she was doing. To find out her mother did the same thing to her brother growing up, and her father had the same resentment for his son. Its amazing the bible says that husband and wife should love god first, each other second and the kids third. Most women cannot put their kids third. But if they did they would have strong structure in their household and the probability that their kids would grow up to be strong, normal adults would be very likely.

- anon37986

I recently split up from my partner of 10 years, but as we can't sell our place I still have to live with her. I'm unable to find a date, unwilling to lean on my few good friends any more than I have done already, find life to be a completely futile exercise in breathing. I feel as though nothing I do for anyone is remotely appreciated, I've found careless words from people of late to be deeply hurtful, I don't feel that I quite fit with anyone anywhere, quietly resentful of others, especially my ex, I wish some days that I could just stop breathing to be perfectly honest.

I managed to lose about two stone in a month a while back as I totally lost my appetite. I've become vastly more dependent upon cigarettes and caffeine, and actually quietly enjoy the idea that maybe one day the smoking will trigger an asthma attack, though at the same time am fearful of it. Every time something goes my way, something else wipes it out pretty quickly afterward. Everyone seems so demanding of my help and I try, I really try, but just don't feel capable of anything. If I have quiet time I just end up wondering what is the point and driving myself into a greater spell of depression. Just occasionally I have an up day when I can smile for no apparent reason, and the world seems to smile back, but I just can't hold onto that and it slips away like sand through my fingers. I don't want to see a Doc as that's like admitting failure somehow, and I don't think drugs are the way forward. I never seem to have the energy to do things after work and frankly life just seems pointless. Sometimes I can't breathe, I lie awake at night thinking, endlessly turning the same loops in my head, and like some others it seems I've been getting the sensation of things crawling on me, making me insanely itchy.

It's nice to read others and know I'm not entirely alone, but I just don't want to play any more.

hello everybody. Well i don't know if i had a nervous breakdown or am i really going crazy, but this is what happend to me. i just lost my nephew last year. i saw him lying dead at the hospital. i got so scared ever since then. i'm so scared i've been thinking i'm going to die. when something hurts in my body i already start thinking that i have blood clots or when my left arm hurts that i'm going to have a heart attack or when my head hurts i have a tumor in there. when i get so scared my whole body starts getting so numb and my heart starts beating so fast, i just feel like screaming so loud for somebody to help me from these. i already went to the doctor and everything and they haven't found anything. i need help. i'm going crazy. i have a 10 months baby girl and that's why i want to live is for her, or else i wouldn't care about my life. somebody please give some advice of what to do, please! oh-- i'm only 21 years old.

Anon43991, one of my former co-workers had a nervous breakdown that sounds a great deal like what happened to you. He was under a lot of stress at work, and was in the grocery store one evening. He said he felt like the walls were closing in on him and doesn't remember getting home. He called his mom, but was incoherent and when she got to his house, he had long scratches up and down his arms from where he had clawed at himself because he said he felt like bugs or snakes were crawling on him. He decided to check himself into a hospital and spent 14 days in treatment. It really helped him and he was able to come back to work.

I was sitting here last night thinking about my life and how I am such a doormat. I let people walk all over me just to avoid confrontation. I have major mood swings and feels so tired all the time. nyway, the more I thought about things and people in my life that made me mad, the worse I started feeling. My head hurt and body aches soon followed. I decided to go to bed and when I lay down, I felt like my blankets were going to smother me so I threw them off of my bed. Then my clothes irritated me so I took thiem off and threw them across the room. As I lay there, I got the feeling that there were bugs crawling on me and needles poking me. It all itched so bad that the more I scratched the worse it got. I was shaking all over and when I finally did go to sleep I would wake swinging my fists like I was trying to fight someone. I have never been in a fight in my entire life. Has anyone else experienced this?

i was a fourth year college student, male, 22 years of age. i can't explain what i have felt, because sometimes i am having a nervous breakdown. while i'm having it, i've also got a mental illness and body weaknesses, and my appetite too was not very good. Now i am looking for an expert who can restore my health and help me live a normal life or a professional who can help me.-- jsal

Get your doctor to put you on Loxamine tablets(or the generic equivalent).Has worked wonders for me. Also get yourself a pet, preferably a dog you have to walk each day. The dog will give you unconditional love when you most need it. These two things really *do* work. Nothing to lose by trying it.

Regarding Post No. 125: Been there, done that. The valium is not only addicting--It also has withdrawal properties! That's a triple whammy adding the original condition which is not only not helped, but made worse! Arrest your downward spiral, unless you think you have nothing to lose!

I am having a very hard time sleeping lately. I feel like my heart is pounding and I've drank a pot of coffee, I'm jittery and feel close to losing it. I guess I've been diagnosed with depression and PTSD, as well as anxiety but I've never had such manic-like behaviors until now. I am scared. My mind won't shut down it is racing. I feel like I want to die. I don't know what's wrong with me. I feel like I need help but I just want to go to sleep. I know I'll feel better tomorrow. I guess I'll take some valium. But I don't want to get addicted. I hate myself.

I read the first few, and feel very stupid saying anything about my life after reading about the mum who lost her child. she should be given morphine for life. I don't know what is happening to me. But recently I think everything is being tape recorded. So I talk to myself and say the most outlandish things to see if there is a reaction . (It really seemed logical, until I realized A. I'm talking to myself. B. I beleive others are listening through recording devices.) Now I don't believe it was some government ABC group. Just my boss monitoring me. All the same the more I talked to myself the easier it became (I don't hear anyone talking back) but will answer my own questions. I don't feel I'm in any danger of hurting myself or others but do have a growing sence of unease about myself. I'm an unmedicated manic-depressive and have been for 10 years. usually depression. this has been an extended manic episode going on six months and it is tiring. My work preformance has improved but mostly because I have been flirting with everyone, and in sales that's helpful. I don't know what to do. It really is like I am going to burn out.

I lost my job last October. This is the fourth job loss in the last 8 years. I have frequently changed jobs in my 20 year career because I keep getting into hostile work situations. I'm a very nice, easy going person but somehow I seem to irritate people.

Being laid off, I have lots of time to think. I realize how meaningless my life is. I have few friends, few interests, few accomplishments. I used to think I was smart and above average. But I don't connect with people and the emptiness is starting to hurt badly. I'm a failure. I just feel like I'm not very good at being a human being, like maybe I was actually supposed to be something else. I work hard, had goals, have a masters degree in business. I am good at appearing normal to the outside world. Like an alien from another planet would be. No one understands these feelings, although I haven't shared them much with others. I feel like everyone else knows "the rules" except for me. It is so dehumanizing. I'm tired of being alone and lonely. I worry about having a nervous breakdown because there's no one to take care of me. But I know I'm just warehousing myself until I die.

Hello, everyone! I read the latest post and want to reach out to those who reach out. My worldview sees the tough economic times exacerbating every vulnerability. One good, strong, interested friend can be a great help. And keep seeking answers--I think they are there to be found. Almost everyone has some kind of vulnerability.

It made me feel good in a strange way to totally understand what each of you are going through. I have been through so many tests for physical illness and all the mental anguish has made my physical illnesses all the worse. My fiance is an alcoholic co-worker who has gotten out of control and has either rage or indifference to me at all times. I have a demanding job wherein I am employed by my alcoholic best friend who is abusive and both of them ignore my feelings. My stepdad passed away around Thanksgiving and I had a hysterectomy which put me into full menopause and an emergency visit back to the hospital from surgery complications the day I found out my fiance was looking for sex and friendship on the internet. He explained to my doctor that he was afraid he upset me terribly and she instructed him to explain to my boss that I may be irritable and disruptive at times. she felt badly for him to have to bring it up and she stopped accepting patients unless they are pregnant. my left leg has been numb for 3 weeks now and the back of my brain is also numb often. I have trouble sleeping and have a doctor who watches over my meds, which I am taking a nerve pain medicine, xanax and he just added vitamin B6. I can't stop thinking. I can't stop being in pain and every day that I make it, I have someone in my life that makes sure the day gets ruined. I don't enjoy anything, I nearly cry because I wake up each day, I have no energy and can't think very well. I feel like people are out to get me and I feel like people know my vulnerability right now and are doing what they can to destroy me. I had a nervous breakdown several years ago, but then I dealt with getting off of prescribed meds. I don't take depression meds any longer because of how awful getting off them was. now, I can't tell what is wrong with my thoughts or if several people are trying to hurt my well being. There is evidence that someone is tampering with my office, my home, my cell and my laptop but I also know I am having great difficulties with reality and that is a sign of a nervous breakdown.

i'm not sure if i'm having a breakdown. i lost my 17 year old to cancer. we were so close. he had cancer from the age of 7. it's been 18 months since he passed. he didn't just have a rare form of cancer he also had diabetes at two years and Addison's disease. i and he coped so well until the last two weeks before he left me. So many things went wrong during that sunday morning. the idiot doctor taking us seriously. i clearly heard his chest crackling like sticky tape, and then the heart attack followed. i cannot move on from that day. i don't accept what happened, although i know it did, and pretty much every day i cry for him. i've had the talking therapy and i know it did nothing for me. i sleep when i've whacked myself out, i'm paranoid and keeping hoping i'll die in my sleep just so i can be with my baby. i sleep in his bed and won't let anyone in his room. i dropped his cup the other day and wept for hours. it's doing my head in and everyone around me. not sure what my purpose is anymore. my mum and dad are so supportive but walk on eggshells when i'm around. dad says i'm unstable. i never used to be. it's like someones hijacked my brain these days, so what next?

i am working real hard and recently one day i didn't want to go to work and i needed sleep like never before and after i read this article i knew i had a nervous breakdown!

Thanks!

