Breaking Points

A book about breaking points and the psychology of the kind souls who can no longer bear the weight of staying strong. "The human mind, psychologists tell us, is remarkably resilient. It can endure trauma that would shatter steel, adapt to circumstances that would break stone, and carry burdens that would crush mountains. But like any structure, it has its limits—stress fractures that spider outward from points of impact, hairline cracks that deepen with each new weight added to an already overburdened foundation. Mental health professionals have clinical terms for what happens when that architecture finally fails: acute stress reaction, psychological decompensation, emotional dysregulation. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual offers neat categories and numbered codes, as if human suffering could be catalogued like books on a shelf. But these sterile phrases fail to capture the reality of what it means when someone—anyone—reaches their breaking point. In our society, we speak of mental health in whispers, if we speak of it at all. We offer platitudes about "staying strong" and "pushing through," as if emotional wounds were merely matters of insufficient willpower. We celebrate those who suffer in silence, calling them resilient, while quietly ostracizing those who dare to crack under pressure. The stigma runs deepest for those we expect to be our pillars—the helpers, the caregivers, the ones who dedicate their lives to mending others while their own fractures spread unseen." I will update this more in the future.