Should you go to the emergency room if having a nervous break down?

Answer 1

Absolutely.
Many times, when someone's starting to, having, or in the middle of a nervous breakdown, they can get vast mood swings, such as: anger, violence, depression, etc. that can cause themselves as well as others pain - both mental and physical. Also leading to high blood pressure. Usually, if the person having the breakdown is elderly, or has high blood pressure to begin with, they can end up having a stroke, heart attack, and many other life threatening things.
They can also have symptoms other than those, including being manic depressive, temporary memory loss, rambling (often about random things, usually not making any sense), confusion as to where they are, who everyone is, date/year etc., loss of appetite, sleeplessness, paranoia, and not being able to do everyday tasks as before.

Getting to the hospital during a nervous breakdown is important for many reasons. One, being that they can monitor everything, and make sure there won't be, or hasn't been a heart attack or stroke. That is something that needs to be made sure of - as a lot of symptoms from breakdowns are the same for strokes.
Also, because everyone's breakdown is unique. Some, may just have an unusually lower mood than normal - and others may wander around the neighborhood in no clothes babbling to themselves. Until you know how someone handles their breakdowns, it's best to take them to the emergency room or the local mental health building to get an evaluation to see if they need to be temporarily hospitalized. This keeps them in a safer place than a home where they may not be able to be watched at all times.

What to expect:

The usual period of time that nervous breakdown patients are kept in a mental health building is between 7-10 days.

They're asked simple questions for the evaluation (what day it is, what's going through their mind, if they're having troubles with depression, etc.), and it usually lasts about 20-45 minutes.

After they're signed in to the hospital, they're monitored - but can usually go about daily activities, and aren't bedridden.

To get them out of the hospital, there should be a second evaluation to make sure that the person is ready to leave, and is able to hold up for every day tasks and living.

Warning:

Most all places have a law that if someone has been checked into a mental health building, they're no longer allowed to buy guns, and other life-threatening weapons.

They're usually not allowed to enlist in the Army.