Severe nervous breakdown - can you fully recover

[Ronnie2022]

It’s been 3months since my dp and a a sudden and severe breakdown.

is on meds , having therapy but seems to be getting worse (the Psych has tweaked meds. )

any light at end of tunnel ? Thanks!

There's a whole thread of people here, talking about our breakdowns. And a couple of know-alls saying it's a meaningless term 🤨

OP isn't seeking to diagnose her DP or looking for treatment recommendations, she asked for comparable experiences. We all know 'breakdown' isn't medically accurate - we've lived through them and come out the other end, which obviously involved medical professionals and their diagnoses. It's a jolly useful term, though!

Def agree - there is no other way to describe the bomb that has gone off in all our lives (

I highly recommend listening to Ruby Wax’s podcasts/interviews on her breakdown and how she navigated her way through it. She does it with such eloquence, humour, and humanity. I saw her speak live last week and found it useful.

My dad had a breakdown and has recovered. It was about 15 years ago now. He needed to change the way he lived life, and was going through some big stress at work which tipped him over the edge. He took an SSRI for many years but is ok now, better than before I would say as he has made some positive changes. It’s very hard to be around someone in this position so make sure you look after yourself xxx

Breakdowns are different and people are different.
I have complex PTSD from childhood trauma which was not diagnosed until my 50's and I always thought breakdowns were when you lie in bed crying and unable to function or catatonic states, but for me a breakdown consisted of being perfectly able to function at work as usual whilst I was having vivid hallucinations and hearing non existent people whispering to me during the night.
They would say why don't you just kill yourself, nobody cares about you etc. It was like an evil entity speaking to me but I just ignored it, I refused to let it tell me what to do. I didn't feel suicidal.
Hallucinations mostly consisted of shadowy figures going up the stairs when I was alone at home, they were scary, initially I thought they were ghosts.
I never stopped going to work but did go for counselling and was put onto medication which stopped all of the hallucinations and voices.
The psychiatrist said I had had a mental breakdown but it didn't feel like it because I didn't know this could be classified as one.
I have to see the psychiatrist once a month for a year as I work in the NHS and they need to make sure there are no relapses. My work colleagues don't know - they never noticed anything odd, my manager keeps an eye on me.
It very much depends on the type of person you are, what medication you are put on and any motivation for getting better.
For me medication was my saviour, I no longer have panic attacks or acute anxiety over nothing in particular which has really improved my life.
My motivation was not losing my home by being unable to work, I live alone and was determined not to have to sell my house, my home is my safe place so that encouraged me to take the meds and put up with the side effects and go to every counselling session even though they were really painful and dredged up things I found to agonising to think about and which I buried.
I was a single mum until DS left home so I always had to "cope" and put myself second and that helped too. I could not afford to frighten DS by letting him see me anxious of fearful. He says now he never knew I hid it so well.
Unfortunately I hid it so well and buried it all so deep it started to fester and turn gangrenous (mentally speaking) inside. Its better to let it all out in a safe space.
I hope this helps OP xxxx

Ah same as me then. Well I've recovered and I'm better than I ever was.
Actually just having that diagnosis made me feel so much better because I now know what the heck is wrong with me. I read every book I could get my hands on about CPTSD and now it all just makes so much sense.
The anxiety, the fear, not feeling able to fit in anywhere, low self esteem the awful flashbacks and dwelling on things from the past.
You have to engage fully with treatment though.

I'm going to follow this thread; I think my estranged husband has had a breakdown, in fact he told me that he has. I've just had 8-9 months of him suddenly telling me he does/doesn't want to be in the marriage, irrational behaviour where he's self-harmed in front of me, extreme verbal abuse to the point where he will scream at me for things he believes I might say but haven't actually said them. He left me 7 weeks ago, he's holed up in his mums spare room, wants a divorce but made no plans for the future. Is this symptomatic of a breakdown? Do they ever come back afterwards?

Hi. Sorry you're going through this. I'd advise you start your own thread as this sounds like a relationship situation possibly impacted by you H mental health. He could however just be trying (badly) to split up. Your issue might just get lost on OPs thread.

Thanks all for posting .

did anyone spend time separated during the experience ?