I would love to advise the lady losing her temper if I were not feeling exactly the same. However, I do know that it's not just me--I think the financial collapse is taking its toll.

ok, my uncle and grandfather both committed suicide ( on my dad's side), my mom has been on anti-depressants for 6 years. I have always tried to "block out" everything in my life instead of dealing with it. I am now 40, with a husband and 2 teens. I have been down before, but this has been all summer long. I am not wanting to go back to work because I personally, along with the rest of my colleagues, cannot stand our new boss. So this isn't helping. Anyway, I have been very unhappy, with lots of rages the past 2 months. My family is living a life of hell. I feel nothing but hate and anger. One minute I might be ok, the next I just want to rip something, or someone apart. I don't like this at all. Please give me some advice.

Human beings are intricately woven in many layers. While I feel the pain of the prior poster, the self that is reaching out for help seems even stronger than all the problems. You seem to be a very strong person.

i had a great job and left it for something i thought was even better. it turned out not to be. i was under great pressure and broke down. i ruined my reputation in my industry and have not been able to get my head screwed on straight. i have hurt my wife and daughter terribly. every day i feel at the end of my rope. it seems no one really knows how i feel. i screwed it up by not leaving well enough alone. drugs only made it worse. i see no light. what is the answer?

all this sounds good, I guess. people talking about how they feel but does one overcome this? Is there a pill that can help? I feel just like anon37191(105). I dont know where to turn.

I am trying to keep it together but i feel like i am losing it. My husband is very mean to my son (from my first marriage) and to me and it hurts so bad to see my son hurt. My son is 18 now and he has cried and asked why he is hated by his stepfather. I have a daughter with my husband and she is very much affected by the situation. our household is so divided and there is no love in my house. i am so sad and have started to cry a lot. i always dream of heaven and wish i was never born. I hate my husband for what he has done. My son is now homosexual and very sexually active and was recently tested for std. I don't know what to do. I can't take it anymore. God please help me.

Feeling a bit better today. I want to share a bit from therapy--Two circles, one inside the other. The innermost circle represents the self. The outer circle is the opposition. If the self is balanced and centered, the opposition can be overcome. If the self *is* the problem, one tries everything to return oneself to functionality--counsel, food, exercise, helping people,

medicine. And you learn hard lessons to avoid its happening again.

Hello Everyone

I have had 2 breakdowns and usually cause ruptures in my family. I have been great for a few years and I am hoping it has passed but I still get quite anxious. and always waiting to slip up. BUT I also have the inlaws from hell. but have a really supporting family. the man I have been with is going through is crap with his family who keep being nasty as hell. They don't like me but have been trying to make friends for two years, then all of a sudden they decided not to out of the blue. We have been both through mental illness, and it just seems like they have both families blocking any future for us. I could go on and on. They paid him not to see me. I could literally write a book. It has been going on 13 years.

I agree with anon511 and would like to hear more of this viewpoint. It is my chosen way - but I do know of at least one person who has been helped by counselling (cognitive behavioural therapy).

I have had many sadnesses and troubles and regrets, even terrible ones, but I manage to get over them in quite good time through opening my mind and heart, my whole being, to Nature and to the Divine. These are forces bigger than our little tiny nervous systems, and can effectively rejuvenate us - after all, we are part of them no less than the trees and the animals. No religion, just energy. And the only way I can get these is by rejecting unhappy thoughts, no matter how pressing they are, and by being a voluntary optimist - no matter how bad I feel. It is an amazing process, almost anti-intuitive. But it is revoluationary when you succeed in doing it. And this is how I am still alive today - not only alive, but with good energy and able to make bold life decisions too. I am also still making new friends and keeping the old ones. All of which is a miracle given the darkness I am often subject too since the past 15 years.

I cried reading some of the posts above. My strong advice is: try to find a higher source of energy and love. There is one, just find a way to plug into it. You may need to find different methods at different times - that is the process of evolution. But at least you will then have a source of succour. Also, you will have a goal, a mission, and a quest that will frequently pep you up and keep you moving forward. The light at the end of the tunnel will again be lit.

Hi, my name is Patricia. I am bipolar. My father and my great aunt were bipolar. My first major depression was in my 20's. Many called it a nervous breakdown. Finally about 8 years later I was disgnosed and began medication. Since then I have also discovered many things that have helped me stay sane (at least most of the time!) I offer free bi-weekly newsletters with ideas, downloads etc. I love to share what I've so freely been given. --Patricia Potts

Yesterday, I visited a therapist who was able to help me process my stress. 'Said she, "All stress at once I do not inherit. Let each day stand on its own merit. (Patricia Potts, Utah)

I believe in "talk therapy"! Surely you can find at least one, maybe more, persons who will even just let you vent. The post from the lady who feels like she's drowning just breaks my heart!

I know how it feels, I have felt down and depressed a few times in my life and it also got to the point where I too didnt want to get out of bed, talk to anyone, answer the door or the telephone. Be in public places let alone speak to anyone or do anything. I was over it as far as I know, I felt fantastic then the past couple of weeks I hate being around people, I dont want to go out, I dont want to do anything or even go to bed. I feel angry inside to the point it is rage and over what specifically? I have no idea. It's a mixture of thoughts and feelings. I dont have anyone close I can explain it to, or even put it into words so they would understand. I dont feel close to my partner or my kids at times. Anyone I do tell laughs it off and says ill be fine, but they dont have to live with it day in and day out. I dont like Doctors so that route is out. I just want my life back. I guess ill work on it as best I can when I can.

Thanks

Ariel55 says that I feel for those in desperation! I also tried to care for my mother and put her in a home when I realized that she and I really did not mix well. The economic situation is exacerbating everything, and it seems to be gathering speed. Please reach out for help--many are willing to help!

I am trying to figure out where to turn right now. Sitting here, I feel like I am going out of my mind. I have a blur of thoughts racing around in such a jumble it gives me a headache. I feel like I cannot breathe and am struggling to keep my head above water. Life has become unbearably overwhelming lately. I work full time, go to school part time trying to obtain my degree, and with what little time is left try to fit in family and what few friends I have. I feel very alone. I'm also flying into fits of rage or panic more frequently. I was on anti depressants for awhile but stopped taking them because I didnt feel they were helping. As far as dating and relationships go-forget it. I am a disaster in that department so I don't even bother anymore. Besides what guy is going to want a mental case like me anyway? Day after day I feel like I am trapped in a sinking car, trying to claw my way out and the car just keeps sinking further and further. Who knows, maybe eventually I will just drown.

I am just very sad. Four years ago we found out my mother had cancer. A year later she had a heart attack, stroke, Parkinsons and more. We had that under control and Pow!--another hit of cancer and they give her little time. She has been my best friend since I was a little girl. I am 58 years old and have lost all my life long friends. My grandson turned to drugs, rehab after rehab. I had him arrested twice, and this list could go on for hours. I feel numb. things that use to make me happy don't, I am just sad. I am married to a wonderful man and he doesn't understand why I am so sad, and I have tried to explain over and over but he just says get on with your life there is nothing you can do. But can't I do something? We hired people to take care of my Mother and it should be me and I can't. I cry and cry after spending time with her. I see her wasting away, she doesn't know me sometimes. didn't know me for over a year at all. It is a rough time and I have no one to talk with. Sincerely-- Miss Sad

i really need help. my life is going haywire first my parents divorce then i started eating less

now my sisters have been kicked out of the house

and i feel too much anger. i feel like just screaming out loudly

I feel I have lost total control over my life. Everything is going down hill fast. Just when I think something might be turning around and I statrt feeling like my old self- someone or something pulls the rug from under my feet and I fall back into the blackness. Why am I still here? Why get up everyday just to feel this way again. I would love to go to sleep and just not wake up. Too easy. Nothing is that easy for me. I'm not asking to have the world, just a very small piece of happiness. Is that too much? For me I guess it is.

I have had to deal with the death of my mother in January and now with the death of my father in law, I have been more than helpful with the grieving on both sides of my family but I am feeling like crap because of things that have been said about me not doing enough. I just want to fall off the face the earth and make everyone happy for a change.

posted 7/12/09: for all those who have posted - thank you for sharing your comments and situations.

*Please* seek immediate professional help if you or a loved one begin to have psychotic or nervous breakdown symptoms. Life is stressful, and especially for those who had an unstable parent or upbringing. It's NOT your fault if you have mental or emotional health issues - repeat, it is *not* your fault! But please get help, counseling and/or medication to deal with it, and be patient. If it takes 10 years to overcome 16 years of abusive parenting, that's okay. Online resources are important, but having an objective, trained professional help you us crucial. They will save you time and can help put you on the right path. Take care and hang in there. Mark in Boston

I've dealt with mild depression and OCD most of my life. However, about 10 years ago I experienced a "nervous breakdown" during a very stressful period. Although I was still able to function enough to get by, I ultimately "lost" a few years of my life trying to recuperate on my own. I've since gotten medical help and take my mental health very seriously these days.

anon33693 - I don't know if you will read this, but believe me it was good to know that atleast you made an effort to recognize that you might be dealing with a problem.

You know I just feel that all of us have to deal with things in life that we would not want to, and it's always like an endless fight, but then I am sure that we can always give our best to what we have and at least feel satisfied about it.

It is always difficult but I am pretty sure that things get better, it's not just living for the sake of it...you are alive and things will get better.

I just hope that all of us could be optimistic about our lives, I am sure things do get better if you work hard. Best of luck guys!

I have suffered from anxiety and depression also. I still do but I am better now. Pray and ask God to help you. God will hear you. He puts us in these positions to use us to help others.

My son is currently in the in patient psych ward for a nervous breakdown and diagnosed with bipolar. He is fighting staying in and wants out. His doctors said the meds have not had a chance to stabilize yet. I am so fearful that he is not getting any better. This is his 4th day. This is so scary. Looking for advice.

Hi, world! I sought you out because I am older than teenage (almost 60), and was helped by the others' posts. I am undertaking something like my 5th "nervous breakdown". It is always at first alarming because "my program isn't working!!" But I know now that there is a physical cause (mine may include the fact that my grandmother had similar symptoms.

