I believe that anyone can have an emotional or mental breakdown. Everyone has a snapping point. Some snap easier than others but everyone has that point. Some never reach their snapping points, some do. I do not know if it is a function of "strength" because different things bring different people to that snapping point.

I do not think it's weakness on the part of the person having the breakdown. There can be all manner of reasons for a breakdown. Even the very strongest person can go through that if they lose their support system. Take the massive loss of life and trauma after hurricane Katrina. When so much goes wrong so fast, it piles up faster than people can deal with it. I am sure there were plenty of breakdowns after that. I am here if you need anything.

Definitely. Psychiatric hospitals are full of people with mental disorders who are unable to handle what life throws at them. Some of these disorders are quite terrible: how would you like to hear voices 24 hours a day telling you to kill your mother -- or the pope -- or yourself? How about feeling like everyone is conspiring against you, no matter how kind and reliable they are? Or my own sister, whom I love dearly -- who functions fine most of the time but then has episodes of such bizarre distorted perception that I almost can't recognize her? Does she want to be that way? Absolutely not. It's a tragic disease.

I believe that an emotional or mental breakdown is possible. Had myself a small one of those today..and I personally felt it a moment of weakness on my part, but sometimes when you keep enduring what life throws at you..something can give alittle. I consider myself a pretty strong person, but today for a little while. I cracked. :)

lol then some bright spark gives the link to AB!

It can happen to anyone under the right circumstances. If it is a weakness it is a human weakness with no member of the race exempt from possible inclusion.

Hi misstarrie- Well, what you ask has 2 aspects that should be mentioned and seen in other answers here. One is "nature", that is, that organic disorders can be devastating under any circumstance. The second is "nurture" or environmental, that is that circumstances of life can overload even the strongest individual. The latter is easily understood when looking at a "Scale of Stressors" (Google to find one), where each life event carries a value. Say a difficult divorce/ custody battle is 60, death of a spouse is 90, job loss 45 (nb: just making up the numbers here) - when these or other stressors occur simultaneously or concurrently, then anyone would be off the scale and potentially paralyzed emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. This may appear as a temporary "breakdown". Important to note here is (I believe) Kathleen Dockett who published work on the "Hardy Personality Style', citing that some remain strong no matter what. That can be inherent and learned. As a therapist, I believe that anyone at anytime can lose it and one's ability to heal may be done alone, with a support network/family, relying on faith (See Duke research at their Center for Aging and Health), with therapy and possibly medications (or herbs if you prefer - I do), etc. Sorry for long answer- I hope this helps :)

Depends. People can have a "limit" with ongoing things, like with abuse, but even people not dealing with their own problems can lead to an "actual mental breakdown". Either way people need to deal with themselves. There is a difference though between people having a hard time or avoiding themselves and having a "breakdown" of some kind whether dealing with themselves or not. "Breakdowns" can be unavoidable or a reaction. "Breakdowns" an actually happen with physical reasons but it's also importantly psychological. Either way they need to deal with themselves. Livia

I believe that we all have our limits as to what we can endure and they are different for everyone. Instead of a breakdown I look at it as an "overload" of endurance for a moment or time in ones life. I was raised in a violent atmosphere, a friend of mine was raised in a loving, peaceful home. One night we went to a restaurant to get a burger. After getting out of the car in the parking lot, a fight broke out a couple of cars away from ours. I just stood there watching the fight. My friend absolutely freaked out screaming, carrying on, and was completely hysterical. Having never experienced violence or seen it first hand she couldn't wrap her mind around it and became completely undone. It didn't mean she was a weak person it just meant for that moment, all that was happening was more than she could take. I have been pushed beyond my limit of endurance in my life, and it was nothing I had any control over. I really believe experiences like that make us stronger.