Recovering from a nervous breakdown is a challenge and yet nervous breakdown recovery is not the end of the journey; one must ensure that relapse does not occur, leading to further, depression. Sometimes there is an assumption that someone who has recovered from a nervous breakdown is now able to fend for themselves. This time is the most fragile, for one reminder can cause relapse and depression resumes at deeper levels.
Recovering from a nervous breakdown can be very frightening especially if the nervous breakdown was for self-preservation reasons. The resulting depression can become familiar and so to stay depressed becomes habitual and changing these habits can be a struggle; depression thus becomes a coping mechanism. This will subconsciously hinder nervous breakdown recovery as one holds onto the familiarity of the depression and nervous breakdown recovery could be seen as a return to how things were. It is therefore important to understand that things will never go back to how things were. Otherwise, one could see the self on a time line just before the nervous breakdown; the repeat of the events causing the breakdown would thus seem inevitable. This can become self-fulfilling as the thought of the nervous breakdown brings on depression.
Once out in the ‘real world’ it is vital to have tools to deal with mental pressure. To isolate oneself from the world is one side effect of depression, thus going back ‘out there’ can be a frightening prospect. This is where there needs to be coping tools in place for situations that could bring on even deeper depression.
Relapse prevention therefore has two aspects. Firstly, it is important to realize that healing is not scary and that one will not be left to fend alone. Secondly, mental health tools designed to keep the recovery on track need to be taught; these are for self-preservation and are important coping mechanisms when faced with situations that might spark depression.
One way of dealing with the fear of recovery from a nervous breakdown is to see the self as different from the person before the nervous breakdown. This sort of emotional trauma changes the individual forever; which is not necessarily a bad thing. Life will be different and things will not just go back to how things were. Seeing a nervous breakdown in a different light could help one see this moment in your life as a possible necessary step in personal growth.
Tools such as NLP, meditation and so on are valuable for combating the second issue and warding off depression. These coping tools can be useful, for example, when one encounters someone from the past who could trigger memories of depression. These techniques allow the self to go back into the world armed with tools to cope with the pressure of modern life, thus preventing depression from taking hold.
Recovering from a nervous breakdown is one thing; relapse prevention is another and yet the two must be linked for full mental health to be restored. The psychiatrist, counsellor or psychologist cannot just heal the patient and move them on; they need to be nurtured and supported so that relapse is prevented.
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