What can drive someone to insanity? Certainly, insanity is
something that is commonly understood (or
misunderstood) and usually carries
some sort of stigma in the popular consciousness. If you believe in modern
psychology and psychiatry, there are literally thousands of forms of insanity
that a person can end up developing over a lifetime. Some of them, like
depression, are temporary, while others, like social anxiety, require more work
for a person to get through. However, there appears to be some commonality as
to what actually brings about most of the forms of insanity that people go
through. Which brings the question to bear: is there a common, underlying trigger
that compromises the stability of a person's mental health?
Things like stress and anxiety are often cited, as most of the
common (and several uncommon) mental health issues are triggered by one of the
two. Continued exposure to stress can eventually push someone beyond their
“breaking point,” with the form of insanity afterwards being affected by
external factors. This is often a long, strenuous process because most people
have some level of resistance to such things, allowing them to at least survive
the stressful period with their sanity intact. Additionally, the process may
not even really result in insanity, with most of the population serving as
proof of this theory. Prolonged stress can affect a person's behavior and
outlook, but it is also known that several other factors can increase or reduce
the impact of this. In some cases, stress and anxiety can merely even have the
opposite effect, depending on the person's personal outlook.