I sincerely feel to reach out to the young people. This is an event which can be survived! It's not the end of our worlds, and we still have many, *many*! resources available to help us re-order our lives (so take heart!). I agree that medication brings its own problems, and that truly healthy human beings can have psychic, visual and auditory experiences.

Just wanted to say thanks to a lot of the comments I read. It helped put things in perspective. I have come to terms with that I am either falling into a depression or on the brink of a nervous breakdown (since symptoms are similar and the timing is impeccable).

I just graduated college and I am a worrier. So each day I worry about the fact that I have a college degree and I just got a minimum wage job. I know things will get better, but like I said...I'm a worrier. All in all I've had a lot of bad things happen to me, the most recent being only 10 months ago my ex of a few years killed herself, shortly after I broke up with her. So no response needed, just saying that your comments inspired me to actually go seek help with what is troubling me instead of just letting it get to me, and also just letting me write this comment to actually talk about it with someone other than myself.

We *all* have problems whether they are mental or physical. People come here for help. Read up on depression and stress and you will see that it can cause changes in your body/mind.

Hey Luke,

So many people go through life with real handicaps and *manage to accomplish something*. You're healthy, you weren't abused as a child, and you have a supportive group of family and friends. There is no reason you can't enjoy your life. You're just anxious, nervous, and feeling sorry for yourself because you have no perspective. I'm 21 years old, I have chronic & crippling ulcers (think internal bleeding), and yet I'm the lead design engineer and partner in a growing electronics company. I'm basically disabled and yet I still accomplish things, and always make time for friends and family.

First, I want to thank you all for sharing your experiences. The acknowledgment we make that something is not right with us is certainly a difficult one, but this page really has helped me to accept that as personal as what I'm going through right now feels to me, it is not an uncommon phenomenon and many others are out there coping with their own challenges.

I'm 31 years old now, I have a loving family, some good long-term friends and a reasonable job.

Over the last year however, I've found myself retreating from my friends (many of them are now married or in long-term relationships) and I no longer enjoy the company of my family and prefer solitude. In this self-imposed exile I find myself regularly succumbing to my moderate addictions to alcohol, tobacco and internet shopping (mostly for DVDs) as I'm finding it increasingly difficult to find any meaning or pleasure in my life without these things. I've not been in a sexual relationship for about 12 years now (although I'm by no means unattractive, I've never really managed to 'connect' with the girls I've met over the years) and although I'm trying hard to meet someone, a part of me is terrified that instead of resolving this empty depressive state I find myself in, I'll just be dragging an innocent person into my personal hell.

Things have gotten worse lately, I'm struggling to do my job (my mind is constantly bombarded with anything other than work-related thoughts) and I really don't care about these mundane office concerns, but I know that losing my job will deal me a crippling blow. I'm in a fair amount of personal debt which will take years to pay off, and I have no savings, assets or pension.

At this point in time I honestly feel like I am merely going through the motions of living, and that the whole business is a pointless farce and that the space I take up on this planet would be better used by someone else. The only reason I'm still here now is because of the emotional pain it would cause my family if I were to end it all.

I'm still not 100% sure if this is depression or a nervous breakdown I'm experiencing, but I've just recently discovered that the intensely unsettling turns I have been experiencing sporadically over the last few months are in fact panic attacks, and I now wonder whether this depression has developed into nervous breakdown territory.

My situation all feels a bit pathetic to me after hearing of the ordeals that some of you have been though, but I suppose we all have different mental thresholds.

I'm trying to organise to get some counselling (though I have no idea how they are going to simply 'talk' these feelings away!). Maybe they'll put me on antidepressants - I've heard that these generally have unpleasant side-effects and in some cases can exacerbate a depressive condition, but I suppose it's worth trying if it might help.

Sorry this is a long one, I guess I just needed to get it all out somehow - it feels a bit better.

Luke

I have finally come to grips with how I'm feeling. I need help! Over the last 5 years my 25 years of marriage ended, my baby brother was killed, my step-father who I could relate to died of cancer, my job of 18 years laid me off, my daughter hates me because I left her father, my son is having issues because of the divorce and to top that off my only valuables were lost in a fire. I have a job that pays 1/3 of what I was making, I have had to work 2 jobs to support me and my son. I don't like my manager but like what I'm doing. My co-workers are not trustworthy. My family is broken up; I was diagnosed with cancer in 2002. My mother doesn't talk to me. What else is there?

I started having a nervous breakdown, when I was eighteen years old because I had unpleasant teacher in my school who was intolerant and unrelaxed, likes to yell hard and going too rough at me. I was unable to listen, focus, wait, follow, go by and understand instructions or directions exactly and effectively are told and given by my teacher, remain on tasks, being careful what I am really doing, being unable to think clearly, Every time my teacher or someone else call, tell, and ask me about something and to do something immediately I would start to jump, get restless, be out of line, get jumbled, tell response and comments that seem aren't truth and illogcal.

Phillip P

Hey I have just turned 15 and I don't know if I am in the middle of a nervous breakdown, I fell out with all of my friends recently, and we went back to school on my birthday and because no one talked to me I had a panic attack. Since then we have become friends again but ever since then I have lost all feelings for everything. I don't care about anyone any more, I keep hearing voices and they keep shouting my name and then say they were joking, I am really confused.

The other night I burst out crying and I was shaking really badly because my dad was talking and the night before I put my fist through the living room door because my mum put the tv on. Help me please am I having a nervous breakdown or am I just paranoid?

Aimee

A classmate in our year 8 class today just fell off a chair in Math, and started swearing like crazy, saying "why me" and then started crying. Is that a nervous breakdown or an anger management problem? even the ambulance came...

I'm 25 years old. I had a loving husband, a good job, a beautiful home and the world at our feet. one day my husband just walked out and 2 days later i found out that i was pregnant. My husband would not return to try and sort things out although he has no reason not to as he swears there is nobody else involved. That was in January. I cry everyday and i cry myself to sleep every night. I barely go to work and when I do i come home in tears or cry at my desk all day. sometimes I go days without eating and I just drink endless bottles of wine, although it's no good for the baby. I have no control. I have shut out my family and friends and sometimes I get so upset that I wet myself. I pray everyday. I'm only happy when my husband is around me. The doctor says i'm on the verge of a breakdown if this is only the verge then I don't no how bad a breakdown is. surely its no worse than this.

I'm 17 and about a year ago i lost my niece and since then my sister has become very depressed

now she drinks when she has a problem and whenever we try to help she gets explosive and says she wants to be left alone and she is fine. Today she got really mad and starting screaming at us and hitting us saying hurtful things. Is this from the drinking or something worse? I just want to see my sister happy again.

i guess i went through a nervous break down when i was 16. i heard voices of people who weren't there and i saw strange things ... i made bad conclusions about good people and so i lost some good friends and started isolating myself. i have never been threw any traumatic experience or anything before, but i don't know why i slipped into this? i was a normal guy and no one has given me a proper explanation for this.

during that time a lot of people thought that i had an attitude problem. now i am 20 and i am out of this seeing and hearing thing! but i find so so so hard to concentrate on my studies. i still find it difficult to talk to people eye to eye. but sometimes i just forget myself and my inner talents come pouring out and it makes me feel so good, but sometimes i get into this depressive cycle that i find so hard to break free from. i was once so full of confidence, up for adventure, felt so alive but now, foof, i just can't give up on myself. i know but sometimes i give in. i pray that i will make it threw this. please help me out!

Anon511, I started to read your last post and didn't agree, but the last sentence says it all, maybe you are right.

I do hope researchers look into the above issues with a clearer and more open mind instead of just prescribing medications.

I'm a 22 year old male. I had a nervous breakdown about 6 months ago. I had been in a depressive period for probably about 6 months prior. I think the depression came after I started to become discontent with my own contentment.

For about two years I had been a physically active person. I started running after high school, lost lots of weight, felt attractive and wanted to live life to its fullest. I was always happy and it seemed like everyone around me was neurotic and trying to cramp my style. I am in the arts at a state school and would always be teased about how my major was useless, but I knew I was smart and had value and ignored them. Somehow though, all the negative voices that are in my life made it into my head. I started feeling alienated from people,like I couldn't connect intimately. I started feeling really driven to succeed financially cause I got scared of the economy and my degree.

The summer before my breakdown I stopped exercising. I didn't see the point in keeping myself maintained and my hygiene (which was never really good to begin with) started to slide. I often felt the need to talk fast. I made friends who thought of me as kind of hyper and spontaneous and I had my first girlfriend that summer, which was a good decision since I was 22 and had never been in a relationship. It helped that the thing was a low expectation summer fling. I have gained about 15 pounds since.

When the break happened I was living alone and it was probably the most horrible position to be in. I was too stubborn to go to a psychologist and just fought my emotions everyday by myself. In 6 months I've done nothing school-wise and am in serious danger of not graduating on time, but who cares, cause you're a human being before you're a student or an employee. Even now I tend to become delusional about things (I'm a philosophy student too, I call delusions an occupational hazard).

My behavior and personality have only over time become easier to control, but I'm still not there.

When I had my break it was horrible and dramatic. One night I literally thought I wasn't gonna wake up the next morning. I went to bed thinking I died. I was seriously manic for like a week.

All in all I just have to say the following

1. surround yourself by people who affirm your dreams, your life, your health, your body and your whole person.

2. don't let yourself be guided by delusions... research for facts in the world and listen to what other people say about your behavior.

3. please eat right and exercise... it's a must. Also, make sure that you make time for *real* fun (not X-Box). join an intramural sport or something, get active.

4. write it out, If you're just walking around having thoughts and not recording them then you're not taking this thing seriously, but don't fool yourself, your crazy diaries are just that and you're not arriving at any new universal truths of the universe, just truths about yourself.

5. *seek help* from people who know how to handle this sort of thing, but never let yourself be victimized, even if you're suicidal you have some sense of your own worth, and you need to protect it and develop it and understand it.

