Russian Word ‘свихнуться’: Meaning and Examples

Today we’re carrying on learning Russian from a real comment on the internet:

Что́бы не свихну́ться и не испо́ртить жизнь ребёнку, про́сто люби́те его́ и бу́дьте ря́дом.
(To avoid going completely crackers and ruining your kid's life, just love them and be there for them.)

Meaning

So, what does the Russian verb ‘свихну́ться’ mean?

‘Свихну́ться’ is a colloquial verb. It means to go mad or to lose your mind. It’s informal and expressive, people use it when they feel totally overwhelmed, stressed, or at their wit’s end.

You can hear this word quite often in everyday Russian — especially when people are talking about their work, studies, parenting, or strict rules. It’s not about actual mental illness, but about that feeling of being on the edge and thinking, ‘I can’t deal with this anymore.’

Examples

Here are a few real-life examples:

• Ты совсе́м уже́ свихну́лась на ста́рости лет? (Have you gone completely off your trolley in your old age?)
• Он чуть не свихну́лся по́сле того́, как его́ уво́лили с рабо́ты и от него́ ушла́ жена́. (He nearly lost his marbles after being sacked and his wife walking out on him.)

From the media:

• Как я про́жил ме́сяц в япо́нской семье́ и чуть не свихну́лся от пра́вил. (How I spent a month living with a Japanese family and almost went bonkers with all the rules.)

Verb Aspect and Tense Forms

свихну́ться (perfective)

💡 Note: The verb technically has an imperfective form, but people don’t really use it.

сви́хиваться (imperfective)

And you — have you ever felt like you were about to lose it?