Recovery nervous breakdown

SAMHSA’s National Helpline | SAMHSA

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SAMHSA’s National Helpline is a free, confidential, 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service (in English and Spanish) for individuals and families facing mental and/or substance use disorders.
Also visit the online treatment locator.

SAMHSA’s National Helpline, 1-800-662-HELP (4357) (also known as the Treatment Referral Routing Service), or TTY: 1-800-487-4889 is a confidential, free, 24-hour-a-day, 365-day-a-year, information service, in English and Spanish, for individuals and family members facing mental and/or substance use disorders. This service provides referrals to local treatment facilities, support groups, and community-based organizations.

Also visit the online treatment locator, or send your zip code via text message: 435748 (HELP4U) to find help near you. Read more about the HELP4U text messaging service.

The service is open 24/7, 365 days a year.

English and Spanish are available if you select the option to speak with a national representative. Currently, the 435748 (HELP4U) text messaging service is only available in English.

In 2020, the Helpline received 833,598 calls. This is a 27 percent increase from 2019, when the Helpline received a total of 656,953 calls for the year.

The referral service is free of charge. If you have no insurance or are underinsured, we will refer you to your state office, which is responsible for state-funded treatment programs. In addition, we can often refer you to facilities that charge on a sliding fee scale or accept Medicare or Medicaid. If you have health insurance, you are encouraged to contact your insurer for a list of participating health care providers and facilities.

The service is confidential. We will not ask you for any personal information. We may ask for your zip code or other pertinent geographic information in order to track calls being routed to other offices or to accurately identify the local resources appropriate to your needs.

No, we do not provide counseling. Trained information specialists answer calls, transfer callers to state services or other appropriate intake centers in their states, and connect them with local assistance and support.

Suggested Resources
What Is Substance Abuse Treatment? A Booklet for Families
Created for family members of people with alcohol abuse or drug abuse problems. Answers questions about substance abuse, its symptoms, different types of treatment, and recovery. Addresses concerns of children of parents with substance use/abuse problems.
It's Not Your Fault (NACoA) (PDF | 12 KB)
Assures teens with parents who abuse alcohol or drugs that, "It's not your fault!" and that they are not alone. Encourages teens to seek emotional support from other adults, school counselors, and youth support groups such as Alateen, and provides a resource list.

After an Attempt: A Guide for Taking Care of Your Family Member After Treatment in the Emergency Department
Aids family members in coping with the aftermath of a relative's suicide attempt. Describes the emergency department treatment process, lists questions to ask about follow-up treatment, and describes how to reduce risk and ensure safety at home.
Family Therapy Can Help: For People in Recovery From Mental Illness or Addiction
Explores the role of family therapy in recovery from mental illness or substance abuse. Explains how family therapy sessions are run and who conducts them, describes a typical session, and provides information on its effectiveness in recovery.
For additional resources, please visit the SAMHSA Store.

Last Updated: 08/30/2022

Recovery and Recovery Support | SAMHSA

Recovery and Resilience

Resilience refers to an individual’s ability to cope with change and adversity. Resilience develops over time and gives an individual the capacity not only to cope with life’s challenges but also to be better prepared for the next stressful situation. Psychological resilience, the ability to cope with adversity and to adapt to stressful life events, varies widely from person to person and depends on environmental as well as personal factors. It refers to positive adaptation, or the ability to maintain mental and physical health despite participating in stressful situations. Resilience is playing up those protective factors so they can outweigh the risk factors. Optimism and the ability to remain hopeful are essential to resilience and the process of recovery.

Because recovery is a highly individualized process, recovery services and supports must be age appropriate and offered over the life course and flexible enough to ensure cultural relevancy. What may work for adults in recovery may be very different for youth or older adults in recovery. For example, the promotion of resiliency in young people, and the nature of social supports, peer mentors, and recovery coaching for adolescents and transitional age youth are different than recovery support services for adults and older adults.

Recovery and Relationships

The process of recovery is supported through relationships and social networks. This often involves family members who become the champions of their loved one’s recovery. They provide essential support to their family member’s journey of recovery and similarly experience the moments of positive healing as well as the difficult challenges. Families of people in recovery may experience adversities in their social, occupational, and financial lives, as well as in their overall quality of family life.

These experiences can lead to increased family stress, guilt, shame, anger, fear, anxiety, loss, grief, and isolation. The concept of resilience in recovery is also vital for family members who need access to intentional supports that promote their health and well-being. The support of peers and friends is also crucial in engaging and supporting individuals in recovery.

Peer support assists individuals to engage or stay connected to the recovery process through a shared understanding, respect, and mutual empowerment. Peer support extends beyond the reach of clinical treatment into the everyday environment providing non-clinical, strengths-based support. This relationship can help lay the foundation for SAMHSA’s four dimensions of recovery.

