Nervous breakdown
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A nervous breakdown is a sudden, acute attack of mental illness such as depression or anxiety. Like sanity, the term is not recognized by the psychological community. In part, this is because the term has pejorative connotations, while this phenomenon is a normal and relatively common response to chronic stress. Often, the emerging illness is only described as a "breakdown" when the person becomes unable to function, at which point the disorder is advanced. Often, the supposed breakdown is a manifestation of career burnout.
The psychiatric community rejects the term "nervous breakdown", in part, because it is not descriptive enough of the actual disorder and symptoms. A common diagnosis that follows such an event is brief reactive psychosis.
Causes of breakdown include chronic and unresolved grief, unemployment, academic or occupational stress, serious or chronic illness in a family member, divorce, death of a family member, and other sudden major life changes. Whatever the cause, the message to the sufferer is that they now become aware of their limits of tolerance to stress, the usual outcome eventually is a more robust personality that interacts with stresses of life with more self care, although this may take time—sometimes years.