Two Things Needed after a Mental Health Breakdown

It’s a breakdown, a mental health breakdown, and it’s happened again, but there is a way to recover, and it’s something you can achieve.

The end result was exhaustion. They were empty of life and totally drained. So it was no wonder they were depressed and simply wanted to die.

It’s a story I hear all the time.

The body can only take so much. After that, it begins to break down.

Nervous Breakdown

You don’t hear this term so much these days, but it was pretty common to be told about someone having a ‘Nervous breakdown.’ For me, it meant someone not being able to cope. To crash into a wall of complete mental exhaustion. Unable to do much at all.

“Nervous breakdown” isn’t a medical diagnosis. But, it’s a type of mental or emotional health crisis. You may feel an overwhelming amount of stress, anxiety, or depression. In turn, you’re not able to function in daily life. Cleveland Clinic

These days we might use the term Burnout to describe what has happened.

But it’s that zone of existence where you have nothing left to go on.

It’s the heap of metal on the side of the road, commonly called a car, but it has broken down. It’s run out of fuel, blown a radiator hose and all the tires are flat.

It has no use to anyone other than being an obstacle to avoid. You’re that old heap of a car pulled over to the side of the road and have come to the end of your ride. You’re depressed to the point of wanting to die.

Nothing new under the sun

There’s nothing new here. People have had nervous breakdowns seemingly forever.

It’s about having the human limitation to our bodies of being able to cope with only a certain amount of stress. There are no superheroes. No Superman or Wonderwoman.

We have physical limitations to what we can and cannot do.

The wisdom writer of Ecclesiastes writes this reminder.

What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done;
there is nothing new under the sun. Ecclesiastes 1:9

That is why I like to read the Bible and dig deep into the lives of mere mortals who, like me, have dirt in their toenails. They have faced life under the same sun and have made the same mistakes as I.

The Bible has stories about real people facing real-life situations. It’s not a recipe book for ‘The better life.’ It’s more a bibliography of the vulnerable non-superheroes like you and me.

Under the sun Elijah

At one point, I think he may have thought of himself as some kind of spiritual superhero. But he, too, was made from clay.

He’s the subject of my top-ranking blog post because he expressed the words that thousands of people type into google every day.

God, I want to die.

Five words coming from a broken man sitting in a broken world experience. His feelings, body, and exhaustion swirl down to express the bone-dry emptiness of his life cup.

But we can learn from Elijah.

God has given us his story so we can rebuild from our breakdown.

Here’s a small portion.

When Elijah saw how things were, he ran for dear life to Beersheba, far in the south of Judah. He left his young servant there and then went on into the desert another day’s journey. He came to a lone broom bush and collapsed in its shade, wanting in the worst way to be done with it all—to just die: “Enough of this, God! Take my life—I’m ready to join my ancestors in the grave!” Exhausted, he fell asleep under the lone broom bush. 1 Kings 19

I hear Elijah breakdown stories all the time, and I have a phrase that helps.

‘Break it down before it breaks you down.’

Breaking it down

Recently someone emailed me about their ‘breakdown.’ I generally get about two emails each week from someone in the ditch.

I ask them if they want to Zoom with me and if I can help them somehow.

This time I did something different. I asked them what had exhausted them.

I got a response, and they listed things such as relationship struggles, work issues, and a few other things.

Those were items that I would consider very evident to their stress load. But else could there be happening for them?

Probably hundreds of things were exhausting them. All of which perhaps had sublayers to their existence. All of which could be addressed and possibly problem solved and brought to a place of peace.

But in this state of breakdown exhaustion, I would like to know one thing.

How are they caring for the body? More specifically, I would like to know about their diet and sleep. How are they feeding their physicality?

The long journey ahead of you

Recovery from a breakdown or Burnout is a long journey. Its millimeter steps of up and down, sideways, and what seems like at the time a slipping backward. But the movement is always there.

Elijah falls asleep.

Exhausted, he fell asleep under the lone broom bush.

Suddenly an angel shook him awake and said, “Get up and eat!”

He looked around and, to his surprise, right by his head were a loaf of bread baked on some coals and a jug of water. He ate the meal and went back to sleep.

The angel of God came back, shook him awake again, and said, “Get up and eat some more—you’ve got a long journey ahead of you.”

To the fundamentals, we return. Are you sleeping and resting enough? Are you eating and drinking enough?

It always comes back to the body.

As I write this, dawn is breaking, and I hear birdsong. They have rested and slept and are now ready to proclaim song into my world.

I start my day by going to sleep. My day begins when my position on this big round ball rotates me away from being under the sun.

I have eaten my meal of baked bread and water, and satisfied, I fall to sleep. Resting physically and securely in the arms of Spirit. Each night as I start my day, I pray, ‘Come to me, Spirit, surround me, and hold me.’ I rest knowing I am held.

Eugene Peterson writes this.

The Hebrew evening/morning sequence conditions us to the rhythms of grace.

We go to sleep, and God begins his work. As we sleep he develops his covenant.

We wake and are called out to participate in God’s creative action.

We respond in faith, in work. But always grace is previous and primary.

We wake into a world we didn’t make, into a salvation we didn’t earn.

Evening: God begins, without our help, his creative day. Morning: God calls us to enjoy and share and develop the work he initiated. Eugene Peterson

Recovery from a bruising real-world experience begins by checking our diet and rest patterns.

How are you doing in these areas?

I’m off for a little nap and then some breakfast. 😴

Quotes to consider

The pain of something old falling apart—disruption and chaos—invites the soul to listen at a deeper level. It invites and sometimes forces the soul to go to a new place because the old place is not working anymore. Richard Rohr
The best bridge between despair and hope is a good night’s sleep. E. Joseph Cossman
Sleep is God’s contrivance for giving us the help he cannot get into us when we are awake. George Macdonald
It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it. John Steinbeck
A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book. Irish Proverb