1
general::
Phrase(s): a basket case
Fig. a person who is a nervous wreck. (Formerly referred to a person who is physically disabled in all four limbs because of paralysis or amputation.) • After that all-day meeting, I was practically a basket case. • My weeks of worry were so intense that I was a real basket case afterwards.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs
2
general::
A person or thing too impaired to function. For example, The stress of moving twice in one year left her a basket case, or The republics of the former Soviet Union are economic basket cases. Originating in World War I for a soldier who had lost all four limbs in combat and consequently had to be carried in a litter ("basket"), this term was then transferred to an emotionally or mentally unstable person and later to anything that failed to function. [Slang; second half of 1900s]
American Heritage Idioms