Is it possible to go crazy from stress

I saw a doctor. She had no idea what was wrong except that I seemed pale and thin. Next I saw a psychiatrist. Yet his response resembled the one I got from a nurse when I served in Peace Corps more than a decade before. And because the brain and its behavioral manifestations are so mysterious, and because we are so ignorant of it, we are afraid and ashamed of its power to destroy us. The brain is a different story, however. You could be shunned. In my case, a brain MRI showed nothing out of the ordinary.

That was something of a relief, but also slightly disappointing. Some physical thing to point to would have explained the experience at least.

The worst of it lasted only a few days. After two weeks, I was more or less fine. I spoke to friends. I read again, without confusion.

I returned to me. Everything went back to normal, sort of. But nothing will ever be the same again. But how do I stop my mind from getting all jumbled again? And what made it happen in the first place? She went missing in the city. Security cameras spotted her at gyms and in Apple stores, but when people confronted her to ask if she was the missing woman, she denied it.

After three weeks, she was found by a Staten Island ferry captain in the water and taken to a nearby hospital, where she was able to tell medical personnel her name. Upp disappeared from herself. And then she came back. Doctors later concluded that she experienced a fugue state. Under hypnosis, she could describe the actions of the alternate selves, but when conscious she could not recall inhabiting another reality.

In the field of psychiatry, which is rife with mysteries, fugue states are, perhaps fittingly, totally elusive. They are rare, extreme escapes from the self that last as little as a few hours to years.

But they do happen , and they seem to be triggered by common life stressors—financial woes, work problems, relationship difficulties, and the like. She left a series of confused notes, disappeared for days, ditched her car by a lake, and was found checked in at a spa under another name. That is a fiction. In other words, the self is a fabrication of sorts , a compilation of memories more than an actual entity. Joining a club or a course can help to expand your social network and encourage you to do something different.

Activities like volunteering can change your perspective and have a beneficial impact on your mood. A healthy diet can improve your mood. Getting enough nutrients including essential vitamins and minerals and water can help your mental wellbeing. Cut down or cut out smoking and drinking if you can.

They may seem to reduce tension but actually make problems worse. Alcohol and caffeine can increase feelings of anxiety. Physical exercise can help manage the effects of stress by producing endorphins that boost your mood. It can be hard to motivate yourself if you're stressed, but even a little bit of activity can make a difference. For example, you could aim to walk for minutes three times a week.

Take time to relax and practice self-care, where you do positive things for yourself. For instance, you could listen to our podcasts about relaxation to calm your body and mind.

Striking a balance between responsibility to others and responsibility to yourself is vital in reducing stress levels. Mindfulness meditation can be practiced anywhere at any time. Research has suggested it can be helpful for managing and reducing the effect of stress and anxiety. Write down a to do list for the next day to help you prioritise, but make sure you put it aside before bed.

Try to keep things in perspective and don't be too hard on yourself. Look for things in your life that are positive and write down things that make you feel grateful.

They should be able to advise you on treatment and may refer you for further help. Stress happens each and every day and comes in a wide variety of forms.

It might be the stress of trying to juggle family, work, and school commitments. It might involve issues like health, money, and relationships. In each instance where we face a potential threat, our minds and bodies go into action, mobilizing to either deal with the issues fight or avoid the problem flight. You have probably heard all about how bad stress is for your mind and body. It can lead to physical symptoms such as headaches and chest pain. It can produce mood problems such as anxiety or sadness.

It can even lead to behavioral problems such as outbursts of anger or overeating. What you might not know is that stress can also have a serious impact on your brain. In the face of stress, your brain goes through a series of reactions—some good and some bad—designed to mobilize and protect itself from potential threats. Sometimes stress can help sharpen the mind and improve the ability to remember details about what is happening.

Stress can have negative effects on the body and brain. Research has found that stress can produce a wide range of negative effects on the brain ranging from contributing to mental illness to actually shrinking the volume of the brain.

In a study published in Molecular Psychiatry , researchers found that chronic stress results in long-term changes in the brain. These changes, they suggest, might help explain why those who experience chronic stress are also more prone to mood and anxiety disorders later on in life.

Stress might play a role in the development of mental disorders such as depression and various emotional disorders. The researchers performed a series of experiments looking at the impact of chronic stress on the brain.

They discovered that such stress creates more myelin-producing cells, but fewer neurons than normal. The result of this disruption is an excess of myelin in certain areas of the brain, which interferes with the timing and balance of communication. The researchers found that stress can also have negative effects on the brain's hippocampus. For more mental health resources, see our National Helpline Database. The results of these experiments also revealed that chronic stress can lead to long-term changes in the structure and function of the brain.

The brain is made up of neurons and support cells, known as "gray matter" responsible for higher-order thinking such as decision-making and problem-solving. But the brain also contains what is known as "white matter," which is made up of all the axons that connect with other regions of the brain to communicate information.

White matter is so named due to the fatty, white sheath known as myelin that surrounds the axons that speed up the electrical signals used to communicate information throughout the brain. The overproduction of myelin that the researchers observed due to the presence of chronic stress doesn't just result in a short-term change in the balance between white and gray matter—it can also lead to lasting changes in the brain's structure. Doctors and researchers have previously observed that people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder also have brain abnormalities including imbalances in gray and white matter.

Psychologist Daniela Kaufer, the researcher behind these experiments, suggests that not all stress impacts the brain and neural networks in the same way. Good stress , or the type of stress that helps you perform well in the face of a challenge, helps to wire the brain in a positive way, leading to stronger networks and greater resilience.

Chronic stress, on the other hand, can lead to an array of problems. In a study conducted by researchers from the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, researchers discovered that a single socially-stress event could kill new neurons in the brain's hippocampus.

Skip to main content. Can You "Go Crazy" from Stress? How to Reduce Your Chances of Mental-Illness Problems Frustrated souls have always complained, in the heat of stress, that something or someone was "driving me crazy. Written by:. Content writer with over a decade of experience creating articles in a timely, dependable manner. Specialize in health, career, and life-skills topics.

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