God Bless

i don't know if what i'm going through should be called nervous breakdown or not.

i'm only 20 years old. in my own view i have had a tough life. a lot of issues at home with my elder sibling who hates me. i have been in a complex for all my life due to my sister which has a huge impact upon my social life. i have had unsuccessful relationships. the past 7 years we have had major financial issues which are spoiling my relationship with my boyfriend. i fight with him on minor issues just to take out my anger. i want to run away from all things like forget the world exists. i'm avoiding my friends. i don't have anyone so close that i could share my feelings. i cant sleep anymore. i cry on minor issues, my head hurts all the time. i just wish someone could help me because if i talked to someone they might think i'm mad and laugh.

hope u all understand.

I checked this site to read about nervous breakdown symptoms but kept on reading all the comments and posts. First, I think it's not easy to talk about one's private life, intimate details, and open up to the general audience.

My mother was a Psychiatric Ward nurse way before I was born. She used to take me to the hospital childcare and once they closed the doors, I was left in the nurses' room but I would always wander around. There were very serious cases to just "mild" cases. Mental diseases come in all sort of shapes and colours and are very complex. However, one cannot and should not confuse mental diseases and disorders with other conditions. There are several professionals that are (or should be) qualified to help diagnose something. A general practitioner (e.i.family doctor) may prescribe proper medication for some cases and may direct you to a specialist. One cannot forget to always look for the best health practitioner and check credentials. Check second and even third opinions and make sure you know the authority for a reliable source. The more information you can get, the better.

As long as there has been a human on Earth people have been dealing with all sorts of odds. Society has portrayed the "picture perfect" family for too long, but the reality is way different. Everybody has different coping skills, personalities, abilities, strengths, etc. People function has a whole, in a society, community, family, and as an individual.

I read these peoples' testimonies and my heart goes out. I have been there and I can relate to many things. I can tell you that there is always Hope and Help. Don't give up on yourself or others no matter how hard and impossible it may look. Those other people (whether your children, spouse, parents) have the same problems. Everybody is trying to cope. There's just too many things going on at the same time, and people try to do too much or too little. It's essential to have a good balance or equilibrium. Taking care of yourself: a healthy diet, exercise, relaxation...If you need some time off, take it. Take a vacation! Some people even change jobs, careers, cities and countries. What works for one may not necessarily work for another.

An unhappy person in one place, maybe happy in another.

As for a nervous breakdown though, it's very serious and should be properly diagnosed. One should not confuse it with stress, fatigue, anger, or any other conditions. In some cases it may be helpful to have someone around to do the basic living activities even if it's just temporarily. There are other resources and options. Don't forget you're not alone!

Please tell me what are the symptoms of, on the verge of and actually having a nervous breakdown? I used to be a very houseproud mother. My house would be sparkling clean everything put in its place dishes done etc. Now I find even doing the simple tasks are daunting. My son is undergoing referrals so we can find out what is causing his behavioural problems. His problems are my downfall. He totally disrespects me, he steals from me and when I chastise him for it or say no to him, like oh you can't have the yoghurts they are mine, these ones are your's, he goes off and takes them.

I find myself after he has done this wicked and evil deed that I start throwing everything around in the house. I feel as though I have no motherly bond there with my son anymore *at all*, whereas when he was little it was such an overwhelming feeling of love I had for this precious tiny human being and now most of that, if not all, is gone.

I cry all the time. I worry for all my children. I go into irrational states of thinking, well if I did this to myself then maybe the kids would realise that mummy means business and just lay off from her once in a while give me a break kids, please. I am shaking. I put my hands outstretched and I shake uncontrollably. I am sitting with my head in my hands at the moment wondering well why am I feeling like this? What have I done to deserve such an uncontrollable son and why can I not cope anymore? So after expressing my symptoms is it actually a nervous breakdown or just on the verge of one??

i am a 38 year old woman. my mom was totally disabled when i was 7 years old. she passed away when i was 16. it was horrible and took me years to deal with.

anyhow, now i am married to a wonderful man. he is now disabled and has got so many things going on with him all i do is worry. my dad is now 85 years old. i work a full time job but if the phone rings at work i freak. i always think its bad news with my dad or husband. i'm on pins and needles just waiting for something bad to happen. i don't really sleep, at least not soundly, i always think something is going to happen. i have noticed lately i have real bad headaches. i'm tired all of the time. do you think this might be a nervous breakdown?

I am 17. I have grown up around people who are bi-polar and manic depressive, borderline personality, etc. and witnessed my mother and sister suffer nervous breakdowns.

I have also had my time spent in therapy, but nothing has come of it. My doctors always just say that any emotional distress I endure is due to being a teenager, and smoking pot.

But when I don't smoke pot I feel the worst, which is why I started smoking it in the first place.

This past summer, August 31st, to be exact, was the worst day of my life, nothing really bad happened, but I remember feeling like I was dieing the whole day, like nauseous and hard to breath and everything. Over the following days it lessened in intensity, but it's still here and now it's almost March and I am beginning to feel like I'm losing my mind.

See, the thing is, though, is I can pretend I am okay and say things that are nice but all the while I have weird thoughts.

I just feel like I have no control over any of my actions and I am angry. I don't know what's going on.

i find i can never really be myself. well, i am myself but in a way which i consciously alter. i always think about what i say and often have several personas around a variety of my close friends which i easily slip in and out of, altering such personas according to how well i feel people respond.

im 22. when i was much younger, maybe 5-11 i remember what 'being yourself' was like. some people you got on with others you didnt, it didnt matter. now, however, i try to please everyone; make them think im interesting and fun.

personally, i think it's from being too self-absorbed. is this normal, to want to alter yourself to be liked in a way that, whether true or otherwise, improves a perception of existence.

i know this really has nothing to do with what people are discussing here, but thought i would share nonetheless. im very thankful for having a wonderful girlfriend and a loving family

I am 24 yr old woman, currently in grad school...and working towards a Master in Science. I have been in a serious relationship from past 10 years, the person i love, loves me more than anything in this world...wld do anything for me ..understands me like no other...and we truly have a beautiful relationship...however my parents have been unaware of this...and i recently told them....and they are absolutely against him because he is not as educated as me and his family is not as financially well of as mine...and have refused to even consider this person ..and have begged me to stop seeing him and talking to him...i am from an Indian family therefore parents have a huge say in who their daughter marries...and i dont want to hurt my parents in any way ..but ever since this episode i have been feeling very low...i live at home...i dont feel like doing anything...just lying down in my room all day...dont want to go outside...have a concentrated continuous pain in my head ..loss of appetite ....and have no will to do anything... am i going on a path of nervous breakdown?

Can I just get some drugs and make this go away?

I have recently been going through a really rough time. It started about a year ago when i had an affair and found out my husband was having one too. We've tried to reconcile a few times but there is just to much damage. Needless to say, this emotional upset in my life led me into a depressive mood. Once I started having feelings of hopelessness, I sought out counseling through my EAP. I originally thought my down mood was because of my situation but after talking things out with my counselor it appears I have suffered for many years with a level of bipolar disorder starting from childhood. My family used to call me Dr jeckyll and Mr. hyde but we just laughed it off. After I began to spiral downward with thoughts of harming myself and leaving my children and uncontrollable persistent crying, I made the choice to try medicine (which has been equally hard for me because I hate taking any kind of medicine). The prozac has helped but I am continuously swinging between feelings of feeling great one day to feeling like there's no point to life the next. I have always been a spiritual person but find it hard to pray theses days. I have 2 small children that I don't even interact with. I go to work and then go home and get in the bed everyday. It's becoming increasingly hard to function and have found myself in the bed for days at a time on a few occasions. the problem is I've always been the go to person for everyone elses problems. i've always been the smart, pretty girl with everything i could ever want. The one smiling on the outside most times and then flipping out at the drop of a dime and going off the deep end on someone. I find it helpful to have a therapist and she has recently referred me to a psychiatrist. I don't really want to go see a psychiatrist because my culture has a hard time believing in certain mental illnesses. They believe you should just be able to pray your way through. I don't know, I hope I get better soon because most days I don't want to be here in this life. To all who are suffering, you're not alone.

Hello to all of you who are suffering. I have been down that road since I was very young. I am in my late 50's now and finally know what normal is. I saw a doctor and was prescribed imipramine. I have tried just about every other drug there is. This is the only one that worked. It takes about 2 or 3 months to normalize you and get the dosage just right. You have to be patient-it is so worth the wait! No more anxiety attacks, no more paralyzing depression, no more fear about what is going to happen next, no more overreacting to what happens next. Hope this helps all of you or as many as possible. It is great to be able to function every day of my life and to sleep well, but most of all, it is wonderful to know what normal is.

Im a twenty year old male. i consider myself good looking and so do many others i've had a few girlfriends and i use to be so happy until i started smoking drugs i started because my girlfriend that i loved with all my heart left me after two joyful years i smoked weed constantly everyday for about a year i didn't have a job or social activities that i used to. they occupied my daily life before sports, friends, and just socializing itself. i became a useless good for nothing jobless guy with no life no girl friends apart from a few that didn't really last long. im still sad but really have motivation to succeed in life i have plans now and plan to stick to them i want to get back into sports and best of all stopped smoking drugs my family can see the change and that makes me proud and motivates me more to keep going i hope all goes well there's nothing to fear about the future i use to fear it so much.

I'm a 43 year old mwf. I grew up the youngest of 4, with an alcoholic for a dad and a hard working wonderful mom. I saw things that no person of any age should have to see. (ex) Christmas Eve 1974, my uncle was stabbed in the stomach by his own brother. The brother was going after my dad and my uncle stepped in. When I was 12, my dad held a loaded gun to my head, while yelling to my mom to get his sleeping pills. She ran and got them. He took 30 in one swallow. He was in a coma for a week. When I was 14, dad had been gone on a drunk trip for days... I was awakened by my brother saying "wake up...dad just shot himself in the head." (He was very calm about it.) I jumped from bed and ran down to the end of our driveway. Mom had already gotten towels and had them wrapped around dad's head. She was frantic. She told me to hold the towels on tight, but there was blood already starting to trickle down the road where he laid. There's other things to add to the pot, but these are the major ones.

