nervous breakdown

noun

1. (not in technical use) any disabling mental disorder requiring treatment.

nervous breakdown

noun

1. any mental illness not primarily of organic origin in which the patient ceases to function properly, often accompanied by severely impaired concentration, anxiety, insomnia, and lack of self-esteem; used esp of episodes of depression

Word History and Origins

Origin of nervous breakdown¹

An Americanism dating back to 1900–05

Example Sentences

Hikers whose names I do not remember have heard about the time I nearly had a nervous breakdown in the Sierra Nevada or what it’s like to share a tiny tent with your spouse.

From Outside Online

She told me that she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown pre-pandemic.

From Washington Post

After the pandemic first hit, Devin Johnson remembers standing in the middle of his empty office in Indianapolis on the brink of a nervous breakdown.

From Digiday

Truth be told, there is no one better at capturing the agony and alarm of a woman in the throes of a nervous breakdown than Moore.

From The Daily Beast

“I am dying here and feel as if I could soon suffer a nervous breakdown,” he wrote.

From The Daily Beast

Around Christmas, Rachel was reportedly hospitalized for a nervous breakdown.

From The Daily Beast

Imagine Beyoncé, nervous breakdown or not, using a public platform to say the same things about say, Jennifer Aniston.

From The Daily Beast

I might lose my job or my wife and have a nervous breakdown.

From The Daily Beast

A coward by nature, he had been on the verge of a nervous breakdown before the trial, thinking of what might happen.

From Project Gutenberg

You will understand that I was in a condition of mind bordering upon a nervous breakdown.

From Project Gutenberg

The same types can often be recognised in those who suffer from nervous breakdown.

From Project Gutenberg

It is not unlikely that from the strain of the preceding few days a nervous breakdown had resulted.

From Project Gutenberg

I am afraid, doctor, she said, that the poor man has had a nervous breakdown.

From Project Gutenberg