This happens when anxiety, depression, worry and other often stress-related mental conditions prevent a person from doing their normal, everyday activities.
Signs of a mental breakdown include physical exhaustion, sleeping irregularities, abrupt changes in daily routine, hopelessness, despair and paranoia.
Mental breakdowns result from an inability to cope, for example, with big life events, including divorce, money woes, being overworked on the job, being a victim of trauma or assault, getting a diagnosis of a serious illness, physical injury, financial problems and legal problems.