Dealing with a Nervous Breakdown

How does one deal with the nervous breakdown of a spouse or other loved one? Since each breakdown and each person are different so are our reactions to those nervous breakdowns.

If you have ever watched a love one have a nervous breakdown, you will see just how raw human emotion can be. Having a nervous breakdown is hard no doubt to the person experiencing it, but to the loved one watching it, the breakdown will reveal much more then you perhaps want to see.

My ex husband had a complete nervous breakdown after I told him I wanted to end our marriage. He had been accusing me of wrongdoing since I walked in the door 6 hours earlier, and I just wanted him to stop. I had no idea that my words would get him to the very core of his being and reduce him to the point where he had a mental meltdown.

This occurred back in 2000 yet I still see his face after I uttered those words, which I know came from me but I do not know where I found the courage to say them. As I said, I just wanted him to stop accusing me with false accusations.

As soon as the words were, out of my mouth, he stopped yelling and a blank look came across his face. The light seemed to go out of his eyes, he slid to the floor completely broken, and he cried and mumbled to himself for over an hour. I was lost in my own thoughts, to scare to move yet knowing I had to watch him to make sure he did not hurt himself physically in any way.

The man sitting on the floor, I knew from previous experience could get up and change moods very quickly as per his diagnosis of bipolar. His actions are what I had to watch and make sure that he did not hurt him self or anyone else in the house. It was quite difficult watching him deal with this, I seen a broken man and it scared me.

I let him cry it out before I said a words to him, and praying that our three children would continue sleeping and not walk out and witness this. It would have bee very difficult explaining this to the children when I did not understand what was going on.