When the world is falling apart and you just can’t cope – is it a mental breakdown you’re feeling or normal anxiety? Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference.
A mental breakdown is a sign that you need to take a step back and reanalyze where you’re at in life and how you’re taking care of your mental health. Sometimes, a breakdown can seem to come on suddenly and swiftly, but there are often subtle (and not so subtle) warning signs beforehand.
These signs are common with nervous or mental breakdowns, and identifying them can help you prepare for the coming breakdown or avoid it entirely. When you feel like you’re having an existential crisis, look for these ten warning signs.
1. You Feel Like You’ve Lost Control Of Your Life
Does everything seem hectic? Do you feel like you’ve lost control of your life? This is often a warning sign that a breakdown is close. When everything around you seems to be crumbling, the mind can go into overdrive and cause some serious mental health implications. Feeling like you’ve lost control is a devastating feeling, so if you’re starting to feel that way, it might be time to get professional help.
2. Lacking Sleep
Adequate sleep is what keeps the mind and body healthy, but when you can’t sleep because of issues in life, it can quickly take a toll on both. Your mind needs rest to recover properly and analyze information. If you find that you’re not sleeping, but instead are tossing and turning with a constantly racing mind, it could be an indicator of something more pressing.
3. Mood Swings
One minute, you’re in the clouds happy as can be, and the next minute, you’re irritable and testy with everyone around you. Sound familiar? Mood swings can be a sign of many mental health conditions such as depression, but they can also indicate a breakdown is on its way.
4. Emotional Numbness
Are you suddenly struggling to find emotional fulfillment in anything you once loved? Emotional numbness can often be a sign of a breakdown. You’ve simply lost interest in or love for the things that once mattered to you, and you’re not sure why. This numbness can feel incredibly heavy and leave you wondering why you can’t get back to normal.
5. You Feel Absolutely Alone
Are you surrounded by loving family and friends, but still feel absolutely alone? Your problems can feel insurmountable when you’re alone, and certain mental health conditions can make you feel isolated.
6. Appetite Changes
Does food not taste as good as it once did, or are you finding that binge-eating is your go-to lately? Sudden appetite changes can be a warning sign of something more serious, especially if they persist for weeks or months at a time. If you find your appetite has significantly changed recently, it might be a good idea to look closer at your mental health.
7. Brain Fog
Brain fog can affect your concentration skills, memory, and more. This “fog” makes everything seem cloudy, and it can have serious effects on your work and personal life. The inability to concentrate or focus could cause drops in grades, work performance, or even interpersonal relationship quality.
8. Fatigue
Fatigue is a classic symptom of many mental health conditions, including anxiety and depression. When the mind is overworked, it can affect the entire body. You might feel like you’ve got no energy to do even the simplest tasks like dishes or laundry. These tasks might seem like massive undertakings, and your brain will come up with all kinds of reasons why they can wait.
9. Pain
Headaches are some of the most annoying aches you can experience. They can affect your focus, memory, emotions, and more. Frequent headaches or other pain is another sign of mental health problems. Many people brush off frequent physical pain as a symptom of working too much or just having join/bone issues, but sometimes it’s all mental.
10. You Know There’s A Breaking Point Ahead
Perhaps the most obvious sign that you’re about to have a breakdown is when you know there’s a breaking point in your future. There’s no way around it, you simply can’t continue as you have been for the past few weeks, months, or years. That looming wall could be only a few days away or a few weeks out, but you know it’s there, and you’re about to crash into it.
Conclusion
If you find that you’re experiencing one or more of these warning signs, it’s probably a good idea to go get help for yourself before you actually have a mental breakdown. If you know there’s a wall in your future that you’re going to hit, it’s time to go to counseling or group therapy and figure out what’s going on in your brain. Mental health is so important to a happy, healthy life; take care of yourself!
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