With viral TikToks of “crash outs,” Gen Z is reshaping mental health discourse. Learn what it means before it becomes the word of the year.
Remember when Britney Spears shaved her head and attacked a paparazzo’s SUV with an umbrella? Or when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars?
Celebrity meltdowns like these once played out on TV or in tabloids. Now, anyone can go viral for an emotional breakdown, or what Gen Z calls a “crash out.”
Search #crashout on TikTok and you’ll find videos of people screaming, having emotional outbursts or acting erratic (or pretending to) over relationships, politics, hunger, video games or shopping mishaps. Some creators even rank dramatic crash outs and lip-sync to songs that embody the “crash-out” energy.
But such content also finds empathy among social media users who leave supportive comments for their peers experiencing a hard time. Some even encourage crash outs as a way to release emotions and cope with feeling overwhelmed.
With its growing popularity, could “crash out” reflect a shift in how we talk about mental health — and even become the next word of the year? Is crashing out acceptable behavior?
Previously, “to crash out” meant either “falling asleep from exhaustion” or “being eliminated” from a competition.
But in early 2024, the verbal phrase took a new meaning on TikTok. Now, it refers to losing control or acting irrationally, impulsively or destructively due to intense emotions, often resulting in unnecessary altercations or reckless decisions.
That kind of shift in meaning is not unusual for slang words, says Adam Cooper, an associate teaching professor and director of the linguistics program at Northeastern University.
“The expression has, in its core sense, this very physical understanding, but it’s shifted metaphorically into other domains,” Cooper says. “It’s a very visceral expression for the kind of feeling that it’s meant to describe. You very much feel what’s going on in a person’s mind as they’re experiencing this sudden wave of emotions or mental instability.”
With increasing cultural awareness, Cooper says, “crash out” makes a strong contender for the 2025 word of the year. The Merriam-Webster dictionary has already added it to its slang section online, defining it as “to become suddenly, uncontrollably angry or distressed.”
The phrase originated in African American Vernacular English and was used on Black Twitter (now X) as early as 2013, according to the online encyclopedia Know Your Meme.
Many credit Louisiana rapper YoungBoy Never Broke Again with one of the earliest attested uses. In his 2017 track “Stepped On,” he raps “Been sleepy in the morning, all night we been swervin’ … Crash out if I’m nervous.”
The track references gang-related themes and street life, and in this context “crash out” suggests a chance of reckless or violent behavior under stress.
Crashing out can take many forms — angry outbursts, emotional rants, destructive behavior or even humorous memes and cathartic emotional breakdowns, says Christie Rizzo, professor of applied psychology at Northeastern. It often stems from feeling overwhelmed, ignored or emotionally drained.
But most adults don’t typically crash out, says Jordan Theriault, assistant professor of psychology. The brain’s main job, he says, is to regulate the body, helping it survive and navigate its environment.
“Humans survive largely through social systems and connections with other people,” Theriault says. “If I want to eat today, I need to figure out how to interact with people and get along with them so that I can trade money and get something to eat and then go on with my day.”
To make that work, the brain devotes a lot of energy to learning complex social cues. This effort creates what Theriault calls a “sense of should” — the internal pressure to conform, be nice and meet expectations.
The “sense of should” helps keep the world predictable, which, Theriault says, allows the brain to conserve energy. But it can also generate anxiety and stress at the mere thought of violating someone’s expectations or having to do what others want you to do.
“You might not be getting everything you want, but there’s at least some sort of stability there,” Theriault says.
A crash out occurs when that stability no longer feels tolerable. When the situation becomes unbearable, a person can flip and suddenly go in the opposite direction, blowing up at others.
Both the “sense of should” and the crash out, Theriault says, are attempts at creating a manageable environment that doesn’t overly burden the brain and body.
An emotional outburst isn’t necessarily a sign of a mental illness, Rizzo says. But if they become frequent, lead to harmful consequences or start interfering with daily life, it could signal deeper issues that deserve attention.
Having a term like “crashing out” gives people a shared language to talk about feeling emotionally overwhelmed. Public discussion can help reduce stigma and normalize these moments.
“For some, seeing others speak openly about crashing out can feel deeply validating, particularly if they’re nearing their own breaking point,” Rizzo says.
Still, crashing out isn’t always cathartic or emotionally relieving.
“When validation only arrives at the point of collapse, it risks reinforcing burnout rather than providing relief,” Rizzo says.
While it’s human to reach a breaking point, teens and adults are generally expected to develop tools to manage stress without becoming destructive. If those tools are missing — or if social media encourages dramatic reactions — crashing out can become more performative and less healing.
“It seems like a method of last resort for a situation that you can’t tolerate anymore,” Theriault says. “So I don’t know if it’s a great idea to normalize something like that.”
Emotional outbursts online, Rizzo says, can blur the line between authentic expression and unhealthy attention-seeking behavior. If users start to romanticize distress, crashing out on social media can become contagious.
“When crashing out becomes a popular trend, even people who don’t usually have public meltdowns may feel more permission to do so,” Rizzo says.
Rather than encouraging crash outs, Theriault says, it’s better to reflect back on what made the situation feel unsustainable.
“The better thing to do is to think about how did I reach this point in the first place and how do I avoid having to feel like there’s no escape for me except for to just completely blow up at people,” he says.
When someone else crashes out, Rizzo says, show empathy over judgment.
“Let them know their feelings are valid, check in with them privately and encourage healthier ways to cope,” she says. “Take a minute, step away, think about the consequences and talk to someone.”