When I was 16, I met a boy that was 3 years older than me. We fell head over heels for each other. When I finished High School, at 17, Mom took me to the city hall and signed the papers so that we could legally be married. God I Loved Him!!

We were married for 3 years and at 20, I had our first and only child. My husband and I always both worked full time jobs. Hard jobs, but we managed. Our child grew up and so did we. I still had a whole lot of resentment towards dad though.

In 2001 I had to have a hysterectomy. The nurse that I had failed to check on me through the night and allowed my catheter to almost explode. I was diagnosed with a disease in my bladder caused from small tears inside of it from it being stretched so far, for so long. I only have a stinging sensation when I need to urinate. I am up and down all through the night because the only way to alleviate the pain, is to empty my bladder. In 2004, my precious mother-in-law was diagnosed with leukemia. We saw her go through so much. After 10 months, she lost her battle. In June, 2005 I fell down some stairs, and it caused a bulged disc in my lower back. That has since evolved into pinched nerves running down both of my legs. I am in misery pretty much most of the time from my navel down. In Sept. 2006, my blood pressure shot up to 250/150. I was immediately put into ICU for 3 days and had meds ran through iv's to get it down. Upon questioning me, the doctors diagnosed me with panic attacks. That explained the not being able to breath and feeling like an elephant was sitting on my chest. In May, 2007 I was diagnosed with cancer in my thyroid. I had it removed 2 weeks later and had the radiation treatment 4 weeks post op. Since my blood pressure was so touchy, I still don't have my thyroid med regulated. To say the least, FATIGUE. April 1, 2008, my precious husband of 25 years was diagnosed with cancer in his esophagus. This was totally from left field. He was told that he had inherited the condition that his Mom had and could be corrected by stretching the esophagus. When I took him to have the procedure done, the doctor told us that he found a large tumor at the base of my husbands esophagus. He would have to undergo extreme treatments, including radiation, chemo, and one of the worst surgeries that can be performed. The summer is a blur... no sleep, anxiety attacks, severe back pain, leg pain, racing heart, sweats, day and night, worry, worry, worry about my darling husband. He was on a feeding tube for 3 months and lost 40 pounds. His poor belly would be growling so loudly at night, that I would just lay and listen, and cry for hours. There was nothing else that I cold do for him. Just Love Him. He had the surgery on July 7th and we were told that he would probably lose another 40 to 50 lbs. Thank You God! He has maintained his weight, and hasn't lost any at all since the surgery. I am so thankful for that. But...I still have the most scared, worried feeling hanging over me. I just want to go to sleep and not wake up... I cry constantly, my heart aches, both physically and emotionally. I'm so frightened. I shake all over. I sometimes hear a voice telling me it would be so easy to get out of this, but I fight back. I couldn't do that to my family. Am I on the verge of a nervous breakdown?

What is the difference between Bipolar Disorder and Perimenopause.... Normal- teenage- marijuana experimentation and Substance Abuse... ADHD and Normal Behaviors of Boys...Obesity due to lack of discipline or Obesity caused by a Metabolism or physical health abnormality... A Psychiatrist and A Bipolar/Codependent/Dominating Male.....????? I'd really like to know. I have read "self Help" books, CD's DVDs, Workbooks, taken several classes on Marriage, Parenting, Women's emotional health.(Christian and Secular) Attended "support" groups for all of the above. Done everything the "MD's" have said. Tried Prescribed Meds that make things worse. Holistic and Chiropractic therapy, one on one counseling for myself, my husband (married for 23 years) and 4 of my 5 of my children ages 21-7. I am a very successful "Above Average" Mammography Technologist at a very well known "best hospital in the world" very well liked, work full-time, live in a Upper Middle class America". Am Exhausted, anxious and now having Major health problems...Ready to check into a Psych ward.

I believe I'm on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I am experiencing thoughts of wanting to go to sleep and never wake up ... at least in this life. I feel so pressured by all that's happening around me. We owe the IRS 39,000 and they just put a lien on our home. Our youngest daughter has decided to get married and has only given us 5 months to pay for this wedding. So much is expected of me. My oldest daughter only talks to me when she needs money and wants a free dinner at the house. My husband is a hard worker and tries his best to support and pay the bills. I cannot find a job to help with this mounting debt and I feel so hopeless. I just want to end this emotional turmoil! I am also struggling with feelings of abandonment from my father who died 2 years ago and I haven't come to terms with that either. A few years prior to his death he completely disowned me just because I held him accountable for a very serious situation. I am at the end of my rope. I feel so unloved and feel like I truly have no purpose in this life. I just want to feel secure and feel loved and respected. But I guess that is too much to ask? I feel so alone and as if I have no one else to turn to.

after trying everything to find peace and be able to cope, I finally found the one person who loves me unconditionally and has my best interest at heart. Things are falling into place and life is beautiful once again.

anon16134: i feel the exact same way.

i think i'm having NB..thats why im here..seeking answers while i still have some reasoning left...43, dwm, no job..feel like i wasted my life..please help me

to all those people who arent sure if you are having a break down let me assure you if you truly have one you will know it and never will be able to forget it, just had one last year im 48 and menopausal !! its a terrible illness id rather have 10 kids then relive that again.....

im only 16. when i was about eleven i started having extreme feelings of sadness regularly, for no reason. this evolved into low self esteem. im a normal girl, i have a normal life, im pretty and fairly likable. but inside, i hate myself so much. i desperately want to be someone else. i look at myself in the mirror and think i am disgusting. i have no sense of worth. i constantly have the same replaying thought in my head, i could die right now and none would miss you. ive cried and cut myself in the past cos i would just feel anger towards myself. someone please tell me whats wrong with me. ive still got the rest of my life ahead of me, and im scared i will just get worse. i dont know who to talk to.

I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder 8 years ago. It is just my opinion, but I think the words "Nervous Breakdown" are being used on this site to mislead people into thinking they might be experiencing a true "Mental Illness". Many of the entries on this site appear to be people who are experiencing extreme difficulty coping with the everyday stresses of daily life. Life in America in this day and age require many people to stretch themselves to thin with work, school, children and relationships with spouses/lovers, family and friends. If the problems being experienced began after a recent loss(within 6 mo to 1 yr) -(death, job, breakup, illness)there is a good chance that with the help of a good therapists and possible short term medication most of the symptoms being experienced, (crying, lack of energy, feeling down) should be short lived.

The major concern begins when a person makes statements like, I just want to sleep and never get up, I want to die but would never put my children through something like that or people would be better of if I were gone... these kinds of statements are a real sign that professional treatment is needed as soon as possible. A person is considered suicidal when they announce the desire to die and can give a detailed plan explaining how they intend to commit suicide. If this situation occurs immediate emergency medical treatment is needed.

There are many forms of diagnosable mental illnesses (Depression, Major Depression, Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, Personality Disorders (antisocial, borderline, paranoid, schizoid, avoidant...Etc) to use the term "Nervous Breakdown" downplays the major life altering issues people with diagnosed illnesses face. We often do not work or go to school, Have extreme difficulities with relationships of all types, We experience difficulity making and keeping friends,(people are generally very uncomfortable when around someone they know is mentally ill)

As your site says a "Breakdown" is when a person attempts suicide or a person behaves in such a way that family or friends would immediately seek and get psychiatric hospitaliztion... If you are questioning whether you may be suffering from any type of illness see a doctor - you'll either get treatment for short term emotional/lifestyle stress or you will be told you now have a uncurable lifeling mental illness. Each person who visits this site should ask themselves is knowing what's wrong with me important enough that I should actually go to a doctor or ask for random advise from unknown people with no medical degree or treatment experience

Hi all. First, I just want to say that this site and the things said on it saved my life tonight. I often feel overwhelmed and helpless. I feel like nothing I ever do for anyone I work for is ever good enough, no matter how hard I try or how hard I don't try. I want to get better, but my feelings of happiness or motivation never last for long. As a woman, I feel like so many depend on me for happiness or to be the "caring, understanding" one in a relationship, but it is so hard. I feel guilty for feeling the way I do and wanting to help myself yet not being able to truly help others. I also feel ashamed of my self when things go wrong.

I want to make my life my own, but I fear it's too little too late. This is the kind of fear that paralyzes and results in sadness, extreme frustration over small things, irritability, and as I have already said, helplessness. How do you stop crying all the time?

i have a terrible problem which seems to be getting the best of me. My daughter Linda, is an educated person with a college degree in the field of Psychology. She has a great job, beautiful baby, but a very unstable relationship with her child's father. They fight and argue all of the time and these "battles" go on for hours. She keeps saying she doesn't want him here, throws him out constantly, but he never leaves. This goes on at least three times a week and it gets very out of hand. She cries and screams and says she hates him and knows deep down he will never change, but yet she wants him here to help raise this child and she doesn't want to be alone. She has very low self-esteem and he is a pathological liar. Bad combination, huh? Anyway, Her tears and heartbreak go into rage with him, and i don't like seeing my daughter like this and i can't anymore. I tell her she knows better and she desperately needs to see a therapist, but she will now. They live with me so i always make sure the baby is far away from the screaming and raging. My daughter was never this way and now she is changing into someone i don't even know. What can i do?

There is a significant difference between the Medium who is clairvoyant and/or clairaudient and the mentally ill person who hears voices and sees people who are not there. They are completely different things and at total opposites of the spectrum. The Medium is not mentally deranged.