@Ronnie2022 I was single throughout but bumping for you

@Gettingbysomehow so glad you are in a better place

My dh is almost two years from a 'breakdown' and I will call it that. He wasn't hospitalised but had crisis team care.
He's very slowly recovering. It's been medically complicated as there were such strong physical symptoms. They didn't know if something else might be going on. It seems it was driven by the breakdown/ burnout.

Things are slowly improving.
He's started a very slow return to work a few hours a week.
He should be able to drive again soon. He's not been able too for 1.5 years. Very tough for me to accept / cope with.

He can care for our primary aged children now which is huge as he couldn't work the washing machine at his worst (I do remember that as a dark day).

It hasn't been easy. Our relationship has suffered. I probably need counselling to start to process it all.

I don't want him to come off meds ever!
I'm worried returning to work will do it again (but he's highly skilled and young so must try).

I see you ask if anyone separated... I probably would of without the children involved. I did at one point tell him he would have to move out if behaviours continued. Especially around the children. At one point we were communicating by text message.

I still have flash backs too.

I don't talk about this in real life but am happy too here.
Everyone tells me I was / am strong. I don't always feel it!
I drank too much wine that's for sure.
It is so much better but our relationship is no longer physical. I think we need to feel equal partners again before I can do it. He's waiting I think,and tells me he loves me 😪

Hi@CottonSock thank you so much for posting. I’m so sorry for you and your dc

my dp is also very physical symptoms which are horrific for him . Overpowering I think.

i feel so sorry for him and love him but it’s jus so hard ! Massive hugs to you and all! Xx

Absolutely most people recover 100% eventually, though it can take time. He might also have to change things that contributed to it/ find coping strategies. It's still early days and they haven't find the right med/dose for him. He needs to not just give up on trying meds, but keep trying different ones until they find the best one for him.

I have bipolar and stuff, I learned some strategies in a half way house (I don't personally listen to the news, or much gloomy music, as it makes me uncomfortable.) I can't work for life and have a very relaxed pace of life. But unless someone has bipolar etc (and even then some people get on top of it) or schizophrenia, if it's 'just' severe anxiety/depression/ psychosomatic symptoms, yes most people recover although it can take quite a while.

Even psychosis brought on by stress, depression, personality disorder etc, the actual psychosis bit can be relatively brief and then the person recovers from what brought it on, with treatment.

Hi there ..

I had a clinical breakdown back in Dec 2011-Feb 2012. It was awful so I completely sympathise with your partner and you're amazing to be by his side supporting him. Kudos to you.

For me to feel completely better must have been around June/July time. My meds would have kicked in and all the residual thoughts/feelings from the breakdown would have slowly dissipated.

He will get better, time is all he needs.

Goat it’s tough to be human ! Love to you all x

@Ronnie2022 A lot of MH things are you try different meds and other evidence based treatments, then you just have to wait it out until you come out the other side.

It just feels like the person I know and love has totally gone . So hard (

Hang on in there @Ronnie2022 . Be sure to take care of your own well being. Try and get some time to yourself or whatever helps you breathe/recharge each day.

Thanks @porridgeisbae xxx

I have experience of both sides of the fence and have worked closely alongside mh professionals for years. I'm also familiar with research trends. Clinicians are not infallible. Misdiagnoses occur. What's more, apparently accurate diagnoses can be overturned as we learn more about mental illness. Clinical work is highly contextual and always influenced by contemporary social values. I've sat with a relative in a clinician's office and listened as they were solemnly told that recovery was highly unlikely- well, they did. If you want proof of how diagnosis is influenced by culture, compare our treatment of people living with psychosis with Scandinavian approaches such as Open Dialogue.
There isn't an inviolable barrier between the 'well' and the 'broken'. We are all a bit broken, clinicians included. Your DP is just a bit more broken at the moment.
OP I get why you're asking - you're just seeking hope. Of course there's hope.

2016 diagnosed CPTSD.
I gave up work as I just couldn't function.
My dc who were very young I needed to put into daycare as my partner had to work and I couldn't care properly for them alone. Spent a hellish three years existing, my world revolving around therapy sessions and trying to manage horrific physical sensations that had me believing I was about to die.
My partner stood by me and miraculously my dc seem to have come out of this unscathed.
I would say I am 'recovered' although I've emerged a completely different person to the one I once was. Completely different.