Recovery Support

SAMHSA advanced recovery support systems to promote partnering with people in recovery from mental and substance use disorders and their family members to guide the behavioral health system and promote individual, program, and system-level approaches that foster health and resilience; increase housing to support recovery; reduce barriers to employment, education, and other life goals; and secure necessary social supports in their chosen community.

Recovery support is provided in various settings. Recovery support services help people enter into and navigate systems of care, remove barriers to recovery, stay engaged in the recovery process, and live full lives in communities of their choice.

Recovery support services include culturally and linguistically appropriate services that assist individuals and families working toward recovery from mental and/or substance use problems. They incorporate a full range of social, legal, and other services (PDF | 409 KB). that facilitate recovery, wellness, and linkage to and coordination among service providers, and other supports shown to improve quality of life for people (and their families) in and seeking recovery.

Recovery support services may be provided before, during, or after clinical treatment, or may be provided to individuals who are not in treatment but seek support services.

These services, provided by professionals and peers, are delivered through a variety of community and faith-based groups, treatment providers, schools, and other specialized services. The broad range of service delivery options ensures the life experiences of all people are valued and represented.

For example, in the United States there are 34 recovery high schools that help reduce the risk in high school environments for youth with substance use disorders. These schools typically have high retention rates and low rates of students returning to substance use.

Additionally, SAMHSA's Bringing Recovery Supports to Scale Technical Assistance Center Strategy (BRSS TACS) advances effective recovery supports and services for people with mental or substance use disorders and their families.

Find more Publications and Resources on Recovery and Recovery Support.

symptoms, signs, treatment and consequences of breakdowns

The cause may be an excessive load on the nervous system, which is simply not able to process everything. It is important that a person has someone to share his problem of independence from gender with. Health must come first!

Someone is helped by a loud cry or tears, someone is helped by long walks or sleep. If after that the patient begins to feel better, then full treatment is not required. If the state of health only worsens, this indicates that you need to see a doctor to solve psychological problems. Advice to you from experts - take a course of treatment at the center.

What is a nervous breakdown?

Under this concept, a whole group of diseases - neurosis, depression, psychosomatic disorders, insomnia. A relapse is an acute phase of the disorder, which is increasingly sudden. Only a doctor can make the correct diagnosis.

These diseases are more common than the common cold. Most have encountered them at least once. And it is difficult to say exactly how many people were affected by the disease, because not everyone turns to a specialist for help. The risk is very great.

Causes of a nervous breakdown

A breakdown is a defensive reaction to the fact that a person is overloaded, he needs emergency help in response to an external factor. The doctor should consult, the syndrome is increasingly called exacerbated.

Causes - stresses that regularly affect our organs or a short-term shock.

Everyone falls into one group or another. Often people tend to appear:

constantly thin out for the events that happened to them, or should happen in the future;
increased desire for work;
cannot improve relationships in the family, at work;
with low self-esteem;
patients with oncology;
those who are waiting for major changes;
young parents who have just had children;
experienced the loss of a loved one;
failures in personal relationships or in relationships with parents;
lack of money for a normal existence;
job loss;
responsibility with which he cannot cope;

alarm.

A breakdown starts because of negative events, but problems can start after the most important events - a wedding, a move, a new job, the birth of the first child.

A man has a different degree of resistance to stress. It is easy for one to survive life's problems, and the other falls down from their appearance, begins to show aggression.

Signs and symptoms of a nervous breakdown

Symptoms and signs of a nervous breakdown, depending on the type of disorder, have general symptoms that are characteristic of the types of breakdowns. Among the consequences:

lack of appetite, sleep, energy;
constant irritability, restlessness, nervousness;
the appearance of negative thoughts;
fear of tomorrow;
health change;
constant desire to sleep;
poor concentration;
memory problems;
negative thoughts;
manifestation of apathy;
headaches;
pressure;
mood changes, anxiety;
panic attacks, fatigue;
problems with the cardiovascular system;
phobias.

A person's behavior changes greatly, but the disease affects all organs. The disease is accompanied by symptoms: headache, shortness of breath, heart problems, poor appetite, pressure fluctuations, mental changes. It is advisable to consult a psychologist.

Diagnosis of nervous breakdowns

Development occurs at the moment when the patient is simply unable to endure the load any longer. The psyche is already simply becoming uncomfortable working in the same conditions, it asks for possible methods of help. And a person endures everything that happens to him, although the state is already reaching its peak. Emotions overflow, at any moment you can expect anything. There are explosions, although everything could be working properly for many more years. But a critical moment has begun, everything needs to be corrected so that your organs no longer experience such a feeling.

