I had a mental breakdown my freshman year of college. Stress was the main cause.

In high school, I was the valedictorian of my senior class and hadn’t made anything lower than an A- in any subject since first grade.

I was so focused on maintaining my 4.0 that my grades became a part of my identity, and I didn’t realize it till after graduation.

I decided that I wanted to be a doctor, and I'd hoped to graduate a little early. I took college classes in high school and earned enough credits to start taking upper-level math and science courses during my second semester.

Every second of my day was consumed by school work, yet I wasn’t making the straight A’s I’d always achieved. Pretty soon, the stress started to affect me mentally. I was teetering on the edge of a complete nervous breakdown.

Stress is almost always the cause of a nervous breakdown, and there are subtle differences between normal stress and the signs that you’re spiraling towards a complete mental break, such as:

Constant Anxiety

When you’re on the verge of a breakdown, you have a sense of foreboding. You’re sure that something bad is on its way. You just know that you've forgotten something important and life altering. In the back of your mind, you know that you haven’t actually done anything wrong and have no reason to feel nervous, but you can’t make that feeling go away.

Behavior Changes and Mood Swings

I am not an emotional person, but during this period it took very little to upset me. I cried at the drop of hat. I withdrew from my friends and stopped doing activities that I use to enjoy. I alternated between feeling lonely and feeling too crowded. I was irritable. Especially towards anyone with the audacity to tell me that I, "needed to relax."

Changes in Eating and Sleeping Habits

When I get stressed, I eat less and sleep more. Some people eat more and sleep less. Others are a mix and match. It's unhealthy no matter what, and can further affect your emotional state.

Difficulty Concentrating

For all the homework I was ingesting, I wasn't actually digesting much of the material. When you're about to have a breakdown, you can have several different trains of thought going through your mind at once, and it's hard to stay focused on just one. You can just be sitting quietly, trying to read a book and still have trouble remembering the subject matter.

Fear that You're Losing Your Mind

Oh boy. This is the worst one. You're not actually going insane during a breakdown, but it feels like you are. I remember having a conversation with my dad just before I broke down where I told him that I felt like I was, "coming apart." That's the only way to describe it. You're so consumed by emotions you can't control that it feels like your sense of self is eroding.

Fortunately, I had friends and family who recognized what was happening and helped me through it. Talking to someone about what you're feeling is one of the best ways to overcome a nervous breakdown.

Admittedly, talking about it isn't easy. A part of you might feel ashamed and fear that people will see you as weak minded. You are not.

I managed to climb back over the edge when I changed my major and realized that my grades are not a measure of my self worth. I have not felt that stressed again.

It's important to remember that everyone gets stressed, but if you recognize the symptoms and pinpoint the cause, you can overcome it before you have a complete breakdown.