I definitely had a nervous breakdown, either that or was suffering from severe depression for a good 8 months. I am 25 now, this was when I was 22, every single day of my life now I am grateful to be alive. Sometimes I have a flashback of stuff I used to do to myself and just think 'wow, how did I not die?" It all started with me finding out the love of my life who I had dated for 5 years had cheated on me, numerous times throughout our relationship, and everyone knew about it but me. On top of this, he gave me herpes. I survived that, fine, and managed to fall head over heels in love with the only other guy I have truly loved in my life up to this point. I dated him for a year, until one day a woman showed up at the door with a baby. There was no denying it, the baby looked just like him. From there I dropped out of college. I got straight A's my entire life, and the one time when it counted, I just couldn't do it. It was like everything I had thought up to that point, about friends, about love, about education was just one huge sham. I went from being completely in love and having a wide circle of friends to not trusting anyone, and thinking the entire world was against me. I started doing drugs, 8 balls of coke followed by Oxycontin. I spent all my money on drugs. I locked myself up in my room and did drugs. When I came down, I took handfuls of sleeping pills just so I wouldn't have to be awake. When I did go out, I did drugs and made out with woman. I alienated myself from all my friends. Looking back, I could have handled things a lot differently then I did, but I just didn't care at the time, I wanted to die. During this time, I got fired from my job. Ironically, that was the kick in the butt I needed... from there, things started to look up. I started working out, stopped doing drugs. Got a new job and made some new friends. A little while after that, I met a guy and we picked up and moved across Canada, on a whim, with nothing but 2 suitcases of clothes. I don't touch drugs, just the memory of me sitting in my room, snorting coke until my nose bled, feeling like I wanted to die, like my whole life had a been one big lie, I had been living in a bubble and it burst. I was a very, very sick girl then, I don't think anyone knew how to deal with me, I didn't know how to deal with myself. When friends would call, I couldn't even bring myself to answer the phone. Eventually they stopped calling, confirming my delusional suspicions at the time that they were all against me. I tried anti-depressants on and off, Celexa, Paxil, Effexor, personally none of them worked for me. Even if they did, the other drugs I was taking probably rendered them useless. I am well now, I have an entire new life in a beautiful city and live a healthy, active lifestyle. I work with troubled Youth, aged 15-20 and feel like I'm making a difference in the world. The point of my story? there is hope. I honestly thought, things would never, ever, ever get better. That's why I wanted to die, I honestly believed that. So no matter how bad you feel, or what you are going through, please just hang in there, because things can get better.

The comments about the medium.

I used to 'hear' voices. Well the reality of the matter is that my former mentor died and when the world would be falling apart I would have conversations with him 'hear voices' and things would work out. Logically speaking it is probably simply what he said in life replaying itself when I need advice.

Lately I have not been having these conversations. I have not been 'hearing voices'. My father died less than two months ago. Work in some ways is improving but my contract ends and owing to the nature of my job getting a new one at the end of the contract is pretty much impossible.

I am falling apart. I know it. I also know because I am NOT hearing voices, that calm advice from my mentor that I am depressed.

Maybe someone who is depressed should not put their opinion forward regarding the comments of a medium but I do not think she should be criticized. Everyone's life is different. The standard's of normal are different for everyone. If they can function in society they should simply be accepted. D.

when you're on the verge of a mental breakdown, and are already diagnosed with anxiety and seeing a counselor, how do you react? Simply by just telling the counselor, and getting their advice?

I have ready many of the comments left here as well as the advice. I am 25 years old. I'm not sure if I have reached the level of a nervous breakdown, but I definitely am having issues coping. I feel so overwhelmed, exhausted, and depressed. I work full time and go to grad school at night which leaves me stressed out. I am in a long distance relationship and also, never have time to see my friends anymore. My family is also not doing to well, as a my mom is extremely depressed and my brother is a drug addict (who recently sought treatment thank God!) Well, I know my problems are minor compared to many who posted on here. But I guess I just need to get all this off my chest. I can't sleep much anymore and I basically shut myself into my apartment all weekend. I really flipped out tonight and when I spoke to my girlfriend about, she was not very understanding and basically told me that things weren't that bad. This upset me even more. I really just need someone to be empathetic and listen. Well, for all those who have read this, thanks for listening!

I feel so guilty. I have read all the post on here and feel ashamed for even thinking I have issues I cannot deal with. Although, I was able to relate to a few cases here. Last night I locked myself in my bedroom and just cried and slept. I am already on meds, and I have made an appointment to go back to talk with my psychiatrist. I just cannot deal anymore. I was so afraid of flipping out on the kids. I have been extremely moody. All I want to do is sleep, but of course it takes me forever to get to sleep because of racing thoughts. I worry about every little thing. I have increased in the number of panic attacks I get. I feel as though my nerves are crawling all the time. It seems like I am getting worse instead of better. I just don't know what to do. I pray that I will not wake up. When I do I am so disappointed. I won't hurt myself, but I am wishing something natural would just take me out of this world. I cannot stand that I cannot deal with everyday living. And the sad part is my life is much better than it was 7-8 years ago. But yet I feel this way. I just don't want to be awake anymore. Everyone tells me I am so strong and that if it weren't for me the kids and my fiancee would not be where they are today. Okay so I have made a better life for them so what about me. I cannot do anything for myself because I always feel sooooo much guilt afterwards. I am not strong anymore...I can barely even move. So now what?

thank you for your comments

to sstevens,

you're not alone!!! i think all moms feel like they're going to have a nervous breakdown at some point. i have 3 kids: 5, 3 and 10 mos. there are some days (most) where i am literally running from task to task. helping them go potty, making snacks/meals, refereeing fights, cleaning up, doing laundry, feeding the dog, answering the phone, shopping for groceries, balancing the checkbook, paying the bills...the list goes on. this is coupled with the fact that i try to get my kids out for social and play activities, i try to socialize with friends and spend time with my husband and i also work from home every day! sometimes i am so tired and frustrated that i cannot accomplish all that i want to in a day. my advice to you is to get your household organized to streamline things like chores, grocery shopping and meals. assign chores with a reward/punishment system for your kids. have a heart to heart with your family and make it clear that you need help--without yelling and screaming. that always shuts them down right off the bat. you also need to let go of some of the perfectionism and just accept that your house won't be perfect--and be happy about it. life is too short! i know that sounds cliched, but i've relaxed a lot when it comes to stuff like that.

while this may all be useful advice, if you feel like your emotional and mental state is more than just the normal stressed out state of being of a mom, you should go see a doctor. you could have a hormonal imbalance or a psychological condition that should be treated!

I am a 31 year old mother of 3. My youngest child is 6 months old. Since having my son, I have not had a decent night's sleep. I understand that he needs to eat...that is not the problem. The problem is that I feel like I have to constantly make excuses and make my family understand that I need their help around the house. Being tired from lack of sleep and everyone dirties the house behind me when I clean it drives me crazy! I hate filth and I feel like I am unappreciated for what I do and I feel like my fiancee doesn't respect what I do around the house. He works and I dont and he often asks when I start complaining about how tired I am..he says.." what are you tired from?" Is he serious? He has never cooked a meal in this house. I have to ask or beg him to help me..he helps sometimes! When it comes to our son, even when he is off and at home, he doesn't really help me as much as he should with caring for him. Now the kids they just make a mess and I yell and punish and it is so frustrating that one day I told them to just do whatever they felt like it because I am tired of cleaning up after people. No one listens to me. When I complain people get mad at me for being angry. I have migraines everyday and I just feel depressed. I love them but sometimes I wish I could just go away from them for a day. I feel like I am going to pop a vessel in my brain! does it sound like I am about to have a nervous breakdown?

needhelp08,

wow, it sounds like you're having a hard time. i think that a lot of parents have a hard time coping with life, work and family. there's just not enough time or energy in the day to do everything we feel that we need to be doing. my suggestion to you, is first, go see a doctor who can help you get well with medication (if needed) and therapy. it may mean that you switch doctors to find one that will put the extra effort of getting it right for you. second, if you can financially afford it, quit like your husband asked you do to. consider finding a work from home job, or babysit a couple times a week for a little extra cash. there are lots of ways to find extra money. i feel like living inexpensively is significantly less stressful than trying to work to make more money you're just going to spend. third, focus some time on yourself--reading, exercise, eating right, spending time with friends, etc. you won't be a good mom and wife if you're unhappy. if you're religious, pray a lot--i do it every morning to have the patience and strength to get through the day with my young children. it's hard to get out of a rut, and i hope i'm not minimizing your trials. hope all works out for the best for you!

Okay.. This all started a few years ago.. About 10. They put me on prozac and said I was depressed. Bla bla bla.. Then it was Prozac and something else for that extreme PMS disorder..

Now, they have me on Prozac 20mg, Wellbutrin SR and Klonapin.. I recently went to work four months ago full time because of financial problems.. I am no longer home with my three kids. Their school work is suffering (not mentioning the never ending battles and headaches with my middle child who is autistic).. Recently, I have been distant from everyone.. Even the people at work notice, my husband keeps asking me if he disgusts me, my friend that I used to talk to on a daily basis says she thought maybe I died and no-one told her.. lol She says it as a joke of course.. I used to get great pleasure out of my children, but seems recently I have lost my ability to be a good parent.. All I want to do is sleep and when I am up, I don't want to be bothered. I used to take great pride in my show dogs, which now seem more of a hassle to me than anything.. My house is a mess and I have gained 20 lbs in three months. No, I am not pregnant... Then the other day, I snapped.. I wanted to kill myself.. I kissed my kids bye, and walked out the door. I blew up for no reason when my husband made a joke with me. I went to a meeting at my son's school (he is in special ed, so we have frequent meetings) and they told me that he misses me and often wants his school to call me at work so he can just talk to me. He is only mildly autistic, he is not like Rain Man. They also told me that he and his brothers (who is very gifted academically) are struggling in school now and they want me to quit my job. I am stressed at work. It's a very fast paced- hands on job. It doesn't pay well. Last month one of my show dogs was struck by a car and killed.. This week one of our goats was killed by a neighbors dog. I keep having panic attacks and migraine headaches which my doctor tells me is tension. I feel let down every morning when I wake up. I don't smile, I don't laugh. I cry constantly. All you have to do is say something in the wrong tone and I am either in tears or ready to beat ya (no I don't hit my babies) but other adults, I would rather kick then to talk to.. I don't talk to my parents much, when they call, I find a reason to get off the phone. I don't talk to my siblings at all.. I haven't went to any family funerals or events at all because I just don't want to.. It's not that I don't care, I just don't feel the need. Needless to say, I didn't kill myself the other day, my husband called me on my cell phone and put my kids on the phone.