It's all the fault of the cause, which was the beginning of the occurrence. The tank was filled very slowly, but surely, and at one moment it simply exploded from overfilling and would not be able to work.

Two patterns of behavior in a difficult situation are observed:

Explode for any reason. In this case, the patient splashes out his emotions, shows indignation. Strong scandals, conflict situations are characteristic of this type and the reasons for divorce.
To accumulate all grievances in oneself, as in a large vessel. He endures all insults until the last moment. Apathy towards everything, depression, unwillingness to communicate with anyone may begin. A problem with the psyche begins to appear, unless of course it was absent before.

But how to avoid the danger of overfilling that same vessel, cope with the consequences? This can be avoided by realizing your feelings, emotions, experiencing and accepting them.

Hospital or home?

A breakdown is easier to prevent than to treat. During the breakdown itself, not everyone knows how to calm a person down. A few years ago, to calm the patient, they poured a bucket of cold water on him, unless, of course, there was cold water nearby. If this does not help, you need to contact an ambulance.

Screaming will not help, the person is unable to control his actions. A raised voice can only aggravate what should not be allowed.

Everyone decides where it is better to treat the disease - in a hospital or at home. If, for example, the breakdown was caused due to the situation in the family, then it would be logical to send the patient to the hospital. The psyche may simply not cope if this happens again.

In other situations, being close to relatives can positively affect the patient's well-being. Any drug is prescribed after a comprehensive examination. The patient should be under the supervision of a doctor, many drugs can be addictive. After treatment, it takes another month to recover.

But vice versa, it is better to treat a nervous breakdown at home in women and men. We need to understand what led to this state of affairs. If, for example, there are constant tensions at work, you need to take a vacation or quit altogether, there is nothing more important than health. If the cause was overwork, you need to build a more gentle schedule for yourself, where there will be a place for 8 hours of sleep, a walk during the day in the fresh air, and proper nutrition.

When treating at home, a therapist should be consulted to draw up a plan of action. Treatment within the walls of the house is aimed at relaxing, distracting the patient from the problem. The method is safe for life and health.

Consequences

The emotional state has a direct relationship with the physical state. If a nervous breakdown was detected, symptoms begin to appear: problems with the heart, with the digestive organs, dizziness. A relapse may begin in a patient who has attempted suicide.

If the problem is not diagnosed, it starts to accumulate like a snowball. The patient begins to have problems in communication, becomes more quick-tempered, irritable, the psychological state worsens.

Relapse leads to drug addiction or excessive consumption of alcohol, promiscuity. The search begins for a method of discharge, getting rid of all the negativity that has accumulated in the form of an internal factor. It is necessary to get the help of a psychotherapist in time.

Specifics of treatment

Nervous breakdowns cannot appear out of nowhere. This is a long-term disease that has not been treated for years, or prolonged stress that the patient has experienced. To get rid of the usual nervous breakdown, you need to reconsider your life, get rid of the cause - treat the underlying disease, limit your communication with those who bring you to such a state.

This is a lengthy process that can take a month or more. There are drugs that will help the patient during periods of treatment. Those who are treated at home without a doctor's prescription cannot even imagine the harm they do to their body.

The disorder appears for various reasons, the treatment of a nervous breakdown, especially in women, must be approached comprehensively.

Non-drug ways to deal with a nervous breakdown

Sports activities. Sports exercises will help to reduce the ardor and recharge with positive. This method, which has not harmed more than one patient. Sport improves the functioning of the heart, brain, sleep.
Relaxation programs: meditation, yoga, body massage. Relieve stress, relax the body, get rid of negative thoughts. Do at least 2 times a week.
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle. As strange as it may sound, it helps. Alcoholic drinks, drugs, coffee - all this affects the nervous system.
Proper nutrition, essential vitamins.

With the help of drugs and medicines

Medicine offers drugs with calming effects. Dizziness and heart problems can be treated with medication. These are not pills that will get rid of the breakdown, but you will feel much better. Medicinal use is one of the most effective.
Preparations based on plant extracts with a calming component.
Vitamins. In a stressful state, it is especially necessary to enrich yourself with such vitamins - group B, vitamin E, magnesium, calcium, so that depletion does not occur.
Dietary supplements. They contain soothing plant extracts.
Antidepressants. Strong drugs that should not be used without prescription in any case. They have many side effects, so they are prescribed in emergency situations.

