A mental health breakdown is an emergency when the person or someone else is at risk of harm, which includes mania, paranoia, delusions, hallucinations, suicidal thoughts or other serious issues.
If someone is having a mental breakdown, it's not always an emergency and sometimes the person recovers from the mental breakdown on their own and doesn't do any harm to others or themselves.
However if the person having the mental breakdown is at risk of harming themselves or others, or they are really aggressive or they are unable to function or care for oneself then it becomes an emergency.
Call 911 or emergency services, especially if the person is thinking of suicide or harming others or if they start trying to harm themselves or harm others.
If yourself or someone you know is talking about self harm or suicide, treat it as a medical emergency.
In mental health, there's also what's known as a 3 month rule, and is the minimum time period in which the symptoms of a mental health condition or condition's must be present to be considered for diagnosis.
The 3 month rule for mental health also is the time period after which a mental health patient's treatment must be reviewed, and especially if the mental health patient is being treated without consent they are being detained in a hospital.
In mental health the 3 month rule is used as a diagnostic tool, and also refers to hospital staff keeping a patient against their will for up to 3 months before they consider letting the mental health patient leave.
Many mental health conditions also require that the symptoms of the mental health condition, need to persist for a minimum duration, which is often around 3 months, in order to meet diagnostic criteria.
For example being diagnosed for General Anxiety Disorder or GAD, requires the symptoms of General Anxiety Disorder to be present more days than not for at least 6 months, but the 3 month mark is a common timeframe for considering the duration and the severity of other symptoms.
The 3 month rule for mental health is also used as a legal or procedural guideline and can also refer to a 3 month rule coping technique for anxiety.
In some legal contexts and hospital contexts, the 3 month rule, or even a similar 3 month review period is used for involuntary hospitalization or involuntary treatment.
And for patients that are being held in a hospital, there are also often regular reviews that occur to assess whether the patient still meets the criteria for involuntary detention and holds.
If a mental health patient is receiving medication without their consent, then their treatment must be reviewed after an initial 3 month period and their consent is then required to continue treatment.
If the consent is refused and the patient is deemed unable to make a decision, then a second opinion might be required in order to authorize any continued treatment.
For the 3 month rule coping technique for anxiety, it involves grounding yourself by identifying 3 things you can see, 3 things you can hear and 3 ways that you can move your body.
In some Jurisdictions, for mental health, there is also a 72 hour hold, after which a patient may be placed on a longer hold, like a 14 day hold if they continue to meet the criteria for any involuntary treatment.