My kids are all between the ages of 4-9.

My autistic son keeps pooping his pants, it was only a few times a week at the beginning of the school year, now it's multiple times daily.. I refuse to wash those soiled clothes from a 6 almost 7 year old, so we just throw them away.. I am losing my patience with this situation.. I am sitting here tonight trying to think of an excuse not to go to work tomorrow. I want to stay home alone with my 4 year old and clean. I often want to clean my house and have these big plans of doing, but I just can't manage the energy.. If there is a chance to sleep, I would rather do that than anything.

My husband told me to give my work a two weeks notice, last week.. (the suicide thing was on Wednesday after my son's meeting) I couldn't. I am scared of getting yelled at by my boss who terrifies me. I don't know why.. I am not typically a person who intimidates easily.. I just don't know what to do.. Everyday is a struggle just to get through.. Every tree or cliff I see on the way to work on the way home seems to call "Crash into me". Of course, when my children are not with me.. I would never hurt my babies.. The only thing that keeps me from doing it is the hurt it would cause my kids and my dad. My mom wouldn't care too much, she would play it up of course for the sympathy, but she would still have my brother who has always been the pick of the litter.. My dad would be upset as I am daddy's little girl.. I just don't talk to him anymore..

My husband could always find someone better, perhaps even a better mom for my kids.. But, I would never do anything to cause my kids one moment of sadness.. I thank GOD for them, if it weren't for them, I wouldn't still be here..

I don't feel that I am depressed.. I have been spiraling out of control for awhile now, but really badly in the past few months.. Where does one go?? What does one do? The pills aren't helping, so I have quit taking them... I just don't know what to do... Any advice??

how do u know if it is a nervous breakdown or depression? i see similarities but i dont think i am depressed.

I came across this article during some research I was doing about whether or not I am on the verge of a nervous breakdown due to prolonged stress at work. I also came across Burnout, which feels closer to my current experience. I have a BA in Psychology, but am by no means an actual psychiatrist or therapist, and reading other comments from others on this posting, I thought that these links about Burnout could be helpful.

Apparently Burnout tends to happen more often in certain occupations (e.g. customer service, lawyers, etc.) and situations (e.g. caregivers of loved ones), which may be helpful to some of the people who commented on this article. As for what to do, I'm not sure.

I would recommend going to a licensed mental health professional for actual help with your problem, especially if you are in a lot of pain, but as far as getting started with how to even find the right help:

- Calling a help hotline and asking them for resources.

- Talking to a psychiatrist or psychotherapist, or a counselor at your work or school, or your doctor (or a religious advisor like a priest or rabbi). Nothing to be afraid of here - you don't have to actually be crazy to talk to a mental health professional, just like you don't have to be sick to get a check-up from a regular doctor. And just like any doctor, if you don't like them, you can always go somewhere else for a second opinion.

- Attending a related support group meeting. The leader can probably tell you pretty quick if you are in the wrong meeting, and may be able to refer you to another group.

- Search around on the internet for resources - I usually just type whatever question I have into Google, and usually get the information I need.

I hope others find these resources as valuable as I have.

Some very eclectic comments here! I hope the editors don't take any of the comments down barring extremely obscene circumstances. With psychology being such a broad science and including so many different studies, including paranormal and spiritual studies, and the fact that every person is very different from every other it isn't surprising. One very effective exercise that many psychologists is writing down what you're thinking, which is pretty much what the people posting are doing. Writing down your feelings, even if it's in a private notebook and no one else sees it, can be a very helpful stress reliever. But on the other side, some people writing here are looking for feedback and it will be stressful to not hear any feedback. This is just another example of people being different. There is no universal answer to how to help people dealing with mental problems because different techniques will help some people more than others. Find what works best for you in dealing with stress and many of your mental problems and if it's too much for you to handle, seek professional help. Or go to a professional anyway, and they can help you find your own way to relieve that stress. Like for me, I feel like I'm close to a psychotic break and I feel most relieved feeling like I'm helping someone else with their problems. Strange huh? Good luck to everyone dealing with these problems.

I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm afraid I'm starting to have a nervous breakdown. I am VERY emotional, so emotional in fact, I've been crying for 6 hours straight. I don't care about any decisions any one asks me to make, I don't want to do anything, I just want to sit and cry. I'm also afraid that if I tell someone that I think I'm on the verge of one, they won't take me seriously. I've have never felt like this before and keep thinking what it would be like if I wasn't here, but then I don't do it, which is good, but I don't want it to get worse, what should I do???

A young lady that i work with is in the hospital. her daughter come to the job and told my boss that her mother had a nervous breakdown because i yelled at her mother. could that be true? could someone have nervous breakdown if they think someone is yelling at them?

I think I had a break down last month and maybe still having it. The sad thing is that I am 19, and the reason is breaking up, or better say, being left by a boyfriend who is my first love. I hate to admit the state I was in, but I had episodes of crying for hours, laying on the floor not wanting to get up, hiding underneath my desk, periods during which I wouldn't be able to fall asleep even though I've been up working for 48 hours, then periods when I would sleep for 15 hours. there were several days when I didn't go to my classes even though I would get dressed, and got all of my things, but then I would panic and wouldn't leave the room. I have two weeks on anti-anxiety drugs.

Now after writing this I think I should get some help. Maybe it's not necessary since I am much better now and have managed to continue with everyday life.

please, my mom is crying all the time, i am 13 years old and it's tearing me apart to see her like this. she has almost all the symptoms except the voices and seeing things.

ok what do i do if i am so poor i can barely afford the air i breathe, but i'm experiencing the symptoms of a nervous breakdown? is there a "home-grown" way to treat it?

I want to know exactly what the final definition is of a mental breakdown. I can't cope with my daily life I often find myself wondering and I know what I'm doing but I don't know why I've hurt myself in the past not on purpose but in over using my body for the purpose of bettering my family they keep telling me that I'll be ok and that I should keep going and soldier on but I can't keep going if my body and brain are broken. I want to tell them that I have to take some time for myself but they're so proud of me for being the rock in all of their problems that I don't have the heart . What do I do I keep smiling but I want to die and I feel like I'm already dead inside!

Although I am seeing a lot of people out there who are indeed suffering and others who are trying desperately to help those they care about who are suffering, I am also seeing a lot of trivialisation here. I am very disturbed that anyone would even think that bringing their 'experiences' of being a medium into this topic would be remotely helpful to anyone who is genuinely suffering. In fact, these kind of discussions are harmful to anyone who is genuinely in need of help and support for mental health issues. It is also my upmost belief that individuals who have suffered a breakdown following the loss of a loved one and who have turned to mediums for 'answers' are often permanently harmed by the so called 'information' and claims of contact with the dead. Grief counselling is available and is bar far the best option, and in cases where anyone feels that they are experiencing a breakdown or suspect that their loved one is having a breakdown, Professional medical help should be sought in all cases! If this simple rule was followed, a lot of harm and distress could be avoided, and in extreme cases suicide averted. I would urge the editors on this site to review very carefully the subject matter of all postings due to the very serious nature of this topic, and the devastating effect that wrongly given advice can have upon a vulnerable individual in need of help and support.

Hello my name is Sarge and well I am really trying to figure out if I am just down or having a breakdown. I will start at the beginning 3 months ago my wife left me. She said she wasn’t happy. After that I started putting things together and found out she had a boyfriend. Been dealing with that fine I think. Last month I met the most perfect lady was great for about two weeks. Well let me back up when I met her I didn’t want another relationship. But it just happened. But anyway things were great, better then great. I haven’t felt this good ever. But as fast as it started we went badly. I started sitting outside her place checking up on her. I don’t now way I put it in my head she was messing around behind my back. It was almost like I was hopping she was. Well thing excelled from there and we broke up for a short time. See she is going through a 28 yr. divorce and mine is a 10 yr. I want to help her and every time I messed things up. Well this last time I started sitting outside her place again checking up on her. I know she isn’t cheating she has never gave me a reason to think that but my mind just gets to running and then I just get stupid. Well in the past two weeks I have lost a uncle and a aunt. My uncle I wasn’t close to. My aunt we talked off and on but still not really close. But found myself really emotional. At the present time I and my girlfriend are not talking much. She says she needs her space for the divorce. I can relate so I don’t have a problem with that. My problem is I am finding myself very emotional. I can’t stop thinking about her it doesn’t matter where or what I am doing she is on my mind. It is affecting my work my social life. I tried going out and drinking didn’t help. The more I drank the more emotional I got. I can’t even set a watch a move and see a emotional part in it without tearing up. I have lost 16 pounds in the last month. I don’t eat. When I think I am hungry I buy like a big Mac and fries. I can’t even eat all my big Mac and Fries. This used to not be a problem till me and her started having problems. Guess what I am needing to now am I have a nervous break down or am I just feeling emotional because of the holidays. I really need to know because one more thing happens well I just don’t thing I can stand anymore.

I weighed 301 pounds in May. I started exercising, eating right and writing a script that's been in my head for year. By Nov. I was down to 195 pounds. In the last 3 weeks I've been bingeing and have gained 50 pounds. If I could pinpoint what triggered this I could stop it. I think my only friend dumped me. I told him I was raped by 3 different men. First when I was 10, 2nd at 18 and then 30. I said the last time I had consensual sex was in 1994 and the last rape was in 1995. I told him I felt ready to have a relationship and have sex and wanted to know how a man would react to this information. He said very nice things and made me feel normal. I haven't heard from him since. I get depressed easily. Nobody wants me fat or skinny. I'm a caregiver and my last vacation was 7 years ago when I od'd and spent 3 days in the hospital for observation. If I didn't have food to turn to I'd have nothing. Nobody has ever taken care of me and I'm just tired of everything being the same. If I could go back 3 week and eat right, exercise and write my script, everything would be o.k. How can I start over?