Recovery of the nervous system after a long course of treatment

In order to consolidate the therapeutic effect, it is necessary to completely reconsider your lifestyle. Particular attention should be paid to nutrition, making sure that the diet contains a lot of fruits, fiber and carbohydrates. In addition, regularly take vitamins after consulting a doctor. Pay attention to reducing the amount of coffee and tea you drink, replacing it with juice. Eliminate bad habits from your life. If a person goes in for sports every day, then his health will be much better. Go on vacation if possible.

How to protect yourself from relapse

The most important thing is to correctly identify the disease and start therapy for relapse from any side. Unfortunately, many people accept the appearance of irritability, insomnia, bad mood and a number of other factors as a phenomenon that absolutely everyone lives with. Therefore, you should not contact a neurologist. But it's not! It is important that loved ones were there at that moment, when it is difficult to survive everything! Experts demand to start treatment as early as possible.

Stress is not a normal condition and needs to be treated! Do not be afraid to disturb the doctor with your trifling questions - sleep disturbance, mental disorders, tearfulness, forgetfulness, memory impairment, dizziness and more. These are all points that can be solved at the formation stage. But if you do not pay attention to them, then you can wait for clinical depression, from which you can get rid of only the strongest drugs, the use of some tranquilizers.

What is a nervous breakdown and how to deal with it? Therapist Answers

Psychotherapist Yulia Artyukh talks about a nervous breakdown in an article on the TUT.BY portal

The most relevant and useful information from the article about schizophrenia on the portal TUT.BY from the psychotherapist Yulia Artyukh :

3 What is a nervous breakdown?

A nervous breakdown is an acute phase of any

nervous disorder

(from depression and neurosis to various psychosomatic diseases). As a rule, this emotional state arises as a reaction to some event, life situation - it can be, for example, the death of a loved one or an extremely unsuccessful day at work.

Why does he appear?

An event that provokes a nervous breakdown will have certain criteria, in most cases they all must converge in order for a person to form a nervous state. Here are some:

suddenness - the person did not expect such an event, he was not ready for it;
danger - this may be a threat to survival, dominance or the rightness of a person;
lack of a ready-made solution - a person does not know what to do in this situation, he does not have a strategy, a way to solve it;
isolation - the person feels alone in this situation.

If not all criteria agree, for example, a person discussed an exciting problem with someone, did not feel isolated or lonely, then it will be easier for him to survive the situation. If there are many such situations without a way out, they go one after another, then a person begins to carry a state of tension in himself . I did not find a solution what to do with it - and he is alone in this. The brain begins to visualize unsafe pictures, a person’s life resources go to zero, and at this moment a state of nervous breakdown sets in: a person’s reaction to surrounding events changes, in addition to experiences, other symptoms join.

If a person is bullied online, will they experience a nervous breakdown?

Of course. He found himself in an unexpected situation, which he perceives as threatening his safety, he does not have a ready-made solution, and he most likely feels isolated in a certain social circle. All this meets four criteria at once, which means it can lead to a nervous breakdown.

What symptoms may indicate a nervous breakdown?

There are quite a lot of them. It could be restlessness sleep disturbances (insomnia or drowsiness), irritability motivations, unexplained pain and general malaise, thoughts of suicide , slowness, etc.

How long can a nervous breakdown last?

Let me remind you that this is an acute phase of the disorder, and depending on what kind of disorder it is, it can be both protracted (with all the ensuing consequences) and short-term if the person has survived the situation. A nervous breakdown can manifest itself in different ways: on the one hand, a person can become hysterical, violent, on the other hand, on the contrary, too passive, withdrawn, isolated. Those around you will definitely notice such changes.

What are the consequences of a breakdown?

Any emotional shock that has not been resolved will trigger changes within the body, up to psychosomatic disorders. Due to nervous exhaustion, changes at the level of the body may begin - tachycardia, pressure changes, sleep problems, hormonal disruptions, dizziness, and others.

How can you help yourself or a loved one in such a situation?

One of the effective ways is to share what you have experienced with relatives and friends. More often, this strategy is unconsciously used by women: they go to a friend to discuss something shocking. In this case, there is no longer a feeling of isolation - a person is not left alone with his problem.

breathing techniques are effective , especially breathing with inhalation through the nose and with noisy exhalation through the open mouth. They quickly bring a person to a normal state. physical activity , taking a warm bath, SPA can also be effective.

Taking a sedative drug is also a solution to a problem for a particular person, but you should not “sit down” on such a treatment method.

Which doctor should I go to?

It is more logical to a psychotherapist , but it is also possible to a clinical psychologist. In the case of a nervous breakdown, both drug and psychotherapeutic treatment is possible. Depending on the person's condition, I would recommend not limiting yourself to drugs: it is important that a person gains experience and skills on how to cope with such a condition in the future. Sometimes understanding and decision at the cognitive level is the most important stage in treatment.

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