I have a problem, my oldest sister seems to be having a nervous breakdown and i don't know what to say to her anymore. I really need some help.

i think the term "nervous breakdown" is used to casually. as a mother of three children, i bandy that term around pretty frequently with my friends and family. example: "i was shopping at walmart today, and the baby was crying and the other two were tearing food off the shelves. i thought i was going to have a nervous breakdown!" i've never had any problems with depression or any other mental illness in my life, but stressful life events such as a job loss or financial trouble can put you close to the edge of feeling like you're going to break down. i think we need to identify what pushes us over "our" edge to the point where we feel like we can't function in our particular lives and come up with a plan on how to cope. take a nap, meditate, say a prayer, call a friend or eat a cookie! i don't want to minimize the real problem of emotional or mental illness, but i think that a lot of normally "healthy" people can feel "crazy" every once in a while. it's good to have a fall back plan when that happens.

There certainly are chemical imbalance issues which can cause mental irregularities and are best treated with chemical solutions. A lot of people who present with signs of depression though really just need truly caring, empathetic human contact. The Internet, paradoxically, has made it easier to communicate in some ways, but has also caused some to withdraw from good old fashioned mano a mano social interaction. It's naive to say a hug will cure everything, but a lot of people just need to feel a warm, caring body next to theirs so that they don't feel so alone in the world.

My sister, Missy has been taking care of her 20 year old daughter for right at a year now due to a horrible car accident that left my niece with a traumatic brain injury. She has a shunt to help drain off her brain fluid and has suffered a few strokes that has left her right side paralyzed. This is the second accident my niece has been in and strangely it is very similar to an accident she had just 5 years earlier where she suffered a brain injury and recovered, but this time she has not recovered fully. My sister does every single thing for my niece 24-7 because Jessica can't do it for herself. My sister is very worried because the doctors say that Jessica could develop another shunt infection, which almost took her life not too long ago. My sister has just suffered her second , what she calls, episodes, where she loses all control of her leg muscles along with the loss of any other muscle control and she drops like dead weight. The first time she didn't hurt herself too bad but just yesterday she was in her kitchen and lost muscle control again and this time she hit her face very hard on her countertop, she said it was like slow motion and this time she wasn't able to still hear and see, she said she must've gotten knocked out, and when she came to she said both of her eyes were almost swollen shut and there is a gash in between her eyebrows. She has been very angry lately and cries constantly, is way stronger than normal when she becomes angry. She can't sleep at all. She is always running to see if Jessica is still breathing. Is this a nervous breakdown? And how can I make her understand to go to the doctor, she seems to think that nothing will happen to her and she can't see the seriousness of this. Before the wreck happened Missy was very level headed and was very upbeat, the normal happy person, but now she is extremely depressed and has shortness of breath and chest pains sometimes!!!

I have had a so called nervous breakdown not too long ago. It was an awful experience. I think that it is a condition not to be taken lightly. I wanted to kill myself, I was so angry and I didn't know why. I have been diagnosed with bi-polar disorder. I have had this all my life, I just didn't know it until way later in life. I took my family through a rough time but they stood by me at that time and if it was not for borrowed prayers I don't know were I might be now. Iam better now, just wish that I could get some sleep at night, that is my only problem now but all in all I am here.

glenrobsar, my ex used to work for a govt defense contractor and had a top security clearance. when we could have used some counseling, we feared to get it for the same reason as you. however, later (too late) we learned that the company had it's own in-house counseling department that we might have benefitted from. if you don't have that option, you would be wise to begin sending your resume around and testing the waters for getting another job. won't be long, unless it's already happened, til you're one of the few worker bees staggering under the dead weight of all the drones. the problems at your work all stem from incompetent hiring and management and it's a major problem in more work settings than you would believe. good luck and take your experience, skills, and work ethic somewhere else where you will be appreciated, but be smart about it and do your homework first.

I'm worried about being at the start of a nervous breakdown. I'm pretty scared to go to anyone about it because of my security clearance. Every day that I go to work, I have to sit and force myself to go through the motions of getting ready. I dread entering the door to the building. Every time the higher-ups come by, they want more and more info that we are not manned to take time and get them. I have more and more of my people under me pulled out (especially the well-trained) and given new people with no training. When I voice my displeasure with this practice I'm told to shut up and stop complaining and to "deal with it". I've been at my job a little over 19 years and have dealt with a lot of crap, but I'm at my wit's end! I know it's wrong but I want to jump over the desk and beat the tar out of some of the people above me or just yell back at how stupid they are. I know I'm close to losing it but I feel that if I go to mental health then I'll jeopardize my clearance and I can't have that. Any advice?

A nervous breakdown isn't a medical term so HR can't do anything for you if you just tell them you had a nervous breakdown. But if you go to the doctor and get diagnosed with depression or anxiety or something, that's a medical condition and then the company can't mess with you because you have a medical condition!

I was told by my Human Resources department today that I had not experienced a nervous breakdown. What does he know? I was bullied by my senior management and I felt so low that I cried everyday at work. I had dreams that I was ending it all and felt the pressure of everyday life so hard. Now with anti-depressants I am starting to feel a bit better although I am still frightened to walk out of the door in case my manager sees me and want to hurt me. Does this sound normal to you?

The HR guy said he needed a doctor's report to tell him if I had had a breakdown.....What!!!!! I know that I did and that life is starting again for me

My stepdaughters mother has said she was "crazy" and had a nervous breakdown. Her daughter knows all about it and even tells her mother that she is crazy. Everyone has always thought that the mother was a little off, but how safe is the environment for her kids?

Everything happened so fast....4 days ago my 19year old brother(a college student, a part time grocery clerk)and I were having our typical days-end discussion..

Fast foward...>>he has since been to the psych department, hears voices, sees celebrities, thinks everyone is conspiring to kill him, wont eat or drink and has absolutely no idea who I am.....

This wonderful young man..never smoked, drugged or drank...never cursed, confronted or fought, now has spent the last 2 nights sedated and oacassionally strapped down to his bed...

It started as what appeared to be an inability to focus during a conversation, ramped up to seeing and hearing voices and finally to threats of killing myself and the rest of his family...This all transpired in 72hours as we watched in horror at the transformation..

As of this writing the care facility is in the process of getting court ordered documents allowing them to force(if necessary)him to take medication..

I pray that this is short-lived...I keep asking myself Why? How? We never noticed any signs prior to that, that there was anything wrong and its simply ripping us apart emotionally......

If your wife is in the midst of a nervous breakdown, first reaffirm her and your devotion to her. She needs to know that she has you to fall back on. Understanding that no one would ever desire to be in the state which leads to and then culminates in a nervous breakdown is important. It would be helpful to do some research so you understand what she is feeling. It can be one of the most terrifying things you can experience. Help your wife seek counseling and a physician to talk about her problems and find relief. She obviously may not be able to do a lot of things she use to, be patient she needs time. And, yes, I have been through this before and can say without a shadow of a doubt, that you need support - both husband and wife. Further, if you don't already know God it is a good time to turn to HIM and ask for help. He can help bring peace into a situation which seems at the time hopeless. Plus, reading the Bible can bring peace too - especially the Psalms.

How does one deal with a wife who has symptoms of a nervous breakdown?

hello,i am wondering if anyone can give me advice.10years ago my 17yr old was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer,he beat it twice but the 3rd time it came back he was 14yrs old,he has been on palliative care ever since,for the last year he has withdrawn from friends and schooling,his health remains stable,but mentally i am not so sure ,after 4yrs we have finally got a counselor for him,but our relationship has taken a lot of knocks,he refuses to go on holiday even,he wont go anywhere he says he feels like he has nothing in common with normal people,lately i have changed,i saw the gp who said that pills wouldn't help as i need to be focused on my sons other health conditions,he also said that because of our circumstances,there might not be the right help out there for me,so i came out even worse than i went in, i feel different too,i used to be content,and focused on life,now i couldn't give a damn,i have recurring suicide thoughts, and i pray that when i go to bed i wont wake in the morning,but i do,and so the day starts again,i forgot to mention that i am a single parent,as his dad walked out the day he was diagnosed because he said i could cope better,i could, but this last year i have found things increasingly difficult,am i depressed or going mad or having a breakdown.

Nervous Breakdown is the old term for dissociative mental break.

Many causes are claimed for these sudden mental events. But in the 1960's designers found a problem with the physiology of sight relative to the vision startle reflex that could cause such an episode. The office cubicle was designed to deal with the phenomenon. These events do not happen where cubicles are used.

One of the first symptom of Subliminal Distraction exposure is hearing voices. You do not have to be mentally ill to hear voices and victims usually have an explanation that involves paranormal sources or magic.

These events happen around the world as Culture Bound Syndromes. Each ethnic group explains the event in terms of their culture and belief set.

The Virginia Tech shooter had created the "special circumstances" for SD exposure. When he had the expected mental event he acted out the psychotic delusions by killing 32 people.

L K Tucker

Yes there is help fot a nervous breakdown.

I have been seing a herbalist, she is restoring my health, you have to be paitient.

I TOTALLY AGREE with the Psychic medium...I work with people who have disabilities and mental health issues...who is to say they are NOT seeing and hearing things?

what are the best medicine for the nervous breakdown?

To the above. You are not psychic you are delusional, you have never been properly diagnosed. You create the fantasy of it, what you experiance is not real. Your imagination is just so fluid that you can cope with it.

You can't assume that people who see people who aren't there and hear voices are having any sort of mental illness. I, for example, am a medium. Spirits talk to me and I hear them. I've never been diagnosed with mental illness, have a graduate degree and own two businesses, am as sane as the average person. What makes me different is that I'm psychic. The medical profession should research this area so that they're not unnecessarily medicating people.